About The Expedition Review
The Expedition Review was created by polar travel researchers who noticed a gap between glossy operator marketing and what guests actually experience. Most comparison sites either promote whoever pays highest commissions or regurgitate operator press materials without independent verification.
We rate 8 leading expedition cruise operators across 6 objective criteria, with no affiliate relationships with any operator. Our methodology is designed to measure what most affects the quality of your time in the field — not the quality of the brochure photography.
Our scores are updated semi-annually and sourced from public review platforms, operator disclosures, and IAATO data. We notify operators of their scores before publication and offer a right of factual response (but not editorial revision) before scores are published.
Our Methodology
We score each operator across six criteria, weighted equally at ~16.7% each:
| Criterion | Weight | Data Source |
|---|---|---|
| Time Ashore (hrs/day) | 20% | Itinerary analysis + guest reports |
| Guest-to-Guide Ratio | 20% | Operator disclosures + manifests |
| Fleet Age & Condition | 15% | Vessel registration + Lloyd’s data |
| Science Program Quality | 20% | Program syllabi + IAATO research logs |
| Multi-Platform Guest Score | 15% | Trustpilot + TripAdvisor + TravelStride |
| Safety & IAATO Compliance | 10% | IAATO public registry + incident database |