Quark vs Oceanwide

Should I book Quark or Oceanwide for Antarctica?

Book Oceanwide Expeditions if price and a small passenger count come first: on the same 11-day trip from Ushuaia in March 2027, a twin cabin costs $9,650 per person with Oceanwide and at least $21,095 with Quark Expeditions.¹² Book Quark if you want a veranda, Ultramarine's helicopters, a 14-day emperor penguin voyage with five days near Snow Hill Island, or a flight over the Drake, and if you would rather find drinks, a parka to keep and a hotel night already in the fare.³⁴⁵⁶

Both companies started in the early 1990s. Quark's founders took their first group to the North Pole in 1991, and the company now belongs to the Travelopia group, with its head office in Seattle. Oceanwide was formed in December 1993, calls itself a family company and runs from Vlissingen in the Netherlands.⁷⁸⁹ We have not sailed with either line. The fares below come from each company's own rates pages and terms, read on October 14 and 15, 2026.

How do Quark and Oceanwide compare side by side?

Is Oceanwide really half the price of Quark?

Yes, and on a like-for-like cabin it is often less than half. Both lines sell an 11-day round trip from Ushuaia in March 2027, Oceanwide on Hondius and Quark on Ocean Explorer, the two ships closest to each other in size. Fares per person, read on October 14 and 15, 2026:

The per-day row is our arithmetic. Quark's page also showed a 5% promo code on that departure, which would bring the Veranda Stateroom to $20,041; we quote brochure fares because promotions change.² Oceanwide's single travelers can share a cabin at no extra cost or pay 1.7 times the twin rate, $16,405 for the March twin porthole.¹

Quark's fare covers more of the trip. It includes a night at a hotel in Ushuaia with transfers, an expedition parka to keep, and beer, standard wines, spirits and cocktails during bar hours and at dinner.⁶ Oceanwide charges for drinks and suggests a tip of $10 to $15 per guest per day, which adds $110 to $165 each over 11 days (our arithmetic).¹⁴¹⁶ Neither includes your flight to Ushuaia.⁶¹⁴

Earlier in the season both lines are nearly full and the gap narrows. Oceanwide's 13-day Basecamp on Hondius from November 23, 2026, with camping and kayaking included, had only single berths left in shared cabins, such as one in a twin porthole for a man at $12,500, plus one Grand Suite at $17,950; on Quark's 11-day Ocean Explorer trip from November 21, the only two-person cabin left was a Veranda Suite at $18,495. For the two whole cabins that is $1,381 a day against $1,681 (our arithmetic).¹⁴¹⁹² For a full budget, see what an Antarctica trip costs.

Which line has the better ships?

Quark's, if comfort decides it. Ultramarine first sailed in December 2021 and Ocean Explorer was delivered the same year, with verandas on almost every cabin; two of Oceanwide's three motor ships were built in 1976 and 1989.^720102122 Hondius, Oceanwide's 2019 newbuild, is the fair match: 170 passengers and Polar Class 6, the rating of Quark's two best ships.¹³³

Passenger numbers decide how you land. IAATO lets no more than 100 visitors ashore at one site at a time, so a full Ultramarine lands in two groups, while Ortelius and Plancius, at 108, are only just over the line.²³¹²³

Each line has one ship with a recent incident. Ocean Explorer ran aground in Alpefjord, northeast Greenland, on September 11, 2023, before it joined Quark's fleet; Denmark's accident investigators reported no injuries.²⁴⁷ In May 2026 the WHO was notified of an Andes hantavirus outbreak linked to Hondius that reached 13 cases, three of them fatal. Dutch health authorities cleared the ship to return to service on May 30, it sailed on in the Arctic with an entirely new crew, and the WHO declared the outbreak over on July 2, 2026.²⁵²⁶²⁷

Quark or Oceanwide for emperor penguins at Snow Hill?

