Quark Expeditions

Good (5 *) - The expedition team and staff; the meals; the equipment (like Zodiacs) - and the wonderful destination East Greenland Bad (1 *) - The exchange of the ship to the worn out „Ocean Atlantic“ where the powerpoint in the cabin was damaged - the screw of the toilet door and the closet felt off to the floor - the potholes and windows (with no exception in the whole public areas) were dirty and unclean. Beside the poor deck plan of this old ship which as the lounges all the back or on the side. >>> When you exchange the ship you must give the customer the possibility to step back from the booking(!!) Instead you filled up the ship with travel agents and sold additional tickets with 40 percent discount. Shame on Quark! Five plus one stars = three stars overall - with the side remark that we definitely won’t recommend Quark to friends.

Pluses- Greenland- weather perfect- flowers, icebergs, polar bears--all and more than expected. Most of Quark team excellent- Crew excellent- Minuses- rare norhtern lights at this time of year. Food Fair- Ship too big- Extreme photographers. 3rd Quark expedition and probably last.

The scenery was stunning ( when you can see it through the fog) - esp the geology if you are “into” to that sort of thing, though fear not, there are experts a plenty on hand to assist with interpretation should you need it. The icebergs in Scorsbysund Fjord were awesome - truly awesome. Again glaciologists abound for interpretation….and dome & gloom about global warming. Almost as good as the icebergs in the Antarctic for me…but that was about it. Don’t believe a word about the Northern Lights - very very unlikely to ever see them here during the scant hour of darkness - and don’t expect much in the way of birds or mammals ( land or marine) either. The deep deep geography of the fjords makes for poor food supplies so little wildlife…according to Quarks own experts, who clearly don’t brief the brochure team. The only significant wildlife is of the floral variety - though sadly there was no botanist on board. We were lucky to have a number of polar bear sightings but gather that is unusual. If you go - & its probably worth it if you get a good deal - make sure you get aboard a small expedition ship not the pretence for a larger cruise ship that we unfortunately experienced….and don’t forget about the 3-4 days potentially rough passage sailing across the Denmark Straits.

To begin with, The Galapagos Islands are something not to be missed. I was disappointed that Quark contracted this trip out to International Expeditions. In my opinion International Expeditions is an average company that has a way to go to match up with Quark. I have come to enjoy Quark Expeditions ('Epic Antarctica: Crossing the Circle via Falklands and South Georgia' and 'East Greenland: Northern Lights') for the quality of the adventure and professionalism of the staff. I enjoyed the ship (M/V Evolution) and crew.

