Oceanwide Expeditions

Is Oceanwide Expeditions good for Antarctica?

Yes, if you want a small ship, plenty of time ashore and a low fare, and you can live without luxury. Oceanwide is a Dutch family company that owns and operates its four ships, belongs to IAATO in Antarctica and AECO in the Arctic, and has been running expedition voyages for more than 30 years.¹²³ Its 2026-27 Antarctic fares start at $7,050 per person, and most of its trips work out to about $700 to $950 per person per day at the lowest published fare (our arithmetic: fare divided by days).⁴ On the day we checked, its cheapest 11-day Antarctic trip cost $7,800, against $14,895 for the cheapest 11-day departure of Quark Expeditions and $17,006 for the 11-day Spirit of Antarctica by Aurora Expeditions (its cheapest 2026-27 departure), both for cabins already sold out.⁵⁶⁷

The low price has conditions. The cheapest fare is one bunk in a four-berth porthole cabin that you share with strangers of the same gender, and many of those berths showed a waitlist or a single gender-specific berth when we read the rates.⁸⁴ Only one of the ships, Hondius, was built for passengers; the other two motor ships are a converted 1976 navy research vessel and a 1989 research ship.⁹¹⁰

In April and May 2026 Hondius, Oceanwide's largest ship, was the site of an Andes hantavirus outbreak: 13 cases, three of them fatal, all among people who had traveled on board. In its final report the World Health Organization said the first infections were likely caught on land before boarding, followed by person-to-person spread on the ship.¹¹ The WHO declared the outbreak over on July 2, 2026, and the ship had returned to service in June after disinfection and a complete crew change.⁴³¹² The Hondius page covers what happened in detail. We have not sailed with Oceanwide; this page is built from the company's published rates, ship specifications and terms, and from IAATO and government rules.

Who owns Oceanwide, and how long has it run polar trips?

Oceanwide describes itself as a family company, run from a head office in Vlissingen in the southern Netherlands, with a sales office for the US and Canada in Houston.¹¹³ Oceanwide's own accounts of its origins differ. Its company profile says it grew out of a university research program in the northern Netherlands that became the first in the world to offer civilian voyages to Spitsbergen.¹ Its 30th-anniversary note instead dates the company to December 1993, starting with a three-masted herring lugger, and says it worked mainly in Belize and the Galapagos before moving to the polar regions.¹⁴

The company profile names Wijnand van Gessel as owner and his son Michel van Gessel as CEO, but the CEO has since changed.¹ Rémi Bouysset has been CEO since June 16, 2025, and the announcement of his appointment describes Michel van Gessel as a director.¹⁵

The current fleet took shape from 2009, when Oceanwide acquired Plancius, followed by Ortelius in 2011 and the new-build Hondius in 2019.¹⁴ IAATO's preliminary estimate for 2026-27 has the three motor ships running 33 Antarctic voyages with about 3,850 passengers between them.¹⁶

Two fleet plans are worth knowing about. A sister ship to Hondius, Janssonius, was due from the Brodosplit yard in Croatia in late 2021 but has not been delivered: construction was reportedly suspended over financial problems. A September 2026 Cruise Industry News report, citing the Croatian site Jutarni.hr, said the ship was near 70% complete and that the yard is pursuing a plan to resume work.¹⁷ Oceanwide's fleet page does not list it.³⁷ And in March 2026 Oceanwide signed a letter of intent for two 146-passenger "eco-sail" ships with hybrid sail propulsion, based on the Hondius design, the first planned for 2029 and the second for 2030.¹⁸

Which ships does Oceanwide sail?

Oceanwide sails three motor ships of 108 to 170 passengers and a 33-passenger sailing schooner.¹

Ortelius began life as the Marina Svetaeva, a special-purpose ship for the Russian Academy of Science, and Oceanwide says its ice class makes it suitable for solid one-year sea ice and loose multi-year pack ice.¹⁰ On February 5, 2026 it reached 78°05.60'S in Vahsel Bay, which Oceanwide calls a record for the southernmost point reached by a non-icebreaker vessel in the Weddell Sea, for the second year running.²⁰ Plancius sailed as the Dutch navy's oceanographic ship Hr. Ms. Tydeman until 2004 and was rebuilt for passengers in 2009; it carries 10 Zodiacs and has two gangways.⁹ Hondius is the newest and largest, and Oceanwide describes it as the world's first registered Polar Class 6 passenger ship.¹³

Oceanwide says passengers on a typical voyage range from their 30s to their 80s, with most between 45 and 65, and that many departures carry several nationalities.⁹

How much does an Oceanwide Antarctica cruise cost?

