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Antarctica Small Ship Cruise

Join our small ship adventure to Antarctica this November - unbeatable value!

Solar Eclipse in Greenland

Witness the next total eclipse in the polar wilderness of Greenland in August 2026!

Svalbard Springtime!

Few visitors are left untouched by this dreamy, winter world. Walruses on ice floes or the king of the Arctic, walking across the frozen sea. 

Extended Spitsbergen

In search of polar bears, pack ice, and enjoy multiple free activities: kayaking, Hiking, Photo Workshop

Antarctica and South Georgia

Follow in the wake of Shackleton to Antarctica and South Georgia's wildlife

Svalbard & Greenland National Park

This comprehensive voyage explores the stark beauty and wildlife of Spitsbergen and the vast and unspoiled Northeast Greenland National Park

West Svalbard Arctic Wildlife

Discover bears, seals and whales amongst the Arctic pack ice as you explore far above the Arctic Circle – only 600 miles from the North Pole

Arctic Saga: Spitsbergen, Faroes & Jan Mayen: Ultr

This 14 day expedition aboard the luxurious Ultramarine visits remote North Atlantic islands up to the Arctic wilderness of Svalbard

Half Price!

Spitsbergen Photography: Ultramarine

This exciting introductory journey on board Ultramarine, the new, game-changing polar vessel, takes you to remote stunning scenery and wildlife

Spitsbergen Explorer: Ultramarine

Wildlife Capital of the Arctic... this comprehensive small ship expedition aboard the Ultramarine gives you a comprehensive Svalbard experience

Pay in Full save 10%!

Svalbard Explorer: Ultramarine

Welcome to expeditions online.

Polar expedition cruises on small ships - this is our speciality - we simply love travel and cruises to Antarctica, Arctic Svalbard, Greenland and many other wonderful, adventure travel destinations! Let us help you choose the best expedition trip - we have personally visited all the destinations featured and travelled on board all the expedition vessels. We provide expert, independent advice and  are pleased to offer prices and secure payment in five major currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, AUD and SEK. 

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• Cruise Destinations

Polar Cruises

A truly unique experience, enter the land of tundras, polar bears and the Northern Lights on a Polar Cruise. 

Choose a departure range of up to 1 month if you have not selected a specific cruise line or Choose a departure date range of up to 3 months if you have selected a specific cruise line

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Port of akureyri, alesund port, eidfjord norway cruise port, faroe islands cruise port, flaam cruise port, geiranger cruise port, honningsvag cruise port, reykjavik port, spitsbergen port, tromso port, polar region in detail.

Vast and spectacular, and covered in ice pack for most of the year, the Antarctic is a wildlife lovers dream. Magnificent scenery, icebergs and historic sights, make for an unforgettable Arctic cruise experience. Explore the unspoilt wilderness which is home to polar bears, penguins, seals, whales and whole bird colonies.

Travel in the winter and seek the Northern Lights or take a cruise to the Land of the Midnight Sun in Norway – a natural phenomenon which means that the sun does not set during summer months. Being the highest, driest and coldest continent on the planet, the High Arctic is best explored from July to September as the ice recedes.

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Book Incredible Cruises to Antarctica and the Arctic

Book Incredible Polar Cruises to Antarctica and the Arctic

Cruise to the Ends of the World With Polar Holidays

Polar Holidays is a travel agency that specializes in booking tours and polar cruises to both the Antarctic and Arctic regions. We partner with high-quality specialty cruise lines which allows us to provide the best selection of cruises for our clients! It is our goal to provide travelers with their dream vacation adventure.

There are many tours, ships and itineraries to the Arctic and Antarctic.  We have been on more than 100 trips to these areas, and continue to explore new trips.  Polar Holidays is intimately familiar with the itineraries and expedition ships, and uniquely qualified to recommend itineraries to best serve each client’s preferences.  Reach out and let us help you!

Antarctica Cruises

Your cruise to the Antarctic region begins and ends in South America, with December or January as the best months for your vacation of a lifetime. Travel to Antarctica on one of our beautiful ships offer stunning scenery and breathtaking experiences only found in the remote South of Planet Earth. There are many factors to consider when planning – the time of year, duration of your trip, and your tour itinerary goals. Look no further for an Antarctic expedition filled with thrilling wildlife, immense views, and exhilarating vacation activities.

Contact Polar Holidays today for a free consultation with one of our Antarctica cruise booking specialists!

Arctic Cruises

Visitors travel to the Arctic to enjoy one of the last truly wild places on Earth. Arctic cruises are limited to the summer months between June and September due to weather. While traveling to the Arctic there are countless spectacular sights including wildlife, glaciers, and striking landscapes. Guests are able to enjoy this beautiful region from beyond the cruise ship through offered activities!

