Review Time
Avoid this tour operator, as they appear to have serious operational limitations and as result fail to deliver on the sold voyage itineraries. We booked at 10 day trip to Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands on Ocean Victory. We spent less than 1 day in the Antarctica, instead of 4 outlined in the itinerary, visiting only one anchorage, and not visiting South Shetland Islands. .
We booked a trip with Alabatros Expeditions with some hesitancy given their incident history (see cruise mapper) and many negative reviews. We certainly have lived to regret our decision. The subsequent dealings with Albatros have been frustrating at best and it is clear that Albatros has no interest in showing any accountability, hiding behind their terms and conditions, and generally have little regards for their customers. The response and communication from Albatros Expeditions/Polar Latitudes to us and a large group of passengers who have collaborated in seeking compensation have been shockingly unprofessional, and Albatros has refused to provide fair compensation. These are expensive trips, do not gamble your money away with this dubious and unscrupulous company.
To add to it all, our accommodations were not watertight. Our balcony door (4th floor) would not lock, and when we reported concerns to the front desk, we found a large towel placed along the bottom of the door to stop water intrusion. Not exactly a safe set up in the rough waters of Drake Passage, where waves do reach deck 4. In short, this not a trustworthy operator.
This company is disgusting, they want you to use their slow a$$ wifi, they wont let you bring your own internet, they say it interferes with their ship, when it has been proven many many times that it does not. And they say their policies prohibit bringing your own internet. When there is absolutely nothing in their policies that prohibit it, Avoid this cruise like the plague it is, nothing but greedy trash. Was thinking about using them for a family trip but dang sure won't be after the video of them confiscating a starling from someone, guess you won't be able to bring a satellite phone with you since it "interferes with their wifi/ship" sorry sorry company, hope they go out of business. These companies needs to learn to quite being so greedy. Avoid at all costs. Not worth your time, and now I know why they have such a low low rating.
Polar Latitude / Albatros Expeditions has misleading advertising regarding their abilities to provide their itinerary as advertised. They underdelivered on our expedition by deciding to only take us to Antarctica for less than one day of the four days they advertise. There was weather to deal with, but that is common / expected in the Drake Passage, and other companies were able to offer a more complete experience to their guests at the same time. Other boats were also crossing when we were being diverted away from Antarctica.When a large group of unhappy passengers corresponded with the company, providing lots of evidence as to why they should have been able to proceed as advertised, they ignored us to begin with then once they finally responded did not show transparency or accountability for their poor decisions. At the end of the day, the boat that we were on was not able to handle the Drake Passage as advertised.I would steer clear of this company, based on what I have learned about their ability to deliver the product they sell (from my experience & past performance discovered in our research). They had the choice to deliver the product, and when not able to, to make it right for their customers by compensating appropriately & they chose not to. This was a disappointing 'once in a lifetime experience' and they overpromise and underdeliver on it.
Avoid this tour operator, as they appear to have serious operational limitations and as result fail to deliver on the sold voyage itineraries. We booked at 10 day trip to Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands on Ocean Victory. We spent less than 1 day in the Antarctica, instead of 4 outlined in the itinerary, visiting only one anchorage, and not visiting South Shetland Islands. . We booked a trip with Alabatros Expeditions with some hesitancy given their incident history (see cruise mapper) and many negative reviews. We certainly have lived to regret our decision. The subsequent dealings with Albatros have been frustrating at best and it is clear that Albatros has no interest in showing any accountability, hiding behind their terms and conditions, and generally have little regards for their customers. The response and communication from Albatros Expeditions/Polar Latitudes to us and a large group of passengers who have collaborated in seeking compensation have been shockingly unprofessional, and Albatros has refused to provide fair compensation. These are expensive trips, do not gamble your money away with this dubious and unscrupulous company. To add to it all, our accommodations were not watertight. Our balcony door (4th floor) would not lock, and when we reported concerns to the front desk, we found a large towel placed along the bottom of the door to stop water intrusion. Not exactly a safe set up in the rough waters of Drake Passage, where waves do reach deck 4. In short, this not a trustworthy operator.
I spent $8000 on a non-refundable ticket for the January 20, 2026, South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula voyage on the Ocean Victory with Albatros Expeditions. Before purchasing, I specifically obtained permission from the company to stream/live broadcast during the trip, as that's my profession as a livestreamer—the entire point of booking this expensive cruise was to fund and document the adventure through my work while sharing the experience with my audience.Nowhere in their policies, terms, FAQs, or communications was it stated that live streaming or broadcasting would be prohibited onboard. I was never warned about any restrictions on content creation beyond standard photography/video rules.Mid-voyage, staff members (who did not identify themselves as crew at first) aggressively questioned and confronted me about streaming. I wasn't intentionally filming other passengers or invading privacy—any people who appeared were only those who approached me, engaged in conversation, or came into frame naturally. If they didn't want to be on camera, they shouldn't have initiated contact. Meanwhile, virtually everyone else on the ship had their phones and cameras out constantly for photos, videos, and personal use—no one else was targeted.There was another streamer onboard—an older white man—who was also told to stop streaming. However, they allowed him to continue without further interference. In my case, they not only demanded I stop but shut off my shipboard internet access entirely to enforce it. When I switched to my personal Starlink device (which I had brought onboard with no prior prohibition mentioned), security forcefully detained me, locked me in the brig (ship's detention area), and confined me there for the remainder of the cruise.The only apparent difference between me and the other streamer is that I'm Black. This unequal treatment felt discriminatory and deeply unfair. I was robbed of $8000, prevented from working (my livelihood), denied the ability to enjoy what should have been a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and subjected to aggressive handling and isolation.If Albatros Expeditions didn't want streamers or live broadcasters onboard, they shouldn't have accepted my $8000 payment, granted prior permission to stream, and then abruptly changed the rules mid-voyage without warning or consistency. This ruined what was supposed to be an incredible experience and left me feeling violated and out thousands of dollars.I strongly advise anyone considering Albatros Expeditions—especially content creators or those from underrepresented groups—to think twice. The ship, itinerary, and Antarctica are amazing, but the company's handling of this situation was unacceptable and potentially discriminatory. 0/10 – never again.