Oceanwide's 2026-27 Antarctic fares start at $7,050 per person, and most trips cost about $700 to $950 per person per day at the lowest fare, before flights to Ushuaia.⁴ These are the published USD fares we read on October 14, 2026, for a representative voyage of each type, with one departure shown and the per-person price of sharing a two-bed twin porthole cabin. The per-day column is our arithmetic, the shared-berth fare divided by the days:

Read the "From" column carefully. It is the price of one berth in a quadruple porthole cabin, which Oceanwide fills with other guests of the same gender; on the Antarctic departures above, a bed in a twin porthole cabin for two costs about 15% to 25% more on the same departure (our arithmetic), and on the two Hondius Svalbard trips below 38% to 46% more.⁸⁴ Traveling alone, you can share at no extra cost or pay 1.7 times the twin rate for the cabin to yourself, so a twin porthole on the March 17 whale-watching voyage costs $16,405 for one person.⁵ If you book a shared cabin and nobody else books into it, Oceanwide does not charge the single supplement.⁸

A worked example: two people sharing a twin porthole on HDS25-27 pay $11,900 each, or $23,800, though that cabin was sold out when we checked.²² At Oceanwide's suggested tip of 10 to 15 USD per guest per day, add $220 to $330 for the two of you over 11 days.²⁸ Flights to Ushuaia and travel insurance are on top, and the insurance must cover medical evacuation and repatriation of at least 100,000 USD per person in Antarctica (50,000 in the Arctic).²⁹ For a full budget, see what an Antarctica trip costs and the cheapest way to Antarctica.

Three rules affect what you pay and whether you sail. Booking consecutive voyages earns 10% off in Antarctica and 20% in the Arctic, and children under 16 sharing with parents can get 40% off in some cabins on request.⁴ But every voyage runs only if it reaches a minimum of 70 participants on Plancius and Ortelius, 90 on Hondius and 24 on Rembrandt van Rijn.⁴

Svalbard is cheaper. All three of these 2027 trips start and end in Longyearbyen:

What is included in an Oceanwide fare?

The fare covers your berth, all meals with snacks, coffee and tea, every Zodiac landing and cruise, lectures, loaned waterproof boots and snowshoes, port charges, and 1.5 GB of free Wi-Fi a day; flights, insurance, drinks, tips and most optional activities cost extra.²²³³ In Ushuaia, Oceanwide takes your luggage to the ship on embarkation day and runs a group transfer to the airport after you disembark.²² In Longyearbyen, transfers are included only for passengers on a selection of flights that Oceanwide advises.³¹ Oceanwide's inclusion list does not mention a parka, while Quark gives you one to keep and Aurora includes a 3-in-1 polar jacket.²²³⁴³⁵

Optional activities on regular voyages are sold as add-ons, and some sell out early: on the December 27 Hondius departure the kayak try-out and camping both showed no places left.⁴

Paid kayaking takes 4 to 14 people per voyage on Plancius and Ortelius and 4 to 28 on Hondius.⁴ Diving needs proof of experience: the Ortelius polar circle page asks for at least 30 drysuit dives.²⁴

What is an Oceanwide Basecamp voyage?

Basecamp is Oceanwide's activity format: on these departures camping, kayaking, snowshoeing, hiking, mountaineering and a photo workshop are all included in the fare, with no limit on kayak numbers and no pre-booking.⁴ Oceanwide's Basecamp page lists 13-day departures from Ushuaia on Nov 3, Nov 23 and Dec 15, 2026 and Jan 8 and Feb 18, 2027, spread across its ships; the November 23 departure on Hondius starts at $10,150 per person.²³ The ship may position itself in sheltered waters such as the Neumayer Channel and run the activities from there, and camping groups spend up to 10 hours ashore.²³

Basecamp is the better buy if you want to camp or paddle. A twin porthole on the November 23 Basecamp costs $12,500 per person for 13 days with every activity included.²³ The same cabin on the 11-day Discovery and learning voyage costs $11,900, and adding the $300 kayak try-out and $280 camping night brings it to $12,480 for two fewer days.²² The catch is availability: the Weddell Sea Basecamp from December 5 and the Ortelius Basecamps on November 3 and December 15 were waitlisted in every cabin when we checked.⁴

How many passengers go ashore at once with Oceanwide?

