Who they are

Aurora was started by Greg Mortimer, the first Australian to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen, and the company still carries that stamp. The expedition team leans adventurous, the activity list is longer than almost anyone else in the polar market, and nobody is going to be surprised when you ask to get in a kayak.

Three ships, all purpose built and all recent. Greg Mortimer launched in 2019, Sylvia Earle in 2022, and Douglas Mawson joined in 2025. That matters more than it sounds, because a lot of the polar fleet is converted research vessels from the 1980s.

The X-BOW, and why people bring it up

Their ships use the ULSTEIN X-BOW, the inverted bow that looks wrong the first time you see it. Rather than riding up over a swell and slamming down, it cuts through. Combined with Rolls Royce stabilisers, it is the reason Aurora clients talk about the Drake Passage crossing so differently from everyone else.

It is not a guarantee. The Drake is still the Drake. But if seasickness is the thing keeping someone in your family from saying yes, this is the fleet I would point you at first.

Ship size

Maximum 130 guests on expedition voyages, up to 154 on the small ship cruises. In Antarctica that number is the whole game. IAATO caps landings at one hundred people ashore at a time, so a ship this size gets everyone off in a single rotation or close to it. You are not sitting on board waiting for a turn.

What you can actually do

This is where Aurora separate themselves. Sea kayaking, paddleboarding, snorkelling in polar and tropical water, scuba diving, camping on the ice, snowshoeing, ski touring, alpine trekking and climbing, and for the seriously committed, Shackleton’s Crossing on South Georgia. There is a sauna, a gym and outdoor jacuzzis for afterwards.

Some of these carry a supplement and most need to be booked well ahead because the places are limited. If a specific activity is the reason you are going, tell me at the enquiry stage and not after you have deposited.

Antarctica specifically

Voyages run from around ten days to a thirty three day crossing of the continent. They offer a fly the Drake option on a ten day Peninsula programme, which trades the two day sailing each way for a two hour flight from Punta Arenas.

Pricing sits at the higher end. Published fares start around twenty thousand US dollars a person before promotions, with the fly the Drake programme around twenty two thousand. They discount meaningfully and often, so the published number is rarely the number you pay. Ask me what is actually on the table.

Families

Aurora opened their entire programme to children aged six and over, which puts them among the most family open operators in polar travel. There is no kids club and there never will be. What there is instead is an expedition team that will happily explain glaciology to a nine year old and mean it.

What I would watch out for

The activity list is the draw and it is also the trap. People book Aurora for the diving or the camping and then find those specific spots sold out or weather cancelled. Book the activity when you book the cabin, and go in understanding that ice and wind get the final say on all of it.

It is also not a luxury product in the Silversea or Seabourn sense. The cabins are good and the food is good and nobody is folding your napkin. If white glove service is what you want, this is the wrong ship.