Aurora Expeditions Recenzje 

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.

Your staff was great and did the best they could with weather conditions that were rougher than expected.
We fully expected that there might be issues with a brand-new ship. However, we were disappointed that some things malfunctioned "due to the ship rocking in the waves" (according to top staff members). This on a ship that I would have expected to be designed to operate in fairly rough seas.

I spent a great deal of time researching expeditions to Antarctica and I’m so grateful that I chose Aurora Expeditions! From the initial booking until arriving back to the airport in Ushuaia heading home I felt well taken care of. The pretrip hotel was beautiful and the day tour prior to boarding was a fun way to get to know some of your fellow travelers and see some of the surrounding areas.
I traveled solo and booked a solo cabin but felt like the crew did an amazing job of making everyone feel like we were all already long time friends!! I appreciate the eco conscious approach to sailing and visiting Antarctica while still making sure we experienced as much of it as we safely could. I enjoyed having the options for kayaking/paddling, snorkeling and scuba diving, but you should definitely sign up early because spots fill quickly. Learning about the history and nature of the continent from the expedition team was very interesting, you can tell everyone was excited to share what they have learned.
I would highly recommend this company for anyone interested in a small ship expedition style adventure.

The commitment of all the staff on board to ensure you have the best, safest, most engaging adventure.

Beautiful new ship and a most excellent heipful, smiley crew!

Wonderful expedition staff and crew. Nice ship and excellent cabins.

The staff was fantastic and the exploration guides were amazing

Excursions were all above expectations. Preferred our extended visit to Tangiers in place of Gibraltar. The ship's crew and service were great.

The people involved in handling the whole program from arrival in Lisbon to departure from Amsterdam. Fran was there at every step to guide us old folks, telling us to stay on the ship or watching out for us when we left the ship. The entire crew were wonderful - helpful and friendly - the various staffs made the trip for us.

My wife and I travelled aboard the Douglas Mawson on Aurora’s “Epic Antarctica: Crossing the 7th Continent” trip, from Dunedin in New Zealand to Ushuaia in Argentina, for 32 cruise nights from early February 2026.
We have previously cruised with APT, Uniworld, Seabourn, Silversea, Regent and American Cruise Lines.
The trip cost US$43,036 each, or about AU$2,000 a night.
Notwithstanding luxury-level fares, Aurora does not compare favourably with other luxury cruise lines.
Drinks (wine, beer and soft drinks) are not included except at dinner. Bar prices are in USD and not cheap.
Gratuities are not included in the fare. There is no self-service laundry.
Aurora required passengers to complete a health information form, to be signed by a doctor. The information sought is essentially a medical history including all current medications. I refused on the grounds that it was an invasion of privacy and contrary to the Privacy Act.
I was invited to speak to their doctor by telephone, who called from South Africa. I advised that we had no mobility, respiratory or allergy issues that would affect our ability to take the trip, and refused any additional information. I asked her the purpose of collecting information on other health matters. She acknowledged it had no purpose.
Aurora is motivated by environmental evangelism. Its mission is to:
“Create lifelong ambassadors for the planet”
It was like being at a Baptist religious event from which there is no escape, where the objective is to recruit us to the church to save our souls.
Most of the Expedition staff viewed passengers as necessary to enable them to pursue their passion, but were otherwise not a priority.
On a shore expedition, I was taking photos of a seal which started to move a bit. Two Expedition staff started yelling at me to move away. When I didn’t move immediately, one threated to come and physically move me. As it happens, I am a retired veterinarian and probably know more about animal stress than they do. (Had this occurred in Australia, I would have considered lodging a formal complaint about threatened violence.)
On another occasion I was told by an Expedition staff member that I could not walk along a certain stretch of land because it was an ASPA area. However, she then walked across it herself.
On the last night wrap up, the Expedition Leader read out complimentary comments about members of the Expedition team, written by fellow Expedition team members. It was unbelievably self-indulgent, with no input from passengers.
At the end, almost as an afterthought, there was a brief acknowledgement that it was the paying passengers who made it all possible. One even candidly implied that the passengers were quite strange for spending so much money, but was thankful that they did.
We will not be travelling with Aurora again and we will not be recommending it to our friends who travel.
Aurora’s journeys are not good value for money, and its environmental evangelism is not welcome. The opinion of travel companies is no more welcome than the opinions of actors and sportspeople.