Contact the Polar Holidays team today for a free consultation with one of our booking specialists!

Shop The Best Polar Cruises With Polar Holidays!

Polar Holidays is a premier cruise booking agency specializing in luxury and expedition cruises to the Antarctic and Arctic regions! We partner with high-quality specialty cruise lines to provide our clients with the best selection of tours to both polar regions.

Learn about exciting destinations and activities options!

Consult with a team member to be paired with your ideal expedition!

Read our travel tips and prepare for your journey!

Check Out Our Antarctica Cruise Specials!

We usually have Antarctica and Arctic cruise and fly-cruise specials running throughout each cruise season. A number of 2023 and 2024 itineraries are on sale now! Take a look at our cruise specials page to see all current cruise deals, and please contact our team for more information!

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Why Book Your Cruise Through Polar Holidays?

We are polar experts! We have almost two decades of experience visiting Antarctica and the Arctic, and helping and booking our customers the polar cruise that is best for them. We do the work for you by sorting through hundreds of available cruises while prioritizing your goals – to provide you with your dream expedition.   Contact us today for your free consultation with an Antarctica and Arctic booking specialist.

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Sustainable Tourism in the Polar Regions

With over 30 dedicated expedition cruise vessels regularly sailing their waters, the polar regions have become an increasingly popular destination for Arctic and Antarctic exploration cruise ships. However, these pristine and far-flung regions are far from being tourist hotspots, and expedition vessel owners and operators are united in keeping the places they visit unspoiled. We only recommend Arctic and Antarctic cruise operators who are members of IAATO - the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Their code of conduct and practices ensure that every care is taken to ensure the pristine landscapes you will encounter remain that way.

Which animals will I be able to see?

The remarkable creatures that call the remote polar regions home are part of what makes a cruise to the Arctic or Antarctic such a memorable experience. Each region is home to both resident and migrant populations of seabirds, land mammals, sea mammals like whales, and more. What you will actually see on your polar expedition will depend on the weather, the time of year, and the itinerary you choose. Because each ship has a team of expert naturalists who work closely with the captain, every effort is made to give you fantastic wildlife encounters while ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers at all times. If there are particular species that you really hope to see, speak with our Polar travel experts today. They can advise you on which itineraries we offer will give you the best chance of an Arctic or Antarctic animal encounter of a lifetime!

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Positive Polar to Launch Cruise Line with Former SunStone Ship

• April 12, 2024

Positive Polar is starting a new expedition cruise line. During a press convention held earlier this week in Miami, the company revealed plans to focus on sustainability, with a product that combines cruising and science.

Positive Polar aims to transform “travel shame” into “travel pride,” the company said in a press release, offering cruises that will also “help to heal the planet.”

Guests will have the opportunity to contribute and be part of onboard research, which aims to boost the natural cycle with the Biological Carbon Pump (BCP).

It will be possible to have direct collaboration on science projects, Polar Positive added. Guests will also be able to participate in lectures related to climate restoration and various other topics of interest that will offer a unique opportunity for guests to personally take part in the company’s goals.

Polar Positive’s initial focus will be on whale restoration, a key part of the BCP, with intended actions to improve biomass, biodiversity, and aid in climate restoration, as the BCP naturally sequesters carbon.

The introduction of science as an integral part of the product helps the brand set itself apart from the competition, Polar Positive said.

The company is set to operate a former SunStone Ships vessel, as confirmed by co-founder Jennifer Bonilla.

“Excited to be under contract for a special SunStone Ships ship that will be given an expanded purpose beyond exceptional passenger experience,” she said in a social media post.

“Let’s do meaningful science from this incredible ship,” Bonilla added.

Polar Positive’s leadership team also includes founder and CEO Hugo Hinrichsen, in addition to an advisory board featuring former director of cruise expeditions Hans Lagerweij; ecologist and marine biologist Matthew Savoca; environmental advocate and artist Nikki Baxendale; and more.

The company’s newly acquired ship is expected to undergo significant refurbishment, with interiors being renovated by Tomas Tillberg Design.

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Which Polar Cruise is Better: Antarctica or the Arctic?

Posted: December 22, 2023 | Last updated: December 22, 2023

Pop quiz: Which of these photos is in Antarctica and which is the Arctic? (The answer is at the bottom of the article.)

Left image courtesy of Pia Harboure/Atlas Ocean Voyages; right image courtesy of Tyson Mayr/Aurora Expeditions

Hiking in a steady snow to the summit of Danco Island off Antarctica , I felt like I had stepped out of an extreme adventure film and straight into a Disney movie.

After days of sailing through the infamously rough Drake Passage, then in and around storms with winds as high as 100 knots, a welcome calm had set in, allowing one final landing among hundreds of adorable, waddling tuxedo-vested penguins.

