Quark ExpeditionsReviews of quarkexpeditions.com

Our expedition was wonderful- even with a 5 day extension. Quark took excellent care of us. Quark’s corporate attitude demonstrated to us why we will use them for this type of travel in the future. The ship Ultramarine was luxurious beyond what I imagined. The food was excellent. We enjoyed the wine selection. The dining staff were excellent. The hotel staff were super accommodating. The expedition team members presented incredible lectures covering A variety of topics. There is an emphasis on safety, and that was evident each day. The helicopter operation on Ultramarine was beyond expected - fantastic. The expedition leader Jake was effective and very personable. He worked very hard to provide all of us with an excellent experience. The ship crew were wonderful. One evening we were late to the sauna and ran into the first mate. He contacted the captain and received permission to open the sauna for us. We enjoyed our expedition. We have signed up for another early next year and have another on the horizon later next year. We love the beauty of earth's polar areas. It is similar to being transported to another planet. The zodiac landings each day with great hikes and the ship walking deck allowed me to easily log 5+ miles each day.

It was such a well organised trip and the whole team were excellent - the visits, the zodiac cruises, the guides, the talks, the food and the ship. Any problems, such as expeditions affected by the weather, were solved, minimising any loss of experience.

First class from beginning to end. We loved our trip to East Greenland starting from Reykjavik. Everyone worked hard to give a great experience from cabin hotel staff to restaurant to the guides. Very experienced and diverse guides really helped us ti understand our destination.

Excellent company. Attention to detail to make your adventure go smoothly is outstanding. Highly recommend.

The staff were great -- the professional educators as well as hotel staff. I wish we had seen more of Greenland, but understand that safety (and comfort) need to be prioritized on a cruise (this is my first cruise ever), and so we avoided really rough waters. We were unlucky in having a lot of drizzly rain! My room was probably the best thing about this trip. I had expected a tiny, cramped space, but this was very comfortable. My bed looked out through a large sliding glass door that opened to a veranda, with ample covering. Just looking out at the fantastic Greenland scenery and the open ocean was an awe-inspiring experience. The zodiac trips were great. I did feel sometimes that the wishes of photographers were prioritized over those of us who just wanted to take in the magic of being in these waters and not necessarily pursue some dot in the distance that binoculars identified as a bear or musk ox. Next time, why not put them together on a zodiac? I would have liked more zodiac cruises that just explored more. The hikes were great, though arduous for me. But I wouldn't have missed them for anything. The guides were very helpful. I appreciated the summary meet-ups we had afterwards, but wanted much more information about what we saw, both climbing and on the zodiac trips,especially geology and geological history. I felt the evening events were thin. I would have liked more substantial talks -- especially on geology and history. I prepared for this trip by reading everything I could find on Greenland, especially books by or about Rasmussen and Freuchen. I would have liked to have this knowledge expanded by the experts. By the way, these people were great! So well informed (also approachable, friendly, and often funny), their talks were wonderful though there were too few of them. The food was what I expected, very abundant and for the most part very good. I did feel it was a bit too lavish, and found myself wondering about waste -- what happened to the uneaten food? After all, this is a place where the Inuit experienced famine (and death and sometimes resorted to cannibalism) not infrequently up until very recently. The trip to the Intuit town was a bit instructive, i must admit, though I wondered where all the people were? Staying inside their houses to avoid us? I partly chose this cruise rather than the one to West Greenland to avoid visits like this. We did see a bit of the Northern Lights on the very last night, but this was underwhelming. I must admit that this was something I looked forward to, but when it seemed it wouldn't happen I wasn't much bothered. Also, people seemed to see so much more on their phones than we saw with the naked eye! My only regret on this wonderful cruise is that we were restricted only to Scoresby Sund. Though this fjord was very large and varied and we moved around a lot, I guess that couldn't be helped, though I would have been glad to undergo some seasickness to continue on to King Oscar Fjord. I guess, though, that cruises don't really permit that. I'm still absorbing the magic of this wonderful immersion experience in Deep Time. Many thanks to all of you who made this possible for me!

The entire expedition team did an incredible job during both the scheduled trip and the unscheduled extension due to fog, etc. Each member had expertise highly pertinent to the nature of the trip, each was really great at conveying information, history and stories, and each had their own lovely sense of humor. Leader Jake did an extraordinary job throughout, but he absolutely shone when the weather had us stranded for five days. The entire "hotel" crew did a great job as well and similarly rose to the occasion when we were unable to leave. My only criticism is that the advertised so called free wi-fi was utterly useless the vast majority of the time.

Kayaking in ice beside ice bergs and polar bears

Quark has created an expedition style of cruising with an extremely knowledgeable expedition staff, who also have wit and humor. The hotel staff; cabin stewards , food service, bar and maintenance personel are friendly and accommodating. I'd like to give a 'shout out', for their exemplary service; Melissa, Lino, Kristeo, Aldrich, L Komang, Ryan, Noman (Bistro station cook) and everyone else who made the adventure an enjoyable one...wish I could remember all your names, as well as spell them correctly... The ‘bridge’ and expedition staff/crew were always on the lookout for wildlife, scenery and notified us The passengers comfort and safety are of key importance with Quark. Someone is always there to assist you, on the ship or when doing landings. Quark offers an amazing way to sail through and visit fjords, bays, historical sites while being fortunate enough to see not only arctic wildlife but engage with people, who live in this, off the grid, part of the world.