A very well run expedition with professional, knowledgeable and courteous staff.

There’s a lot of information about the voyage but oddly enough, they fail to mention how if you don’t bring pants that are up to their standards, you’re not getting on the zodiac

Considering everything is done on the zodiac, it feels like a pretty important piece of information to clarify.

Then they force you to their shop where the lady tells you “yeah it happens a lot”

Ridiculous.

if you’re gonna charge tens of thousands of dollars, please provide required gears

Don’t believe the customer service’s reply, they never offered a loaner pair. We asked for it and they said no.

They offered to refund so that we take the review off and then proceeded in never refunding us

We recently completed a 23-day expedition to Antarctica on the M/V Sylvia Earle, booked through Explore/Aurora Expeditions. As someone who has travelled extensively, I found this to be a standout experience in every way. We had to make our own way Ushuaia via Buenos Aires (direct with BA), and then a one night stop-over. Return was again via Buneos Aires to London with Iberia with a short stop-over at Madrid. We booked our own international flights and the local flights via Explore/Aurora. The local flights with Aerolíneas Argentinas are chaotic and likely to change, so give yourself plenty of time.
The Ship & Facilities: The Sylvia Earle (launched 2022) is a purpose-built vessel with a unique X-Bow that made the Drake Passage crossings much smoother. Onboard, the 15 Zodiacs ensured we could make landings or cruises twice daily (excluding the sea days). Warm padded inner and waterproof outer jackets were provided for us to keep and tall “wellies” and walking polls for the wet landings. They are very environmentally conscious, and we have to wash our boots and polls for each disembarkation and embarkation via the mud room. There was a sauna and top-deck heated Jacuzzis for relaxing after your polar plunge (which only the crazy ones did).
For photographers, this itinerary is a dream. We experienced 18–24 hours of daylight, allowing for endless opportunities to capture the “porpoising” penguins, grounded icebergs, amazing scenery, and nesting albatross. Grant, the ships photographer provided a collection of his photos for you to download from library’s laptop, and Daisy, another professional photographer, gave lectures and workshops on how to take better photographs. Rune, our Norwegian expedition leader and his 20+ team took excellent care of us all, almost half the passengers were from the US with quite a few single women, so although the ships total capacity is about 130, there were only 99 of us. Captain Andrus was excellent and got us through the Drakes passage and some narrow channels without hitting any big bergs and sinking us !!
Highlights included crossing the Antarctic Circle (66°33' south), Christmas day inside the Circle at Margaret Bay, passing through the Gullet and Lemaire Channels, visiting South Georgia (Cooper’s Bay, Grytviken, Rookery Point, Stormness and Salisbury Plain) and the Falkland’s (Port Stanley, Gypsy Cove, Saunders and West Point). We saw incredible wildlife close-up, including Adélie, Chinstrap, Gentoo penguins and various seals as well as humpback whales in Antarctica; as well as Kings, Maccaroni, Magellanic, and Rockhopper penguins and Commerson’s dolphins in South Georgia and the Falkland’s.
It is an expensive undertaking, and flights are an additional cost, but for a “once in a lifetime” experience, it is worth every penny. If you are a regular customer of Explore (UK), be sure to check for loyalty discounts—we were able to secure 10% off our booking.

