The best expedition cruise lines for solo travellers

Quark Expeditions

Founded by two intrepid adventurers, Lars Wikander and Mike McDowell, in 1991, Quark Expeditions has grown over 30 years into an expert polar specialist and is particularly well suited to solo travellers with dedicated solo accommodation on board two of their three ships. Solo Panorama cabins on board Ultramarine are 132 sq ft rooms designed specifically for solo guests, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering sweeping sea views, while the Studio Single on Ocean Diamond is 166 sq ft with a double bed and porthole window. Quark also offers a request-share programme which matches solo travellers of the same gender who are willing to share a room. Should a roommate not be found, then the single supplement is waived.

HX Expeditions

The HX Expeditions fleet includes the MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen, pioneering hybrid-powered vessels, offering a more sustainable way to explore the polar regions. These ships carry 530 guests, limited to 500 in polar waters, which is relatively large for an expedition vessel, allowing HX the flexibility to offer 0% single supplements on a number of sailings, usually for a limited booking window. There support for solo guests also extend to the no solo supplement offers in the Galapagos aboard Santa Cruz II, Polar expedition on the 200-guest MS Fram and the 150-guest MS Spitsbergen on Northern Lights journeys in Norway. Call us for details.

National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions

Finally, National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions, pioneers of expedition cruising, foster a particularly strong sense of shared experience onboard. Name tags are provided for all guests, a slightly American quirk, but one that creates an easy, sociable atmosphere. A varied fleet includes the National Geographic Islander II, which is based in the Galapagos year-round, on which there are four dedicated single cabins and two new-build X-Bow ships, the National Geographic Endurance and Resolution, which launched in 2020 and 2021, respectively, each offering 14 solo balcony rooms, with expeditions to the Arctic, Antarctica, and sailings in between.

AE Expeditions

Known as Aurora Expeditions outside of the UK, has a fleet of three X-Bow ships and offers some of the most active excursions in the industry, with a laid-back antipodean style on board, and is ideal for the most intrepid travellers. Operating reduced guest numbers from 154 to 130 in Arctic and Antarctic waters, AE offers 10 dedicated cabins for solo use on every sailing on Greg Mortimer and Sylvia Earle, with zero solo supplement on the brochure fare. On Douglas Mawson, four dedicated cabins are available on this basis, with the ship further offering three grades of specifically designed solo rooms - two Aurora Stateroom Single rooms at 106 sq ft with a porthole window, four larger Aurora Stateroom Superior Single rooms between 118 and 163 sq ft, and four Balcony Stateroom Category A - Solo rooms with a double bed and step-out balcony.

Ponant Explorations

French cruise line Ponant is perhaps best known for its luxurious icebreaker, Le Commandant Charcot, but its newest vessel joined a fleet of six 'Ponant Explorers' vessels that operate warm-water discovery voyages (as well as classic cruises), and four 'Sister Ships' that offer polar itineraries. Across this fleet, Ponant consistently offers "no single supplement" cruises in the comfort of a double cabin on a huge swath of voyages, more than 45 expeditions at the time of writing, from Greenland, the Arctic, and even the North Pole, to Melanesia, the Kimberley, and Antarctica.