So, reviewing Quark is actually really difficult because my experience is a story of two very different experiences. 4 Days in Antarctica (7 stars) Quark's staff on board are generally wonderful. They eat with passengers and are engaged. They are professional with the zodiacs, willing to accommodate requests for photographers or based on the interest of those on board the zodiac (i.e. animals vs icebergs) and everything runs super smoothly. While this section of the review is much shorter than the gripes, I cannot understate how good the zodiac crews were, how pleasurable it was to chat with staff and how wonderful the real meat of the trip was. Antarctica, of course, is magical and not to be missed. I cannot do it justice in a review and won't try. Everything Else (2 stars) - The Albatros hotel (Quark books people across three hotels for your one night stay in Ushuaia so yours might be different) is beyond terrible. Imagine coming out for breakfast at 8am (it runs 7-10) and finding every single table covered in dirty dishes, no glasses or knives anywhere to be found and so eating on a clean corner of a table, spreading jam with a spoon and using a coffee cup for orange juice for $210 US a night. I could go on, but you get the idea. It’s a crappy motel 6 at Park Hyatt prices. - After giving up your luggage and checking out of the horrid Albatros, you have five hours to kill in Ushuaia before boarding. As a photographer with 25lbs of gear (which I am not leaving in a hotel lobby to be picked up by Quark’s contracted ground staff) I basically had to sit on a lobby couch all day to kill time. There has to be a better option (like late check out from a hotel you must book a million rooms a year with?). - Quark loves to nickel and dime you to death. $4.50 to wash a pair of track pants on board. $3 for a diet coke. I paid $11,500 for the trip and it was silly to get a bill for $100 for some laundry and drinks. There is no reason Quark cannot factor in soft drink costs and a reasonable laundry allowance (say $30) to both avoid burdening the system but also to let people wash a few items without getting a bill. Booze, I understand having to pay for (and costs are reasonable). - The food is solid and plentiful, but service is really strange in parts. The staff are divided into waiters and drink staff with no way to tell them apart which invariably leads to asking the wrong one for the wrong thing. Also, staff are often so quick to try to fulfill a request they don't actually wait to listen to your full request. The number of times I would order a burger then have to order ketchup (which weirdly does not automatically come with the fries) on a second trip because the waiter heard "burger" and then ran to get one became tiresome. It also became aggravating to hear the same "it's really important to fill out the survey and mention people by name, by the way my name is Raymond" pitch from every waiter over the last couple of days of the trip. - Quark is poor at communication. I was sent documentation that indicated an airport transfer to hotel on arrival but not one on departure (for an outgoing 1:30pm flight). It turned out to be the opposite was true (because I flew in a day early and my booking agent did not care enough to inform me I wasn't entitled to an airport transfer on the way in as a result)....Quark tells you not to book a flight before noon, half the ship flew out at 11am so I sat in an airport for hours more than needed...I tried to register a credit card (for security) on board twice in the first couple days and was refused, then got a passive aggressive note saying I needed to do so by Feb 9 (two days before cruise ended) so I went up and it turned out that because I was paying cash, didn't need to at all (the question of what would have happened had I not registered and decided to pay by VISA went unanswered)...tipping is another area of poor communication, the documents I received indicated $10-$15 a day. On ship the recommended amount changed to $120-$150 for trip for one set of staff and $30-$50 for another set. $150...which is $16.50-$22 based on a 9 night cruise (what it actually is) as surely Quark doesn't feel I should tip Quark staff for my staying in a hotel in Ushuaia?...while both amounts are 100% anonymous (with cash) and discretionary, it's just another area where what Quark tells you changes….apparently the bar sold snacks, nobody at my table knew this was a thing until a staff member told us after one person at the table griped Quark could make money by selling snacks on board…apparently, there were beverage package options, nobody told me this was a thing until I saw somebody “pay” for a coke with a ship board token…i.e. Quark needs to provide laundry costs, a drink list (and costs), internet costs, snack costs, list of beverage packages all in advance. It’s amazingly silly I couldn’t find out that they have text only webmail for $30 (unlimited email) and that this couldn’t be setup in advance so I could give out the email address to friends before departing. - Every event is scheduled to kill time because there is little to do on ship. Have a meeting 5-5:45 then come back to the same room at 6:30 for another meeting! Which forces you to kill 30 minutes (not enough time to do anything but go back to cabin or head on deck) so there is a lot of this kind of scheduling designed to effectively waste time going and returning. - The lectures, while informative, were very academic in nature and, thus, not what anyone really wanted. I won't name names because they are lovely people but certain staff lectures were compared to instant sleeping pills. - My Quark booking agent was incompetent. I had to joy of dealing with Caren Rapp who is terrible. Over the year since I put down my deposit, I had to deal with no less than 20 incorrect copies of my invoice, a half dozen unanswered questions, and a complete unwillingness to go internally for an answer. I was literally told there are no Quark photographers who could answer an equipment question for me prior to boarding. On board there is literally a photographer who sells a book of his photos (Vlad) and another who does all the photography lectures (Acacia) and both have on board webmail and that does not even address other staff Quark has on other boats or in the office who might have helped. - “Approximately 200 sq. ft. (19 sq. m) in size, these cabins have one double bed and two portholes. “ – LIE. I booked 14 months in advance and ended up in a cabin with two single beds. No explanation as to why. I can only assume this was yet another example of Caren Rapp’s incompetence. - This is minor, but it's an 8 day, 9 night cruise. Quark's insistence on labeling this as an 11 day trip is just silly. The Feb 2-Feb 12 trip has to the boat depart at 5:30pm on Feb 3 and you are off the boat by 8am on Feb 12. I understand they need to have people understand the need to arrive Feb 2 (in my case) but, nobody counts the checkout day when booking a hotel room. - Biosecurity is important! But not important enough to have ship personnel on hand. You have to wash your boots after every landing to avoid contaminating one landing site with germs from another. I had to report, three times, that people weren't washing their boots. There are 144 crew on board, how hard would it have been to have one crew member at each of the two washing stations? - The cabins are tired and dingy. Salt stains on carpet, peeling paint, weird stains on lamp shades, dragging bathroom grout out of the bathroom with every trip in/out (it’s crumbling). I didn’t expect five stars (the cost of the trip being due to the remote location not the amenities) but it’s clear the Ocean Diamond needs some TLC. - I find the self-congratulatory nature of the staff a bit weird. On the final night we had an endless clap a thon for kitchen staff and waiters as they proceeded in like five separate parades through the dining room. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t get why this is a thing. I tipped them, let me enjoy my final dinner with the people I actually want to hang out with in peace. Would I travel with Quark again? I am honestly not sure…the highs of the trip were up there…the expedition staff were great…the experience of Antarctica itself was magical and, in the end, my copious gripes didn’t diminish the overall experience a great deal…but I also cannot deny I had issues with Quark’s handing of a number of things…so, I am not sure, but I will say this…Quark didn’t do nearly enough to ensure I don’t consider other options on a trip to the Arctic or return to Antarctica.