Aurora Expeditions: the back story

About Aurora Expeditions: the back story

By the ULTIMATE the world’s cruise lines Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Aurora Expeditions was founded in 1991 by Greg and Margaret Mortimer and named after the ship of Australian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. Its three X-BOW ships carry no more than 130 guests on expedition, with a programme of kayaking, camping, climbing and diving.

A mountaineer’s company

Aurora Expeditions was founded in 1991 by Greg and Margaret Mortimer, two explorers who wanted to take small groups to the most remote places on earth. Greg Mortimer is a well-known mountaineer, and the company took its name from the Aurora, the ship of the Australian geologist and explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. More than three decades on, it keeps the founders’ conviction that people who see these places become their lifelong advocates, and it is now a Certified B Corporation.

Ships with a different bow

Aurora’s three ships were designed with its own expedition team. The Greg Mortimer of 2019 was the first passenger ship with the Ulstein X-BOW, an inverted bow that cuts through the swell for smoother ocean crossings and lower fuel use; the Sylvia Earle followed in 2022 and the Douglas Mawson in 2025. All three are 104 metres long, Ice Class 1A and Polar Code 6, with Rolls-Royce stabilisers, a return-to-port system and a medical clinic, and each carries no more than 130 guests on expedition.

Our vessels are small enough to go where others simply can’t.

Built for getting off the ship

Everything is arranged around time ashore. Fifteen Zodiacs board through four dedicated doors, a mudroom with lockers and drying areas keeps wet gear out of the cabins, and the line aims for two landings a day when weather and daylight allow. Beyond the included landings and Zodiac cruises comes a wide menu of add-on activities: sea kayaking and paddleboarding, polar camping, snowshoeing, ski touring, alpine climbing, and polar and tropical diving and snorkelling.

Learning on board

The Sylvia Earle honours the oceanographer and six pioneering women in conservation, and carries a Citizen Science Center where guests join real research. On every ship there are daily lectures in the theatre, a library with floor-to-ceiling windows, an observation lounge on deck 8, and a sauna, gym, heated pool and two Jacuzzis on the back deck for warming up after a polar plunge.

Beyond the poles

Aurora sails Antarctica, South Georgia and the Ross Sea in the austral summer and Svalbard, Greenland, Iceland and the Northwest Passage in the Arctic summer. In between, its Small Ship Cruises take up to 154 guests around the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coasts, the British Isles and Ireland, Costa Rica and Panama, with Master Storytellers on board and a choice of included excursions ashore.

Our advice: choose the voyage by the activity you most want to do. If kayaking among icebergs or a night camping on the ice is the dream, ask for it when you book; and for a first trip, an eleven-day Antarctic voyage on the Sylvia Earle is the line in miniature.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Aurora Expeditions: the back story before you go.