Aurora Expeditions Reviews

Aurora is the full package in expedition cruising! I did the Svalbard in Depth expedition and cannot recommend it highly enough.The expedition team is beyond fabulous with each person bringing their own area of expertise and talent. They really make the expedition experience come to life. Two outings per day give you the chance to see the destination in depth. The daily wrap up meetings review and put everything into perspective as the expedition team shares background and stories. The icing is that the ship is lovely, the staff superb.

Date of experience: June 10, 2024

Aurora delivered a next level expedition by seamlessly navigating a variety of Arctic conditions to maximize our time in the destination. The Expedition Team's vast knowledge of the region combined with the crews willingness to pivot as often as needed to make our experience as fulfilling as possible demonstrates its commitment to expedition travel. They are truly best in class, and the energy on board was a testament to their successes.

Date of experience: June 10, 2024

I have returned from the most magical place on Earth , taken there by an incredible team from Aurora expedition ship Greg Mortimer and her crew.
From the Captain and his colleagues who navigated seas and winds to amazing locations including inside A23a , Expedition team for their knowledge and humour and the cheerful hospitality staff the trip couldn’t have been more wonderful .
There are not enough compliments to shower upon them .
If it is on your bucket list .. don’t wait and if you are fit enough learn to kayak and choose this activity .. you won’t regret it .

Date of experience: April 02, 2024

Fully switched on to sustainability, a B Corp. Maximum chance to go ashore, often twice per day, 2-3 hours each time. Totally expert and dedicated expedition staff. Brilliant expedition leadership and ship captaining to get to the best places while dodging the worst of the weather. Totally fabulous, very well worth the price.

Date of experience: February 05, 2024

Adventure of a lifetime!
Hard to find any fault with my recent voyage to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands. The brilliant Expedition Team and the rest of the ship's crew, made memories which will last a lifetime.
Thank you!

Date of experience: April 04, 2024

With the Aurora restrictions put into place whilst viewing Penguin colonies a 200mm zoom lens will not have the desired reach.
I would suggest a 500-600mm zoom to get close to penguins, Sea lions, Orcas or Whales if you are lucky enough to spot any.
During our cruise (5-14 Dec 2023) we did not spot any whales and had only about a minute to photograph a sea lion from the Zodiac.
Once again not the optimum medium to take photographs from as you share the zodiac with another 9 people shoulder to shoulder.
Biggest drawback was the unwillingness of the expedition team to spend more time on interesting ice formations or the occasiona sea lion resting on an iceberg.

Wake up Aurora. Boring cruise for a photographer at a premium price.

Date of experience: December 05, 2023

We would have given 5 stars after 3 earlier Ant. Voyages, BUT... like you, we are being held at length by the “we didn’t CANCEL CR-Panama-Columbia, we POSTPONED it” policy! I wonder how that choice would stand up to legal scrutiny, given COVID19 insecurities.
We are promised our balance payment next week... vamos aver... (& we’ll ‘post’ accordingly) but our Feb’19 $US5000 deposit is now to be held as a ‘deposit’ for TWO YEARS.
We’d like to think AURORA EXPEDITIONS is being run by the new owners with the moral bottom line set by Greg Mortimer himself...🤞...let’s stay in touch, fellow expeditioners!

Date of experience: May 31, 2020

Three weeks on board the Greg Mortimer .. very stylish and spacious cabin with plenty of space in the public areas. The x-bow design clearly reduced upwards/downwards movement as it cuts through the waves .. though you do still get side roll. Expedition staff were experienced both on shore and in the zodiacs and the lectures they gave on board were “on point”. Food choices were phenomenal and waiting staff as well all the “hotel” staff were always helpful and never stopped smiling. Throughout the pandemic Aurora kept us notified and offered options and alternatives. Would not hesitate booking again and recommending Aurora and the Greg Mortimer.

