Athens
Madeleine
In her element planning active, adventurous itineraries off the beaten path. Also the one to call for group travel.
The ship is the base camp. The point is what happens off it.
Expedition cruising sits somewhere between a cruise and an outfitted adventure. The vessels are small, ice-capable, and purpose-built, with a team of scientists and naturalists aboard rather than a cruise director. Most days you leave the ship — by Zodiac, kayak, sometimes submarine — and the itinerary flexes with the ice and the weather, because it has to.
What’s changed in the last few years is the comfort. You can now reach Antarctica or the Northwest Passage in an ocean-front suite with a proper restaurant and a spa. It’s the same expedition; you just sleep better.
Who we book most
Three lines worth knowing
All three run purpose-built expedition ships. They differ in how they balance comfort against adventure.
Seabourn
The widest range of activities
Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit carry a 19-person expedition team and the deepest activity list we book — Zodiacs, kayaking, scuba, snorkeling, and submarines. Antarctica, the Arctic, the Kimberley Coast, the South Pacific. All-suite, all ocean-front, with an open bridge policy.
Silversea Expeditions
Polar and Galápagos specialists
Expedition gear is included — parka, backpack, water bottle — along with guided Zodiac and land tours and enrichment lectures from the expedition team. Select voyages include hotel nights either side. Silver Origin is purpose-built for the Galápagos.
Viking Expeditions
The scientific angle
Viking brought its river and ocean approach to expedition sailing — enrichment lectures, a laboratory aboard, and a shore excursion included in every port. The most academically minded of the three, and the gentlest introduction to the format.
Why an expedition
What you actually get
Experts aboard, not entertainers
Scientists, naturalists, historians, and photographers who lecture in the evening and lead the landings in the morning.
You go ashore constantly
Zodiac landings, guided hikes, kayaking, and on some ships scuba and submarines. Often twice a day, weather permitting.
Ships built for ice
Reinforced hulls and advanced stabilization — which matters a great deal crossing the Drake Passage.
Flexible itineraries
Plans change with ice and wildlife. That’s a feature, not a fault: the captain going where the whales are is the whole point.
Real comfort at the end of it
Ocean-front suites, proper restaurants, and a spa. You spend the day in a parka and the evening in a robe.
Small groups
Under 250 guests on most expedition ships, and landing regulations in Antarctica cap shore parties at 100 — so it stays quiet.
Who you’ll work with
Pick the office nearest you.
All four of our advisors book expedition voyages. Which one you work with is usually just a question of which office you’d rather walk into.
Dunwoody
Leslie
Planning travel since 1990, including Alaska and the far north. Ask her about the history nobody told you to look for.
Dunwoody
Steve
Left a career as a chiropractor for a year-long trip around the world. Far-flung is his default setting, and a sunrise hike in Sri Lanka is his idea of a good morning.
Tuscaloosa
Stella
A solo traveler who believes the best trips push you outside your comfort zone — which is more or less the definition of this one.
Worth knowing
These book further out than you’d think
Antarctica and the Arctic run short seasons on small ships, and the best suites go twelve to eighteen months ahead. If you’re thinking about it for next year, now is the right time to talk.
Ready when you are.
Tell us which end of the earth you have in mind and we’ll take it from there.
