Cruise Routes Reviews 

When we decided to plan an Antarctica trip, internet searching let us to contact Polar Routes. It was a great decision! Charlie Mason worked with us to determine an itinerary including the Falklands, South Georgia, and the South Okneys and researched many options before presenting us with several main options that fit our desire for a smaller expedition with maximum zodiac landings and tours. The advice we received from Polar Routes was spot on and the cruise we selected with Hapag-Lloyd was perfect for us. Charlie really understood what we were looking for. The 18-night itinerary on the Hanseatic Inspiration exceeded our expectations. The ship is beautiful, easy to navigate, and we had a very roomy and well-designed balcony cabin. As English speakers we were comfortable with the bilingual German-English format. The Ocean Academy is very informative and we used it often. The food and service were excellent. Hospitality could not have been better. The bridge was open to us almost all the time. The inspiration walk at the very front of the ship was a popular way to take in unobstructed views. The captain and team were creative and persistent in finding alternative landing sites when weather and wind caused changes. It truly was the trip of a lifetime. It was much easier than I expected to prepare for such an expedition as Charlie and Polar Routes saw to all the details for us. I highly recommend and hope to enjoy planning another adventure with them! This one was unforgettable. :)

I cannot recommend Polar Routes enough. From the first time I contacted them they were helpful and patient with all my questions. I dealt (mainly) with Lucy Yeoman who was excellent and a real enthusiast. The Cruise (Weddell Sea) itself was fantastic. I had high expectations and the Cruise met them in every way and in some exceeded them. Swan Hellenic were an excellent cruise provider and the SS Vega was a fantastic boat to be on.

Charlie Mason..Polar Routes Agent..thank you from bottom of my heart for organising my Antartic expedition ..In spite of challenges & several hiccoughs..Intrepid got me there.It was an adventure from the very beginning..the tour of Buenos Aires..I heard the BBQ was brilliant, too busy exploring!!.All hotels were superb...The expedition exceeded all expectations..in particular the camping,polar plunge(swim in my case)the excursions,lectures,wild life.To wake up in Antartica was surreal..unspoilt..pristine glistening..teaming with independent life..words are not adequate to describe the whole experience The experts shared their vision & practices & adhered to contamination prevention making it so easy for us..The cruise ship was wonderful as was all the crew & guides.How hard they all worked on our behalf..Nothing was too much trouble for anyone involved..It has now set the bar high & I met people who repeatedly travel with Intrepid..Had the best night's sleep ever ..If I was younger I would be applying for a job!!!As for the food..have never known such choice and delicious too.The gym,sauna and deck walks were perfect to work off those 3 meals ++a day!! 1 week on & still haven't come down!!

I wanted to write to you to say thank you for all your help and guidance in setting up my recent trip to Falklands South Georgia and Antarctica. It was an absolutely amazing trip. Your recommendation of G Adventures was spot on as I really enjoyed the small group feel of the ship and the camaraderie of the expedition staff and ship’s crew as well as the flexibility of the small numbers.

All the travel arrangements transfers and hotels all worked fine - thanks for all your efforts there. I arrived in Ushuaia to be informed that we were doing the trip in reverse due to concerns about closures in South Georgia so we went to Falklands and South Georgia first - more than happy with that as wanted to do it that way originally!

We were so lucky with the weather. No landings were cancelled and several times there was a weather system, we were in the eye of it for the critical time we were landing or out in the Zodiacs. We had a day and a half of blue skies in the heart of the peninsula in the Gerlache channel area which was magical.

We had a day each in West and East Falklands with great wildlife in West Falklands - highlight was watching surfing rockhopper coming out of the sea onto the rocks at Saunders Island. On South Georgia the krill is good this year so the penguin colonies were thriving ( avian flu is affecting seals more at moment). - it is mind boggling seeing a million penguins at St Andrew’s Bay. We managed to do the last part of Shackleton’s trek from Fortuna Bay to Stromness ( Stromness closed following day for inspection!). Grytviken is open for museum church etc but graveyard is currently off limits due to some seal deaths. That was only disappointment but we still went beneath it via Zodiac to see Shackleton’s gravestone. More than compensated however for by other bonuses. Went up Drygalski Fjord and managed to get up fairly close to glacier at top - lot of expedition staff had never seen it!

Half way to Antarctica we had the bonus of encountering A23a ( as I am sure you know the largest iceberg in the world currently) on a glorious sunny day and sailed alongside it for a few hours. We then made landfall at Elephant Island and were able to go in Zodiacs to see where Shackleton’s men awaited his return. Timed to perfection in the eye of an depression. Also encountered a feeding frenzy of about 50 whales gorging on krill just off the island. We then went to Deception Island to the volcanic caldera before heading for the Gerlache Channel. Went through the Lemaitre Channel both ways to Booth Island out most southern point. On one day had about 40 orcas around boat and with the sun plenty of sighting of Gentoo penguin chicks. Great sightings of leopard seals lounging on icebergs. Had a last landing in horizontal snow to remind us of what it could have been like! Then even a fairly smooth Drake passage crossing.