Date of experience: November 28, 2022

We kayaked with whales, seals, penguins, icebergs and glaciers. Our kayak guides were like paddling encyclopaedia and the other guides shared their wealth of knowledge. We did not just see Antartica from a boat, we lived it as you could only do from the waterline and being on shore. The passion and professionalism of the Aurora team cannot be faulted. Just go!

Date of experience: March 24, 2020

Went on a Northwest Passage cruise that left from Greenland and was supposed to end in Cambridge Bay. I'm rating two stars instead of one just because the ship we were on was really nice in terms of restaurant and facilities and most of the staff was friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.

I am saying "most" because I don't think the expedition leader was very customer oriented.

I have suggested to some staff on the ship to send out surveys as there was a general belief among the staff that the trip I was on starting on 28th of June was a success. The survey never arrived. I then sent an email to them a month after the trip that I never got a reply to so I am going to just paste most of it here.

The trip description online, as well as in the email I got when I first reached out, set certain expectations which were not even close to being met. Whereas I understand the nature of the trip, and that it's an unpredictable environment, we only achieved about a third of the objectives mentioned on the trip description, half if I want to be really positive about it. The description does indeed present vagueness around the area from Resolute to Cambridge Bay, but certainly not at the level where you would expect to spend more than half of the trip struggling to pass time. Some points like Baffin Island were really clear and that was the main reason I chose this trip over others... a couple of outings a day were advertised for the days not spent at sea. According to the original itinerary, that was supposed to be more than 10 days.

The trip, unlike advertised, had very little wildlife focus. There is hardly any wildlife opportunity in the middle of the sea, and this is mostly where we spent our time. Besides that, even when we were close to the shores, and there were occurrences of wildlife, there wasn't enough effort to make the experience about that. We saw a couple of polar bears on the ice floe in the middle of the sea and we sailed closer to them, but:
- other than a whale off the coast of Greenland, we never went close enough to see the wildlife without a telescope/binocular
- we went to Prince Regent Inlet where we were going to get off but there was a bear with a cub so instead we stayed on the ship. There were also a lot of belugas at the shore. I was very happy that there was wildlife instead of yet another history walk which we were going to do, and which we did anyway a day later in lack of anything else to do, but we stayed there in the middle of the sea struggling to see a white dot on the land and minuscule dots coming out of the water from very far away, the zodiacs were not dropped to take us any closer to either the bear or the belugas. We were a lot, a lot further than 200m from either of them.
- as we were approaching Point Zenith, on the opposite hill there were a lot of muskox. We never got closer to them, just the usual struggle to catch some dots with the binocular.
- we went off on tundra land, with marks and traces of animals and it was beautiful weather. The alternatives were always (on the few occasions where we landed anywhere) a hike and a short history walk. The hikes were very good and the history talks were also very good but the trip was supposed to have a wildlife expedition component which completely missed. Why not go for a long walk in the tundra to at least give us the sense that we were searching for some wildlife?
- the trip was about finding ways to pass time really, we spent an entire day in Resolute in a waiting room, with limited things to do as well as days in Lancaster Sound in the middle of the sea.
- the outings were scarce and very short and why were we rushed back? just so we can be in the middle of the sea with not much to do.

The trip may have overachieved on the history and archeology component and maybe it delivered on geology but, personally, I chose it for the wildlife component. A comparative trip, maybe better than what Aurora delivered, was a bit more than half the price. I have explored that as well, but the description that Aurora has for the Northwest Passage trip was misleading enough to make it look worth the additional US $7k.

The organisation with the coastguards was not smooth enough and there were situations where we couldn't enter a port because we had to inform them a day ahead which we had not done. We didn't enter Cambridge Bay because of ice but another ship with the same ice category was coming out of Cambridge Bay.

You can miss some objectives due to weather but we're talking about more than half of the itinerary. In addition, it didn't feel like everything was being done to deliver as much as possible, it didn't feel like there was the necessary expertise to do that and it didn't feel like there was at least an acknowledgment of the failure.

