Epic Antarctica: Crossing the Circle

The whole trip was simply incredible. Everything was perfect- everyone in the crew is not "only" the professional in his/her field but an amazing human being. All of them take their job as a mission and make a trip the most wonderful and unforgettable holiday of your lifetime. Special thanks to Dr.Paul for saving my partner from the acute sea sickness :) Beside that the food is equal to the dishes served in the best fine dining restaurants. Cabins are cozy and clean. Whole voyage is well thought and planned to the last detail- you do not waste a minute, the trip is worth every single penny. On the top of that you meet wonderful people from all over the world with whom you can party until the break of dawn - it was as if we knew them for years. Flawless! (Copied from Trip Advisor)

I recently spent 12 nights on the Ocean Diamond for an Antarctica trip. The trip itself was in my lifetime top 3, right up there with the Galapagos Islands and a South African safari. In fact, I've explained the trip to many people as a polar safari. Quark was very helpful and showed their expertise in polar cruising in the booking process, pre-departure and throughout the trip. I can't say enough wonderful things about both the hotel staff and the expedition team on the ship. I came in with high expectations and they were all exceeded. I felt like the expedition team spent the whole trip showing us their favorite place...probably because they were. Even late in the season, their passion was contagious. we knew the excursions would be amazing, but the onboard lecture series let us take so much more home from the experience. The Ocean Diamond itself is not the newest, shiniest ship in Quark's fleet, but the trade is for a cozy, lived-in ship with a lot of character. The ship is very comfortable, well maintained with plenty of comfortable common space and more spacious cabins than I had anticipated. We were in a triple cabin and had plenty of room to unpack all of our suitcases and stash them under the beds and each carve out our own bit of space in the cabin. We never felt like we were packed in, either in our cabin in particular or on the ship in general. The food was both plentiful and tasty, although an Antarctic cruise is obviously not a foodie destination. (Copied from Trip Advisor)

Quark Expeditions came recommended by a popular travel blogger, so I started following them as we wanted to save up to take a trip to Antarctica and South Georgia. Originally we had hoped to travel on their World Explorer ship, but because of a special offer we ended up on the Ocean Diamond. The ship itself is a little outdated and could use some maintenance, but overall it's very clean and comfortable. I have no complaints about Quark Expeditions. It's a very planned, safe, and well thought out experience. The rooms were comfortable, and the food was top notch. They have a shop on board, so if you are missing anything you may have forgotten or need. The entire staff is also amazing. You will love every minute of the trip. I guess the only negative is, the TV on board is so so (you have to rely on them to change the movies every so often), and you have to fork over like 100 bucks to use internet on your devices. Otherwise, you just have WhatsApp wifi access for free. (Copied from Trip Advisor)

This ship is not new, but certainly well maintained. Our cabin on the 5th deck was large enough and the service of making up our room multiple times a day was really nice. The 5th deck was also nice since we had direct access to the side decks. The ship had a nice enclosed, warm observation deck on the 7th level right above the bridge. It was also great that we were allowed in the bridge. One of my favorite spots however, was the large observation deck on the top of the ship, which seldom had many people on it. The food was also great, as we never went hungry with the ample snacks between meals. The food selection at the meals was always great and whatever we had was done well. Access to fresh salads everyday was appreciated. Most important however, is that all food was properly appropriated, stored and prepared as we never got sick, something that is always a worry on a ship. I can't imagine working in the kitchen while crossing the Drake Passage under the conditions we had, as we heard several large crashes as the ship swayed so strongly that I was thrown out of my chair in the dining room. (Swoop Antarctica)