Polar Latitudes Review 2026: The Albatros Merger, Voyage Prices, Terms and a Record Score of 52

Polar Latitudes Expeditions scores 52/100 as a company record: the line formed from Albatros Expeditions and Polar Latitudes in 2025 names 58 expedition staff, sails four ships of up to 180 guests and holds 4.7 on Trustpilot, but shows no fares on its own pages, prints no 24-hour number and publishes no financial protection. Albatros Expeditions no longer trades under its own name: its website redirects to Polar Latitudes, and this record covers the combined company. Its first chief executive, Patrick Shaw, died in January 2026; Filip Werne Hermann took over on 1 August 2026.

Verified 25 September 2026 · polar-latitudes.com terms, team, ship and voyage pages · Chimu Adventures · USTOA · Trustpilot and Cruise Critic · Cruise Industry News, Expedition Cruising and Latte Luxury News

How Polar Latitudes scores: 52 out of 100

Polar Latitudes scores 52 out of 100: day-by-day voyages, a named team and a strong Trustpilot record, held back by fares only through a reseller, no 24-hour number, no presence in the places it sails and no financial protection published. Our cruise indexes have scored Albatros and Polar Latitudes separately, from 17 to not assessed; this record scores the merged company on the five criteria below.

Polar Latitudes is a company in transition. The sale, the merger, the new name and the new chief executive all came within 18 months, and its public pages have not caught up: no chief executive on the leadership page, no fares on the voyage pages and no statement of which company a European buyer contracts with.

The evidence record

The record holds 18 facts about Polar Latitudes, each with its source and grade. Grade A means the company's own site or terms; grade B means a registry, review platform, awarding body or major press; grade C means a secondary source not confirmed elsewhere. Every line was read on 25 September 2026 unless its source says otherwise.

Who owns Polar Latitudes Expeditions?

Polar Latitudes Expeditions belongs to Nordic Expedition Cruise and Travel (NECT), the group behind the reseller Chimu Adventures, which bought Albatros Expeditions in April 2025 and merged it with Polar Latitudes in October 2025.

NECT completed its purchase of Albatros Expeditions from the Danish family-owned Albatros Group on 3 April 2025. The combined company launched on 9 October 2025 under Patrick Shaw, a former president of Quark Expeditions, and the Albatros name was phased out through the 2025-26 Antarctic season. Shaw died on 15 January 2026 while in Antarctica; Filip Werne Hermann, formerly of the ferry company DFDS, became chief executive on 1 August 2026. The site's leadership page still names no chief executive.

Our expedition cruise operator index still describes Albatros as an independent one-ship company in Copenhagen, while our Arctic lines index records the merger. This record replaces the older line.

How much does a Polar Latitudes voyage cost?

Polar Latitudes voyages listed by the reseller Chimu Adventures cost from USD 4,687 per person for ten days along the coasts of Chile and Peru to USD 28,811 for 23 days to the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Circle. Polar Latitudes' own voyage pages say only "Rates vary by cabin", so all prices here were read on 25 September 2026 on Chimu Adventures, a sister company in the same group, and are graded B.

Its voyage pages list the inclusions without a fare: on Crossing the Antarctic Circle, a hotel night in Ushuaia, drinks with dinner, expedition jackets, photography coaching and the ship's doctor; kayaking costs extra on the Svalbard voyage. Our fly-cruise vs Drake crossing index scores its crossing options, and what an expedition day involves is in what to expect on an expedition cruise.

Polar Latitudes booking terms and financial protection

Polar Latitudes takes a 20% non-refundable deposit at booking and the balance 120 days before departure; a cancellation costs USD 1,250 per person from 181 days out, the deposit from 180 to 120 days, and the full fare after that.

The terms apply to bookings made from 1 December 2025 and name Polar Latitudes, Inc, a Delaware corporation, as the contracting party; the same page carries the Danish company number CVR 39198177 and a Copenhagen address without saying which company European buyers contract with. Polar Latitudes is not in USTOA's member directory, and no seller of travel number, Danish travel guarantee fund number, ATOL or ABTA number was found. How protection compares across polar lines is in the Antarctica operator index.

Who guides a Polar Latitudes voyage

Polar Latitudes names 58 expedition staff by role, from expedition leaders to kayak guides, ornithologists and a marine mammal specialist, but gives no experience for any of them.

The team page includes expedition leader Claudia Roedel, Antarctic historian Falcon Scott and marine mammal specialist Therese Horntrich, without saying who sails on which voyage. Its ships carry "never more than 180 passengers", according to its fleet page, under the 200-guest line that shapes landings in Antarctica, as our expedition cruise operator index explains.

Support before and during the voyage

Polar Latitudes publishes no 24-hour number: its US line opens 9am to 6pm Eastern, its Danish line 8.30am to 6pm Central European time, and its UK line gives no hours.

Its voyage pages list a "Certified Emergency MD and clinic" among the inclusions, and Crossing the Antarctic Circle also lists a "dedicated passenger service manager" on board. For evacuation cover on polar voyages, see our guide to personal security for high-net-worth travellers.

What Polar Latitudes reviews say

Polar Latitudes holds 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 147 reviews, while the old Albatros Expeditions profile holds 2.2 from 49.

The Polar Latitudes profile has been claimed since 2022, and its newest review was dated 5 September 2026. The Albatros Expeditions profile covers ships that now sail under the Polar Latitudes name, and its newest review was dated 7 March 2026. Cruise Critic shows 3.0 from 5 reviews under the Albatros name and none under Polar Latitudes. The guide to review platforms explains why two profiles for one fleet matter.

Who Polar Latitudes suits, and who it does not

Polar Latitudes suits travellers who want a small polar ship of up to 180 guests, a wide choice of Antarctic dates from November to March, and a company with a strong recent review record.

It suits less well a buyer who wants a fare on the company's own site, a 24-hour number or a named scheme behind the deposit. For choosing between a small group ship and a private voyage, see small group expedition vs private, and for the Arctic side of its programme, our best Arctic expedition cruise lines.

Booking Polar Latitudes: the decisions that come next

Polar Latitudes' Antarctic voyages include a hotel night in Ushuaia on some departures but not the flight there, so the traveller still chooses how to pay, how to reach Argentina, where to stay and what to claim if a flight fails.

Where Polar Latitudes stands on Uncompromised Travel

Polar Latitudes and Albatros appear on five Uncompromised Travel pages, with no ranked position on any of them.

Alternatives to Polar Latitudes to compare

The closest alternatives are Quark Expeditions for a named team with USTOA cover, HX for published fares with flights, Atlas Ocean Voyages for small all-inclusive ships, and Aurora Expeditions for 130-guest ships and a trust account.

What this record does not show

Six things a buyer would want could not be found or verified for Polar Latitudes. Supplying a verifiable source closes a gap; it changes the evidence, never the rubric.

What changed at Polar Latitudes, 2025 to 2026

Between April 2025 and August 2026 Albatros Expeditions was sold, merged with Polar Latitudes and retired as a name, and the combined company lost its first chief executive and appointed a second.