Date of experience: July 27, 2023

Superb experience on board Sylvia Earle earlier this month. The boat was stunning but more importantly the expedition team were superb. Howard the expedition lead did a wonderful job planning and replanning the trip and made sure we got as much time on land as possible. I would highly recommend them!

Date of experience: March 04, 2023

We did a cruise/fly expedition in January 2020. What an amazing experience; the expedition crew are so knowledgeable, friendly and approachable. Our cabin (standard A) was super comfortable, plenty of space and we loved the big glass sliding window - never closed the curtains once! Overall the food was good, we laughed about the beer and wine being 'local' because the beer came from South Africa and the wine from all over the world but this gave us loads of choice. A very well organised cruise, no long waits to go ashore and the flight from St George Island went as scheduled. Then there is the incredible scenery and wildlife. Just an outstanding experience, thank you Aurora

Date of experience: February 16, 2020

We were very fortunate to travel on the Greg Mortimer with Aurora Expeditions in Iceland. Working with their booking staff was simple and pleasant and the Greg Mortimer is a wonderful ship. Best of all, the expedition staff is first rate, and the icing on the cake was their kayaking team - great teachers, highly knowledgeable and just a lot of fun. Great trip.

Date of experience: August 02, 2022

Had a great experience even with the challenges of weather. Trip before us was cut short due to weather but ours made it out ok. Crew and staff were excellent, food was very good and room was very comfortable. I would definitely travel with them again. Felt like traveling with friends and we explored the Antarctic coast together. Went into places th crew had not visited yet so felt fresh and new.

Date of experience: February 04, 2023

The trip of a lifetime is how we would describe our Kimberly experience with Aurora. We have come home with a depth of understanding that was passed on with great generosity by Alex, Liz, Dave and Alasdair, the experts on board. We enjoyed the interaction with our fellow passengers that can only happen with a small group. The food was terrific and our trip could not have been better.

Date of experience: July 21, 2019

I traveled with Aurora in February across the Antarctic Circle and it was truly an unbelievable experience from start to finish. The ship was remarkably clean, rooms were super comfortable and food was awesome every day. The highlight was by far the expedition team and their passion and knowledge! I can't imagine anyone not having an AMAZING time with Aurora. If I need to speak to anyone personally to convince, them I am happy to.

Date of experience: September 02, 2022

This was one of the best, professionally run, tours we have ever done and, over the years, we have taken part in many - both local (within Australia and overseas). This was mainly as a result of good planning and excellent execution. The ship was great and every staff member, including the unseens, the best. Even the other passengers were a great lot (which isn't always the case). We loved it and will carry the memory of it for a long time.

Date of experience: July 19, 2019

The staff at Aurora were excellent, nothing was too difficult and all of our requests were handled quickly and efficiently. We planned our whole trip with Aurora and it went off brilliantly. Even when the Attacama desert flooded whilst we were at sea alternatives were put in place that ensured our trip went off without a hitch. The staff and crew of the Polar Pioneer worked tirelessly to ensure we had an exceptional experience. A special word must go out to the doctor who helped with some sea sickness problems. I would highly recommend Aurora to any one. The whole experience was brilliant.

Date of experience: July 17, 2019

Aurora delivered an incredible experience. The Greg Mortimer and all the crew and staff made everything seem so easy while we enjoyed the wildlife, stunning scenery. With up to 2 shore excursions each day and amazing meals you barely had any free time. Overall the best trip ever.
This is a must do if your contemplating it.

Date of experience: March 17, 2020

Staff, crew, care, food deserve top ratings. I loved the relaxed atmosphere on the ship so that I felt totally at ease travelling on my own. It felt like being with one big family! The combination of 100 % professional staff with relaxed atmosphere made it a holiday of a lifetime. Thank you Aurora.

Date of experience: September 15, 2019