On Ortelius and Plancius nearly everyone can land together, while a full Hondius has to split into groups. IAATO allows no more than 100 visitors ashore at one site at a time, not counting staff and fewer where a site's guideline says so, and requires at least one actively guiding staff member for every 20 visitors.³⁶ A full 108-passenger ship is just over that limit; a full Hondius, with 170, is well over it.¹ Hondius carries 13 guides, the two smaller motor ships 8 each.³⁷

In Svalbard, the Governor caps ships in the national parks at 200 passengers, so every Oceanwide ship fits. Tourist landings in most protected areas may only use mapped sites and must be accompanied by a guide, and you must stay at least about 1,000 feet (300 m) from polar bears, or about 1,640 feet (500 m) from March 1 to June 30.³⁸

Does Oceanwide fly over the Drake Passage?

No. None of Oceanwide's 2026-27 Antarctic departures includes a flight: the Hondius trips start and end in Ushuaia, apart from one that starts in Puerto Madryn, and the Ortelius and Plancius voyages also sail from Ushuaia.⁴²⁵ On an 11-day trip that means about two days crossing the Drake Passage each way, leaving around five days on the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetlands, with a last landing that may be at Deception Island.²² If the crossing worries you, compare our guide to flying or sailing the Drake.

Which Oceanwide trip should you choose?

Pick by what you want to see and how much you want to do, then by ship; the guide to choosing an Antarctica cruise covers the general trade-offs, and best time to visit covers the months.

Be realistic about the emperor trip. Oceanwide says the route to Snow Hill Island is free of multi-year pack ice less than 50% of the time, that each helicopter takes 4 to 5 passengers, and that the walk from the landing site to the colony can take 45 minutes.²⁵ It lists successful helicopter landings in 2013, 2017 to 2019 and 2022 to 2024, and describes the colony as about 2,000 birds.²⁵³⁹ Even so, at $12,100 to $13,450 for 11 days (the November 15 departure, at the higher fare, was down to its last berths), it costs about half of Quark's 14-day Emperor Penguin Quest on Ultramarine, which starts at $26,090 in a triple.⁴⁶

The Svalbard loop has a similar caveat. Based on its voyages from 1992 to 2019, Oceanwide puts the chance of completing a full circumnavigation at about 30% in the first half of July, 70% in the second half, 90% in the first half of August and 95% in the second half.³¹ The shorter North Spitsbergen Explorer may reach about 80° north at the Seven Islands, some 540 miles (870 km) from the North Pole, where the ship may wait for hours in the pack ice because polar bears live there.³⁰

How does Oceanwide compare with Quark and Aurora?

Oceanwide is the cheapest of the three by a wide margin, and the most basic. These are 2026-27 fares for 11-day Antarctic trips from Ushuaia, read on October 14, 2026: the lowest across all Oceanwide and Quark departures, and for Aurora the cheapest 2026-27 departure of one representative trip (we did not check every Aurora itinerary):

Compared like for like, with two people sharing a cabin, the gap narrows but stays large: a twin porthole on the same Oceanwide departure is $9,650 per person, against $16,595 for Quark's cheapest two-person cabin on an 11-day trip (a sold-out Deluxe Veranda Forward with a balcony on Ocean Explorer, Nov 21) and $17,006 for Aurora's twin.⁵⁶⁴⁰⁷ Quark's fare also includes a hotel night in Ushuaia and its activity add-ons cost more, with camping at $495 against Oceanwide's $280.³⁴⁶²² Choose Quark for helicopter flightseeing on Ultramarine, and Aurora for its X-Bow ships such as the 104.4 m (343 ft) Sylvia Earle, whose bow is designed to cut through swell.⁴¹⁴²⁴⁴ Choose Oceanwide when price, activities and a small passenger count matter more than cabin comfort.

Who should not book Oceanwide?

Skip Oceanwide if you want luxury, a balcony at a mid-range price, a flight over the Drake, or a private cabin at the lead-in fare. Plancius, by Oceanwide's own description, is not a luxury vessel, and in the fleet only the six grand suites on Hondius have balconies.⁹¹³ If a balcony matters, start with our balcony guide and look at Ponant, Seabourn or Lindblad Expeditions instead.

It is also a poor fit for solo travelers who will not share, since a private cabin costs 1.7 times the twin rate, and for anyone whose dates cannot move, since a voyage that misses its minimum number of passengers may not run.⁸⁴ Travelers prone to seasickness should note that every Antarctic trip crosses the Drake by sea in both directions.²²