Aurora Expeditions Reviews 

An incredible Arctic adventure made possible by a dedicated group of amazing people - not only the expedition team (whose knowledge is only surpassed by their obvious love of what they do) but also the ship's captain, crew and hotel staff. This is our second polar expedition with Aurora (the Antarctic last year) and we'd recommend them without hesitation.

We did a 14 day Svalbard and Greenland expedition on the Greg Mortimer. Fantastic trip! The Expedition Team were amazing- so knowledgeable and friendly.
The ship was beautiful and all staff amazing.
Highly recommend. Great casual atmosphere for meals with great food!

Knowledgeable staff who were passionate about their specialty.

Excellent ship, expedition team and hotel/catering team and atmosphere.

Brilliantly organised tour, yet flexible with regard to opportunities; great staff, very friendly and professional; seamless support from all staff. The Arctic trip was all it promised to be.

The best thing about Aurora is the range of excellent people we meet - other passengers, the crew, staff, advisers, experts, local guides, local people.
Another excellent thing is Aurora's flexibility - the ability to alter the itinerary as needed according to the weather, and still provide interesting expeditions ashore.
Finally we specifically select Aurora for the range of Arctic and Antarctic areas visited.

I thought Aurora were brilliant. The ship was really comfortable, the staff extremely friendly (they all knew your name), the expedition staff were really interesting, the food was good and they made the experience of visiting Patagonia magical. I would have no hesitation in recommending anyone to take an Aurora trip.

The expedition staff was truly amazing. Their knowledge of the Antarctic area, its history, the geology, the expeditions & stations, the sea and land animals was really wonderful. The ships crew was extraordinary in making sure we were well cared for. A very nice feature was the regular announcements of whale sightings and other interesting things as we traveled through the Antarctic oceans. The only downside was we chose to do the ocean kayaking. The experience for my wife and I was great. However, my daughter got partnered with a very inexperienced kayaker who made her adventures very difficult. The expedition crew was not responsive at all to her requests for a change or a solo kayak (which they had plenty of).

Excellent staff, lovely atmosphere,good food. Not to mention the beautiful scenery.

Great ship , extraordinary people, food has a lot of room for improvement .

The people of Aurora made our experience great! It started from the Captain and worked its way right on down to our awesome room attendant, the amazing excursion team, restaurant servers, to the always friendly and helpful ladies working at the Customer Service desk. All the staff were so good and understood great customer service.

The cruise itinerary itself (Antartica) was amazing. My wife and I have never seen so much wildlife up close and personal out on the zodiacs and on land. This was the BEST part of our entire cruise.

With that said, one area that could be improved on is the quality of the meals and snacks. Although this was our first cruise with Aurora, my wife and I have taken well over 30 different cruises on a variety of cruise lines…and considering that this was our most expensive cruise ever (by far), we expected the food on our Aurora cruise to be served hot and to be of much higher quality. Although there was plenty of basic chicken and fish, there was never any lobster, crab, or prime rib and there was only one serving of shrimp during our entire 10 day cruise. We realize “this is a first world problem” but when you are spending thousands of dollars more for a high-end cruise experience, you expect the food quality and food temperatures to be held to the same standard as the rest of of our overall cruise experience.

Catherine Buckland was an amazing leader from setting expectations, communication and ensuring little things occur like having your clothes dried when you experience a leak in your wetsuit. The other guides / staff were also amazing. Being flexible when we saw the Beaked Whales is just an example. People, the best asset to a people oriented service business

Just returned from a fantastic Aurora trip through the UK and France with an itinerary focused on WWII and D-Day. As a history lover, this was a great way to experience Normandy and other destinations like Guernsey I'd normally never get to on my own. We were extremely impressed with all the ship comforts, including a well equipped lecture theatre, gym, bar and spacious cabins. The staff are the real gems of this cruise. They were unbelievably flexible while still placing passenger safety at the upmost importance and did a fantastic job in figuring out ways to get things done. Their extra effort was really appreciated and noticed by everyone onboard. The team was truly what made this journey special for us. We would certainly travel with Aurora Expeditions again and are already looking into another Mediterranean voyage with his company. Highly recommend to anyone considering a small ships cruise.

Our Expedition Leader, Rune Kongsro, made this a most memorable journey through his careful planning and on the fly itinerary changes to make sure we go the most out of our stops based on the weather

Wonderful ship; fantastic expedition guides! Very cooperative weather and an experience beyond our wildest dreams! Do whatever else you want

Fantastic experience. The crew was extremely attentive. The food was very good. South Georgia Island was exceptional. We actually got to land on Elephant Island which was a lifelong dream of mine. Highly recommended.

This trip was a once in a lifetime trip! The itinerary was originally the reason I choose this trip and I wasn't disappointed! It was so interesting!
The expedition team was very professional with an incredible knowledge, and always trying to help with a very positive attitude.
The hotel team was also amazing. Food, cabins, bars. We couldn't have been more spoiled!
Citizen science team also give us a wonderful experience and share their knowledge with us with infinite patience!
I am thinking to make this trip again next year!

Great ship, Sylvia Earl, crew and staff. All Aurora staff was incredible and knowledgeable, and helped in making for a fantastic vacation. Cabins were spacious, and always clean. Great selection and variety of food. Very comfortable public areas, including restaurant, bars, and library.

We enjoyed our trip very much. The staff was really great. The food was good.
Sometimes the groups seemed too large for the guides to handle well. We were a bit disappointed that when we stayed in hotels we were on our own foe meals...Vantage which we loved, always provided us dinner at the hotel.
Life on ship was great and we liked the choices of tours...all in all a thumbs up experience and would book again...although seemed fairly pricey compared , again to Vantage.
Would also like the promised link to the ship photographers pictures.

We were on the New Zealand subantarctic islands cruise in January 2026. This was the best expedition cruise of the 5 that I have been on. The expedition team was very engaged with the passengers and even sat with us at lunch or dinner. The team was knowledgeable and did their best to maximize our times off the ship and our learning on the ship.
Our cabin was very big for being one of the lower deck cabins. We had room for a sofa and had a balcony. The bathroom floor was heated!
All of the staff - waiters, front desk, housekeeping, everyone else was efficient, accommodating, and the best overall staff I have seen on an expedition cruise.
Highly recommend Aurora.