Hope I haven’t gone on too much. I had high expectations of the trip but these were surpassed. Thank you for helping to make it such a memorable experience - definitely a trip of a lifetime.

As a child I was watching the documentary about the emperor penguin. Since then it was always on the cards to go to Antarctica and see them in their own habitat. I was looking on the different websites for the trip down to the South Pole to see them. There were not many travel agents which they would go to the Weddell sea - Snow Hill where their colony can be found. I came across the Polar Routes. Lucy Yeoman was great. Very informative, friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. She herself has been in Antarctica before, so she shared her experience with me. I booked the trip back in 2020 just before covid, but I managed finally to go there in 2023. This was the best trip I ever made thanks to Lucy at the Polar Routes and everyone at Oceanwide. Would definitely recommend both companies to everyone who is thinking of going to Antarctica. Lucy was incredible. Always happy to help with anything I needed. It is almost impossible to find a dedicated person to the job nowadays, buy Lucy is the exception. She really does her job extremely well.
I am so grateful to Lucy Yeoman because without her my dream wouldn't come true.

Myself and my husband booked with Lucy over 2 years ago. We booked the 21 day Falkland, South Georgia & Antarctica trip. It was just absolutely unbelieve. It was everything we could of imaged and so much more! It really has impacted us massively. Booking through Polar Routes was the best choice we made in booking this trip, because of all the logistics. Everything from start to finish ran smoothly and i can't fault them at all. They have played a massive part in making my 30th birthday trip the most special experience I could have hoped for. Thank you so much Lucy.

We originally planned to book our cruise direct however at the last minute we decided to book via Polar Routes. So glad we did. As novice cruisers there were a surprising number of decisions to navigate and their help was invaluable. Our agent James was fantastic and his advice on cabin choice gave a significant saving. Booking via a travel agent also provided ATOL protection as no extra cost. If James was out of office there was always someone equally helpful to speak to. An excellent company who I strongly recommend.

We have just got back from a trip to Antartica and Easter island . Lucy at Polar routes and Alex at Latin routes the sister company helped us plan the trip and book it.
All our queries and questions were answered promptly and Lucy gave us lots of tips and information on the Antarctic part of the trip . Alex had great suggestions for hotels by the airport in Santiago and Nayara Hangaroa in Easter island which was amazing .
We had a two day delay to fly back to Punta Arenas from King George island and our flights from Punta Arenas to Santiago were changed by them to a later time .
All in all an amazing holiday . We would like to go with them and Quark to the Artic sometime .

We have just returned from our first ever cruise. Kasey Green at Polar Routes guided us through the various booking options, including looking at different flight options, in the end we went with her advice had an extra day in Buenos Aries and saved £1200 UK pounds each due to cheaper flight prices a day earlier. Without her checking flights we would not have known this. Any queries were swiftly answered and all the private transfers and extra hotel bookings Kasey booked worked seamlessly.
The staff and expedition crew on the SH Diana were excellent, nothing was too much trouble. I'm still amazed at the staff's ability to know and address each of us by name after only a couple of days (168 guests) The food with great and the zodiac tours and landings were amazing, as were the daily lectures and briefings.
We are already looking at the the SH Diana cruises for the Arctic circle and will definitely book using Polar Routes again.
In short I cannot find a single fault with either the cruise we took on SH Diana or the help and advice from Kasey Green at Polar Routes and would highly recommend them.

Kasey gave excellent support before and during our trip to Buenos Aires, Ushuaia and Antarctica. We had several special requests during the planning and a last minute flight change that we requested during the trip and these were arranged with the minimum inconvenience to us. Everything went to plan and we were kept well informed what to expect on a day to day basis. They used Oceanwide as the supplier for the Antarctica cruise, and I cannot praise them enough for the all round service, food and accommodation

From the very beginning of my search for 'the perfect Antarctic' holiday for my family I was totally impressed by James and the team at Polar Routes. The simple reason was their professionalism. They listened to what i wanted and then provided options and gentle recommendations based on what was important to me. E.g. in my case I wanted a small ship; I wanted to see as much wildlife as possible and I wanted my family to be safe (particularly over the dreaded Drake Passage).

So, we examined Ponant, and almost immediately I committed. It just felt right and I got the impression that Polar routes would manage all the details well.

I was not disappointed at all, in fact the delivery of the service exceeded expectations. Every email I wrote got an immediate response. I felt like I was special and important.