What a shocker. Mawsons Antarctica. Buyer beware. Unsure where to start. I have gone more into depth in the review further on. Suffice to say they talk a big game with their " proposed " itinerary but deliver a fraction of what is promised. The company will hide behind the premise that adventure sailing is dependant on weather etc but this trip was a total joke. As you can read below, there was a lot promised and nothing delivered except days bobbing around an endless ocean in the futile hope the sea ice may dissipate at a time of year they should have been aware this could be a problem. Many other companies who travel to this region dont even bother going till January/ February for this reason. Apart from the failure to achieve virtually all of trips main objectives, this was accentuated by the expedition leader having a medical episode and forcing us to abandon our time in Sub Antarctic islands to rush to an appropriate medilift point. Throw in facilities on a new boat not working and bullying by expedition team member and the whole thing was shameful.
As a further insult, Aurora has offered a 20 percent discount on a future trip !! So not only do they think they are worth trusting again, but want you to spend more money..... clearly they have no interest in customer satisfaction but are interested in their bank account. I have contacted the company directly with my concerns but they insist the 20 percent is fair !!!! Wow.

More info below as promised based on their itinerary....

Proposed Itinerary as provided by Aurora .... Guided visit to Mawsons Hut, Hobart pre voyage. Visit : yes. Guided : massive overstatement. Self guided absolutely.


Transfer from airport .. not provided as I mistakenly arrived a day early so paid for private taxi. I did actually ask an Aurora rep ( via phone ) if they could still organise for me which was possible if I was prepared to pay for an extra night at The Tasman. The almost 500 AUD quoted by Aurora for one nights accommodation is a bit rich for my blood.



Day 6/7 Macquarie Island : Incredible experience and a rare highlight on the trip. Kudos to Aurora for their processes around bio security etc allowing us this rare treat.



Day 11-13 East Antarctic Coast/ King George V Land/ Adelie Land coastlines, Ninnis and Mertz glaciers, Petrel Island, Point Martin ... I am sure they are quite lovely but we didn't get there as we bobbed around the ocean.



Day 14-15 Commonwealth Bay/ Cape Denison ... I am sure they are quite lovely but we didn't get there as we bobbed around the ocean.



Day 20-22 Sandy Bay/ Carnley Harbour/ Erlangen Clearing/ Victoria Passage ? These names mean nothing to me ( unsure re Sandy Bay ) Actual was Campbell Island which we were supposed to spend more time at until a well documented medical emergency meant we lost most of that visit in a sprint to Stuart Island for medical evac. We then backtracked to The Snares ( interesting Zodiac cruise ) and a very boring Enderby Island.

Summing up .. paid for a lot and received less than a quarter of what Aurora proposed.



Facilities on the ship .... there are two lovely Jacuzzis at the rear on Deck 7. They operated the first two days and then were closed for the entirety of the voyage for " maintenance ". How can a brand new ship have that issue ? Closing for safety ... absolutely, but that was not the reason given. Also the elevator hardly operated at well due to a sensor issue. While it did not affect me there were a plethora of less able patrons struggling with the staircases.

Bullying by an expedition team member.... while I was not personally affected there was a nasty incident regarding a passenger who had an acquired brain injury. One female team member was quite derogatory and made sure everyone else knew about his issue. There is no room for that in society let alone a cruise ship.

Food was generally excellent and staff looked after all dietary requirements.
Cabin steward was superb.

The trip was a disaster. As always if reading this review, make your own informed assessment but be very very careful. I was expecting at least a 50 percent refund based on the false promises ( that incidentally were constantly repeated at nightly briefings by the Team Leader ). Unsure I can add more to my bitter disappointment.

All around, this is a superb cruise line. Service was consistently helpful, friendly, exceptionally caring. The kayak expedition team of 5 guys were supremely skilled, attentive, and supportive, for individuals of all levels of skill. Food was consistently tasty, fresh, well-presented. Rooms were immaculate, well-appointed, and extremely well-designed to maximize the small space. Medical care was available as needed. The trip to Antarctica created lifelong memories, and an interest in other cruises with Aurora, such as Norway.

Postscript: some important personal items were left on board by mistake. Reaching out to the administrative staff prompted a quick reply, and efforts on board to find them. Though it took a few weeks, all the items were returned by mail, carefully packed and intact. What an example of caring service, above and beyond! All the more reason to highly recommend Aurora, and to return for another expedition.