Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It’s the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you’re interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

Simply use the selector below to search our trip reviews and start reading real feedback from real Exodus travellers who have ‘been there and done that’!

Lots of our clients also like to post handy tips and advice about their travels. It’s great to know what to expect on an Exodus adventure before you go, so make the most of their experience and you’ll make the most of yours!

Haven’t posted your review yet? Here’s how to do it…

Once you return from your Exodus adventure holiday, you will be emailed a link to add your review. Any feedback collected is posted onto our website, totally unedited.

Alternatively you can navigate to the relevant trip page and add your review via the Reviews tab.

Select a trip specific review:

Select

2 Reviews

5 out of 5

Melanie Mclaren

Reviewed August 2023

A truly wonderful experience

This was a fantastic trip from start to finish. We were blessed with calm seas and were lucky enough to see alot of wildlife including blue whale, reindeer, foxes, walrus, lots of gillmots, kitiwaks,and puffin and of course polar bears. The activities were very well organised and stress free and the service onboard was fantastic Would recommend to anyone interested in the polar regions.

Most Inspirational Moment

Definitely the 3.30 am wake call to see a Polar Bear on the ice. He started about 600 metres away from ship and then made he way right up the the base on the ship, walked up and down several times before heading back out onto the ice

Thoughts on Group Leader

The expedition leader Ryan did a great job of choosing where we went and kept us well informed throughout

Advice for Potential Travellers

As Quark provide you with a jacket no need to pack one. If you want to take your jacket home leave space in your luggage

Suggestions

As this is sold as a photographic holiday I would have liked abit more input into this aspect. The guest photographer seemed more interested in his own photos then the clients. This could be in the way of some workshops for different types of photographers ie phone cameras including android phones not just iphones, dslr cameras including compositional, use of light and technical advice.

Mike Britton

Reviewed August 2023

Wonderful holiday : Spitsbergen Photography - Under the Midnight Sun

We had been looking for an Arctic or Antarctic holiday for a while, so when this Exodus deal came up, we jumped at the chance. Our hope was to see polar bears and arctic foxes, but we know that the animals are wild and unpredictable, so tried to set our expectations realistically. The trip was well planned and organised; we had time on arrival at the Helsinki airport hotel on Day 1 to get the train into the city for a half-day exploration. The next day we flew to Spitsbergen and then onto the boat. We were very pleasantly surprised by our cabin – much bigger than we had expected. The staff on board were excellent – both the Expedition team and the crew, the catering was wonderful and it was perfect having soft drinks available all day, with wine & beer served with dinner. Our wildlife expectations were more than met, sighting 2 different whale species on our first evening sailing from Longyearbyen! The highlights continued via the daily Zodiac trips and hiking onshore : reindeer, arctic foxes, walrus, whales, many seabirds and flowers – and of course, we saw polar bears. We know how lucky we were, but we saw 6 bears in 3 different locations, The Expedition team were all very knowledgeable about both flora and fauna and were happy to share information. But we should also stress that they were very safety-conscious and ensured all the guests were able to do the activities safely. We had such a good time, that we didn’t want to leave the ship to come home!

Most Inspirational Moment

Being woken at 0415 one morning with the announcement that a polar bear was on the ice sheets approaching the ship. We all rushed on deck and watched the bear approach so close to the ship, looking curiously at the yellw parka-clad tourists gazing down. The bear was alongside for many minutes, allowing us all to appreciate her beauty. Despite the fatigue later that day, the early morning call was really appreciated.

Thoughts on Group Leader

There was no Exodus rep on the ship; the Expedition Leader was Ryan from Quark. He, the Captain and the Expedition team worked hard together to ensure that all the guests on board had the best opportunites to see different animals, birds and scenery. At one point we were the furthest east of all ships in the archipeligo and at another time, the furthest north - we really did feel like Explorers! Ryan managed the Expedition Team well, so that everyone contributed and we had the benefit of their combined knowledge, whilst interacting with different members of the Team on the Zodiacs, the hikes and the special paddling/kayaking activities. Ryan was an excellent and effective Expedition Leader.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for early mornings if animals are seen as their sighting is shared over the ship's tannoy. Ensure you have waterproof trousers and a waterproof day pack for getting in & out of the Zodiacs. Layers are essential for staying warm, not not too hot!

Suggestions

The only issue we had was the airport to ship transfers. On arrival at the airport on Day 2, 3 buses took us into the City centre. We were told we could leave stuff on the coach, as we would later have the same bus to take us from the city (after free time, a city tour and a visit to the museum) - we didn't because we couldn't tell which bus was which! The procedure after disembarkation was even worse. There was only one coach. We left the ship in the sequence of 4 groups we were in on board, but no-one counted the number of people disembarking against the number of seats on the coach, so several of us were left standing outside waiting for the coach to return from the city after dropping off the first busload. We were all told to be in the square at 1200 to get the coach to the airport - still only one coach for 115 guests. But this time they insisted that we boarded by cabin number! It was pouring with rain, we were all trying to shelter on the verandah of a shop to stay dry and couldn't all hear the instructions being given. Why not tell us to be there at different times depending on your cabin number e.g. 1200 for cabins up to 210, 1210 for cabins 211 - 350, 1220 for cabins higher than 350??? So the last busload were waiting there for half an hour in the pouring rain. We assume this travel process happens regularly, so why was it so shambolic? This was not a good end to the holiday. Also, our bags were helpfully taken directly from the ship to the airport, but left outside unattended and in the rain!