Seemingly oblivious to our presence, many broke away from their colony to climb, parallel to us, up the peak. A few stopped to squabble with each other. Others were more polite and took a bow.

The encounter highlighted the answer to one of the most obvious questions that inevitably arises as travelers increasingly board a new generation of expedition ships to sail to the ends of the earth: What’s the difference between Arctic and Antarctic cruises?

Penguins versus polar bears, of course, and how up close and personal you can get with the flightless birds as opposed to the much more elusive majestic white ursine mammal.

While getting a glimpse of some of the estimated 20 million penguins that inhabit the coastal areas of Antarctica is almost guaranteed, exploring the Arctic is more like heading out on safari. There are many more species to see in the Arctic, they are just harder to find. But that’s part of the adventure.

There are many other differences between cruising in Antarctica and the Arctic, each with its own subjective pros and cons, including how to get there, the weather, onshore experiences, and the differences in their respective majestic and very dramatic landscapes. So how do you decide which and if one is right for you? Here’s a breakdown of the main difference between cruises in Antarctica and the Arctic, so that you can better choose.

Even in ships as beautiful and sophisticated as Atlas Ocean Voyages’ expeditions vessels, sometimes there’s no escaping the hardships of the rough seas in Antarctica.

Courtesy of Atlas Ocean Voyages

Getting there

Less than 24 hours into my Antarctica sailing last month for the maiden voyage of Atlas Ocean Voyages’ newest yacht, World Voyager , the other very obvious difference between Antarctica and the Arctic, where I sailed in July on Aurora Expeditions’ new 132-passenger Sylvia Earle expedition vessel, became crystal clear: the process of getting there.

Just a few hours into the infamous two-day crossing of the Drake Passage from Ushuaia, Argentina, to the Seventh Continent, passengers were scurrying from the lecture hall for sickness bags. That night at dinner, dishes seemed to be crashing all around us as we navigated what the captain said were 30-plus-foot waves.

We definitely spent much of the initial crossing experiencing the “Drake shake” versus the “Drake lake,” though we did get more of the Drake lake on the way home. But experiencing the roughness of the Drake Passage could be a pro or a con, depending on whether you get seasick . For those of us with strong stomachs, it’s a big part of the adventure.

For those without the stomach for rough seas , one other option, offered by numerous cruise lines and tour operators, is to fly, at least one way, to King George Island, the largest of the Shetland Islands off the coast of the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula. Of course, the flights are still at the whims of the weather gods, and nowhere are said gods more fickle than in Antarctica.

In the Arctic, you can start your cruise from any number of cities, including Longyearbyen in Svalbard , which is already deep in the Arctic Circle and is the world’s northernmost settlement with a population of more than 1,000. Longyearbyen is about a four-hour flight north of Oslo, but once you get there you are just a few hours sailing away from the nine main islands of the archipelago. The only full sea day on my 14-day Arctic cruise this past summer was the last one, when we sailed across the Denmark Strait to end the cruise in Reykjavík, Iceland. And while we had a few windy days, we never experienced anything nearly as rough as in Antarctica.

The weather

“That looks kind of scary,” one friend said as I shared some of my photos of my Antarctica trip over cocktails after returning home.

“It looks cold. I’m not sure that’s going on my bucket list,” said another.

Indeed, polar cruises are not for everyone. Yes, it’s cold. And Antarctica is especially severe, with conditions like katabatic winds that can change from zero to 60 mph in a matter of seconds.

After our rough sailing through the Drake Passage, we awoke our first morning in the South Shetland Islands to a calm and mostly sunny day, where we hiked and saw our first penguins on Deception Island. But that weather didn’t hold.

The next morning, just as we finished boarding our Zodiac for a morning cruise, the captain’s voice came over the radio to halt operations. As the day wore on, conditions intensified, and despite the crew’s best efforts to find a calm in the storm, we ended up in 100 knot winds with snow around us literally blowing in every direction. Again, the captain—whose announcements came to be dubbed jokingly by one passenger as “the voice of doom”—came on the PA to let us know we wouldn’t be able to make any afternoon outings.

Tucked safely on our comfortable luxury yacht , however, no one seemed to really mind. In fact, cheers went up when the champagne came out because you’re not supposed to partake in Atlas’ unlimited alcoholic beverages policy on expedition days until the off-ship activities are over.

Arctic cruises, too, are unpredictable, though Antarctica is wilder in part because of its dramatic wind shifts. And while there is less ice in the north, it can still have a big impact. In July, for instance, we were almost unable to make any landings in eastern Greenland due to ice buildup along the shore.

