The inclusions are the story

Atlas fares typically include your flights, your transfers, your drinks, your gratuities, and the expedition activities. On polar sailings they also include the parka and the boots, which sounds trivial and is a real cost otherwise.

Flights being included is the item that changes the comparison most. Getting to Ushuaia or Reykjavik is expensive and it is rarely in the headline fare elsewhere.

There is also emergency evacuation insurance included on expedition sailings, which is a genuine requirement for polar travel and a meaningful cost when bought separately.

The ships

Small, carrying roughly two hundred guests, purpose-built with ice-strengthened hulls for polar work.

Comfortable and modern rather than opulent. Good cabins, most with balconies, a couple of dining venues, a lounge, a small spa and a pool.

Because they are new, everything works and the layout follows modern expectations. This is a real advantage over converted older vessels operating in the same waters.

Where they sail

Antarctica and the Arctic in season, with the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas filling the rest of the year.

The polar itineraries are the flagship. Antarctica in particular is where the inclusive fare makes the biggest difference, because that is the trip where the extras elsewhere are brutal.

On non-polar routes it operates as a small ship visiting smaller ports, which is a pleasant but less distinctive proposition.

The expedition side

Zodiac operations, guided landings and an expedition team of naturalists and specialists. Serious enough to be a real expedition, without the depth of a Lindblad.

If your priority is the scientific and educational quality of the guiding, Lindblad is stronger. If your priority is getting to Antarctica at a price that does not require a remortgage, Atlas is the answer.

Both of those are legitimate priorities and I would not push anybody toward one on principle.

Children on board

Minimum ages apply on expedition itineraries and they are enforced. There is no kids club and few children.

For a family with a teenager who wants Antarctica, this is one of the more financially realistic routes to it, and the inclusive fare removes most of the nasty surprises.

For younger children it is not appropriate, and the age minimums will generally settle the question for you.

What I would watch out for

It is a young company and it has grown quickly. Service consistency is good but not yet as settled as the long-established operators, which is the usual trade with a newer line.

The ships are small and polar seas are rough. The Drake Passage is the Drake Passage regardless of who owns the ship. Some itineraries offer flights across it instead, which is worth asking about specifically.

And confirm exactly which flights are included from which cities, because that is where the value case lives or dies.

Questions people actually ask