The Ponant experience itself was incredible. Super luxurious ship; wonderful cabins; every conceivable comfort is catered for; excellent cuisine with multiple choices; service from a crew where everyone in every job function from the skipper all the way through to the kitchen porter authentically wanted you to feel special and welcomed.

Every process was meticulously planned and executed from arrival, safety briefing; meeting the crew; guides; disembarkation; timings etc etc etc. Just magical.

In summary, I wanted to make memories with my family - so we would never forget our Christmas and new year adventure. Ponant and Polar Routes delivered the best experiences imaginable. Thank you James and the team. Thank you Ponant. Stunning - simply stunning.

Very happy with Charlie Mason and the Polar Routes team along with Hurtigruten. My Antarctic experience was overwhelming and everything brilliantly organised. The scenery was majestic, and the wildlife was astounding. I can totally recommend Antarctica, Polar Routes and Hurtigruten

Polar Routes were very helpful and professional when we made our initial enquiry about a possible trip to Antarctica. They helped us to find the right trip for us. Lucy was both knowledgeable and experienced having travelled there herself so she was able to speak from first hand experience. Once the booking was made she was always happy to answer any questions or queries we might have and kept us informed of any changes regarding the booking, flights etc. She rang us before the trip to wish us a good holiday and again on our return to see if we had any issues etc. We found the Polar Routes app very helpful - this meant that we had all our travel documentation and holiday information at hand and readily available - it got used a lot! Yes we would definitely recommend them they definitely made the whole experience much easier and it was nice to know that they were always on hand should we have any issues!

Polar Routes is THE MOST efficient travel agent I have ever encountered..their communication skills were beyond expectations.. I wish other companies could learn from them .. everything was organised to the highest level and I have recommended them to everyone and will continue to do so .. special shout out to Kasey .. amazing employee 🥇

Having done some initial research on Antarctic trips I finally turned to Polar Routes for advice and was so pleased I did. Lucy Yeomans was so helpful and knowledgeable and also gives a very personal service. She really takes time to discuss details and advise on the trip best for you - because there are many to choose from! We finally settled on Ocean Adventurer with Quark Expeditions. It was really great - very knowledgeable expedition crew, delightful staff and lovely food. Also one of the smaller ships which suited us very well. We were all so happy with all the arrangements. Thank you Lucy!

The company via Kasey did extremely well and Kasey was particularly helpful in all aspects of the trip. Hurtigruten too were flawless and have to be congratulated on their superb organisation.

Polar Routes are stars. They arranged my trip of a lifetime to Antarctica, and it went seamlessly from pigeons to penguins and back to pigeons again. Every detail was taken care of, it was a complex trip with no loose ends. They made sure that it would fulfill my dreams. Lucy and Kate made sure that I was kept informed at every stage.
The Sea Spirit was comfortable and well equipped, and the staff kept everything spotless. The catering officers took every care to ensure that dietary needs were attended to, in my case vegetarian. The staff all acted as a team from the lectures to the Antarctic plunge.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, and I've made enquiries for my next trip.
I once read an article saying that you should not use travel agents, but approach the Company you want to travel with directly. Bad advice! I consulted them frequently and they put me back on track every time.

Can't recommend Kasey & Polar Routes highly enough! 👍
At every stage of our dealings with Polar Routes, Kasey was friendly, engaging and kept us informed of all our options. From our initial enquiry to booking and aftercare, Kasey used her indepth knowledge to make recommendations which we found to be very helpful and certainly enhanced our tour experience! 👍
She was definitely a major factor in why we decided to go with Polar Routes for our Antartica trip! 😁
A few months after booking we were even lucky enough to be offered a free upgrade! 🙌
One of our excursions had to be cancelled due to bad weather and Kasey kept us informed of the refund process from start to finish.

Kasey is the consumate professional and provided us with the best customer service we could want. For us, she is the benchmark for superior customer service and is a total credit to herself and a major asset for Polar Routes.
We would definitely use this company again and would recommend talking to Kasey about your trip as this lady 'knows her stuff!' 👍😁

Kasey at Polar was my personal contact point and was above and beyond in the customer services I received. Every detail taken care of and all the questions this 70+ sought clarification for duly responded to. Assistance at airport, not a problem.
Queries about suitability of add on excursions, booking in etcra.
This the first cruise of any kind I have been on. It won't be the last and for sure when the bank account says yes I will be calling Kasey at Polar Routes.
Thank you Kasey.
The only thing Kasey couldn't do was get a better view of the Merry Dancers. They did appear but the solar and weather patters did not combine to give the best views but just makes me more determined to go again. Kasey as the film line goes, 'I'll be back'.

Polar Routes were a superb firm to deal with and were very attentive to all questions regarding the holiday.
Hutigruten also, as a company . were fantastic. They so incredibly well organised and could not fault eiither in any way whatsoever