So, whether you go north or south, the No. 1 rule is to be flexible when it comes to weather and sailing conditions.

The wildlife

Another major consideration when choosing between a cruise in Antarctica and sailing the Arctic is what animals you want to see, and how easy you want those viewings to be.

With so many penguins roaming the coasts of Antarctica during the southern hemisphere summer (which is winter in the northern hemisphere), you are guaranteed to see penguins in the wild—and lots of them—as well as whales and seals.

In the Arctic, you can spend days hiking and riding Zodiacs, hoping to get a glimpse of a polar bear, arctic foxes, reindeer, walruses, seals, and whales. That often means days of disappointment, only to be followed by euphoria when you finally get a chance to see one of the elusive white giants in the wild, swimming, hunting or simply resting on a rock. Or when a huddle of curious walruses bob alongside your Zodiac. Or you catch of a glimpse of an Arctic fox running along a river, a freshly caught bird in mouth.

But where the weather in the Antarctic dominates much of one’s activities, in the Artic it’s all about the polar bears because they are very fast—and very dangerous. Often times, sailings will need to change course to ensure the safety of the passengers and that of the polar bears. (link to my Arctic story).

Asked about the differences between Arctic and Antarctica cruises, our World Voyager captain said Antarctica is “much wilder.” And you truly are alone.

In the Arctic, many cruises start in Longyearbyen, where you can get a sense of what it’s like to actually live within the Arctic circle. While most of the cruises are spent in the wild, hiking on islands and taking Zodiac cruises around massive glaciers, ice caps and icebergs, they typically also make at least one stop on the remote shores of Eastern Greenland to visit indigenous communities—again offering some insight into life in the northernmost reaches of the world.

Antarctica, on the other hand, is as remote as you can get, with the only civilization revolving around a collection of research camps based there. And because of the many environmental protection rules that travel companies have agreed to follow, you may not be able get off the ship for more than an hour or two each day.

In the Arctic, I sailed with Aurora Expeditions on one of its small expedition ships with about the same number of passengers as World Voyager , yet we sometimes spent more than three hours off the ship twice a day, including a few challenging hikes.

In Antarctica, only ships carrying 500 passengers or less can let passengers off—whether on Zodiacs, kayaks or for actual landings. And no more than 100 passengers can be on land at a time, so you have to get off in shifts. That means ships with more than 200 passengers usually can’t let passengers off for more than about an hour or an hour and half a day.

We had just under 150 passengers on our sailing, and the most time we were able to spend off the boat was between 45 minutes and an hour-and-a-half, twice a day.

Both also offer some extreme adventures, weather permitting. For instance, in Antarctica, I had signed up to camp overnight under the stars, tucked into just a sleeping bag partially buried in the snow. Unfortunately (or fortunately) severe weather canceled that along with plans for kayaking and paddleboarding.

But with the number of new ships now sailing the polar regions, it’s easy to find one that is a good fit for varying tastes in both on and offboard activities. Some of the new luxury ships even offer helicopter and submersible experiences. And some operators offer more extreme adventures like scuba diving.

I’m partial to small ships like World Navigator , which provided intimate, casual luxury and spectacular views from just about every cabin and lounge on board. You really get to know your fellow travelers, crew members, and expedition team members, which is a real bonus for solo travelers.

Sustainability

There is one indisputable con to both Arctic and Antarctic cruises: the impact on the environment. Indeed, reports about the record number of ships cruising into these fragile environments and the increasing speed of ice melt gave me pause.

The good news is that the newest class of expedition ships sailing to polar regions—vessels both big and small—have the latest in green technology. For instance, World Voyager is equipped with some of the most advanced sonar, stabilization, and engine technologies, including a hybrid electric-diesel engine and a hydro-jet propulsion system for smoother, safer, and more energy-efficient rides.

And I’ve never met a group of people more committed to protecting the wildlife and the environment than the expedition team members I have sailed with in the world’s polar regions. Whether it’s onboard lectures or conversations while hiking or riding a Zodiac, they really provide a nonstop education about these environments, the wildlife, and the dangers humans and climate warming present.

The pro to the con? As one expedition leader told me, after sailing in the polar regions, most travelers go home hyper-aware of their environmental footprint and the real dangers we all pose to the majestic glaciers, ice caps, and wildlife in the fragile polar zones.

Indeed, as I sat in Word Navigator’s Dome Lounge watching a pod of whales playing off the bow as the light from the setting sun cast multiple colors across the stadium-sized icebergs, mountains, water, and clouds, I realized what people mean when they call a trip to Antarctica life-changing—and one that no doubt has created many lifelong stewards of the environment.

In the photo at the top of the story, the left image is of a Zodiac outing in Antarctica and the right image is a Zodiac group exploring Greenland in the Arctic.

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