Quark gives you five days in the area and a stated aim of getting every guest to the colony; Oceanwide gives you a chance for less than half the price. Both send a ship toward the emperor colony at Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea in November, and both rely on helicopters when sea ice stops the ship.⁴¹⁵

Both are the lines' own figures. A scientific count from photographs of the whole colony on December 29, 2018 found at least 2,700 breeding pairs.³⁷

Oceanwide is frank about the odds. It says the route to Snow Hill is clear of multi-year pack ice less than half the time, each helicopter carries four or five passengers, the walk from the landing site to the colony can take 45 minutes, and its landings succeeded in 2013, 2017 to 2019 and 2022 to 2024.¹⁵ The fare includes helicopter transfers ashore with no amount of flying guaranteed, and its terms rule out refunds when the helicopters cannot fly.¹⁵¹⁸ Quark spends five days in the area and aims to get every guest to the colony once; it reported landing 208 guests there on two voyages in 2023.⁴³⁰ Quark's fare also covers a Buenos Aires hotel night and the charter to Ushuaia.²⁸

The two colony sizes in the table are each line's own figure. The last full scientific count we found, from photographs of the whole colony taken from a ship on December 29, 2018, found 2,679 chicks and 339 adults, or at least 2,700 breeding pairs; counts from 2004 to 2013 ranged from 1,200 to 4,000 pairs.³⁷ More on the bird in our emperor penguin guide.

Which is better for kayaking and camping?

Oceanwide, by a wide margin, if you can find a place. On its Basecamp departures, camping, kayaking, snowshoeing, mountaineering and a photo workshop are all in the fare with no pre-booking, but on October 15, 2026 the 13-day Hondius Basecamp from November 23 had only a few shared berths from $10,150 and one Grand Suite left, and the December 5 Basecamp was waitlisted.¹⁴¹⁹ On its standard voyages, such as the 11-day Hondius trip from December 27, 2026, a kayak try-out costs $300 and a night of camping $280.³¹

Quark sells sea kayaking as a $1,995 program that takes a small group of experienced kayakers out as often as possible during the voyage, and a one-off paddling excursion on sit-on-top inflatables for $395.³²²⁸ Its camping night costs $495 and is sold on Ocean Explorer and World Voyager, not on Ultramarine in Antarctica.²⁸ Our guide to kayaking and camping in Antarctica covers what each activity involves.

Can I fly over the Drake Passage with Quark or Oceanwide?

Only with Quark. Its Antarctic Express: Fly the Drake flies from Punta Arenas to King George Island and back, 8 days on World Voyager, from $19,695 per person.⁵ You must be in Punta Arenas by 3 p.m. on day 1 in case the flight is brought forward, and Quark keeps trying to fly until day 4 before it cancels.³³ Every Oceanwide Antarctic voyage of 2026-27 crosses the Drake Passage by ship, about two days each way on an 11-day trip.¹⁴³¹ Our guide to flying or sailing the Drake weighs the trade.

Quark or Oceanwide for Svalbard?

Oceanwide is cheaper; Quark's fare includes the flights from Helsinki. Both use ships within the 200-passenger limit that Svalbard has set for its protected areas since January 2025.³⁴

Per day, the 8-day trips cost $831 with Oceanwide and $1,236 with Quark (our arithmetic), before Oceanwide guests pay for their flights to Longyearbyen.³⁵²⁸ Quark's 20% promo code, which does not discount the flight package, brought that Explorer Suite to $8,211, or $1,026 a day.²⁸ Ultramarine's helicopters do not fly on Svalbard voyages.³ Our polar bear guide covers the animal most people go for.

What happens if I cancel?

Oceanwide charges less for most of the run-up; Quark is better only in the first two weeks after booking.

Quark also wants the balance 150 days before departure, where Oceanwide waits until 60 days out.¹⁷¹⁸ Two Oceanwide rules cut the other way. It may cancel a voyage up to 30 days before departure if it has not reached its minimum, 70 participants on Ortelius and Plancius and 90 on Hondius, and then refunds you if you do not take the alternative it offers. And it accepts no refund claims when helicopter flights cannot go ahead.¹⁸¹⁴

Who should book Quark, and who should book Oceanwide?

Book Oceanwide if you:

• want the lowest fare on a real expedition ship, from $9,650 for two sharing on an 11-day March trip;¹
• want to camp and kayak without paying extra, on a Basecamp voyage;¹⁴
• will share a cabin with strangers to pay less, from $7,050 a berth;¹⁴
• want a cancellation fee of 20% right up to 90 days out.¹⁸

Book Quark if you:

• want a veranda cabin and drinks in the fare;²⁶
• want helicopter flightseeing, or five days near the Snow Hill emperor colony;³⁴
• would rather fly over the Drake;⁵
• want Svalbard with the Helsinki charter already paid.²⁸

Comparing more lines? Read Quark vs Lindblad, HX vs Quark and how to choose an Antarctica cruise.