Captain is a tyrannical greedy thief who seizes personal items off of passengers who don't want to pay extortionate prices for internet under the guise of staff and passenger safety. All lies. If you don't want your personal items stolen off you stay away from this company.
Too many Corporate Freeloaders on our recent trip around Greenland. While the overall trip, staff, food and cabins were great, the experience was spoiled by a large group of head office staff from Polar Latitudes. Who are they, you might ask? Polar Latitudes are in the process of taking over/merging with Albatros Expeditions. I got the impression that the paying customers were unimportant to them, and that THEIR needs took priority. I attended a focus group with the PL senior people, and all they they wanted to know was what we, the paying passengers, thought about the merger. We made it clear that we were much more concerned about the impact their staff were having on our enjoyment of this particular trip. It felt like we were an unimportant distraction from a corporate team building event. Having said that, the Albatros expedition, catering and hospitality staff were great. Although I would echo another review in that there was little or no evening entertainment for passengers. Having travelled with Albatros before, this trip did not live up to expectations, and I won't be travelling with them again.
Unlikely to use this company again. 1/ passengers paid varying amounts depending on the travel agent used which soured the experience for those who paid more . Lots of travellers seemed to be “staff” travelling on freebies ..2/ The food was awful. Hostel quality. I mentioned this to one of the expedition crew who screwed up her face and said “ we’ve been telling them for ages - you need to write to them about the poor food “. I did but never received a reply - not surprising..Filipino service crew were greatNo wine / beer served at lunch unlike similar other providers2/ expedition crew very mixed .some ok ,most pretty average. No evening “entertainment “ ie talks or documentaries ( only one was on Tuvalu)3/ occupational health and safety needs to be addressed. The sauna area leading to the outdoor deck was constantly wet ( not mats provided) , my partner slipped . Possible hairline fracture to his big toe, he could not walk for 3 days. No one seemed particularly interested. No safety report was lodged despite the safety officer being briefed on the incident. Very concerning. No one was able to escalate to management Cabin was clean and well maintained
Both my friend and I have traveled with Albatros Expeditions on separate trips — one to Antarctica and one to the Arctic — and unfortunately, both experiences were extremely disappointing.My friend spent over ten thousand dollars on a multi-destination expedition. When Albatros Expeditions’ ship broke down, the entire trip was cancelled. Rather than taking responsibility, the company refused to offer any refund and simply told passengers to “use their travel insurance.” In effect, Albatros Expeditions kept the passengers’ money without delivering the promised service, showing no accountability whatsoever — a shocking stance for a company that brands itself as an “expedition” operator.My own experience this summer with a Greenland booking was equally frustrating, though for different reasons. The payment process was an ordeal. Their website’s payment link consistently failed, yet none of their European staff seemed aware of the issue. Over the course of several weeks, I tried to complete the payment from three different countries, using four browsers, three computers, and multiple major U.S. credit cards — all resulting in the same error messages.The email response I received from the agent was a canned one from online:99% of credit card rejections occur due to the following reasons:Missing 3D Secure authenticationDaily, weekly, or monthly transfer limits exceededInsufficient available creditDebit card restrictions or limitationsWhen I confirmed all details were correct, they began blaming my banks and cards instead. I spent over 12 hours, made more than 15 calls to my banks, and exchanged more than 30 emails with their product coordinator (Albatros Expeditions wouldn't let me include the name here), who repeatedly insisted their website was fine and “complies with EU regulations.”At that point, I no longer wanted to proceed with the trip, but Albatros Expeditions refused to allow cancellation (they would keep my deposit.) This, again, mirrored the lack of accountability seen in my friend’s situation.Eventually, after contacting their U.S. office (since the European one was entirely unhelpful), a senior staff member (Albatros Expeditions wouldn't let me include the name here) acknowledged that their payment system has had a known glitch. He advised me to manually adjust the last digit in my booking number to “-03” or “-04” — and only then was I able to complete payment immediately.In summary, Albatros Expeditions charges customers thousands — sometimes tens of thousands — of dollars while providing:A malfunctioning and unreliable websiteUndertrained staff who lack technical knowledgeA refusal to take responsibility when problems ariseMinimal customer support that consists mainly of shifting blameThis level of service is simply unacceptable for a company operating in the premium travel market. Booking with Albatros Expeditions is, frankly, worse than losing your money outright — it also costs you time, stress, and frustration.My sincere recommendation: take your business elsewhere. There are many expedition companies that are far more professional, transparent, and customer-focused. Learn from my friend’s and my experiences — Albatros Expeditions is not one of them.
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Leading Expedition Cruise Company. Let us take you to the most isolated and pristine regions of the planet, on modern purpose-built vessels with true Scandinavian spirit, style, and comfort.
Here at Albatros Expeditions and Travel Group, we have been offering expeditions to the most remote regions of the world since 1985. We are a pioneering, cruise operator offering exceptional experiences onboard our modern, state-of-the-art fleet. Join us for the trip of a lifetime and experience it all with our Scandinavian hospitality!
We are proud to introduce two of the most advanced ships in our fleet with their award-winning facilities and itineraries, Ocean Victory and Ocean Albatros. You might think our vessels look a little different. That's because they are. Experience with us!See more
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