Quark Expeditions: most-reported complaints
Automated analysis of 220 public Trustpilot reviews published 2022-12-29 to 2026-09-24. TrustScore 4.9 from 556 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is Quark Expeditions legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Reviewers most often report that Quark Expeditions changed itineraries at the last minute, with six complaints citing this issue as not matching the description. Five reviewers also reported difficulties with cancellations and unhelpful support, specifically noting long refund processing times. Additionally, three complaints mentioned misleading pricing, including instances where customers were told they would not be reimbursed if they left early.
How to reach Quark Expeditions
These are the contact details Quark Expeditions publishes on its Trustpilot profile, as of our last check on 2026-09-24 — it publishes no phone number there, address Elliott Avenue 3131, Seattle, 98121, US.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2022-05-10 and uses Trustpilot’s paid features. Trustpilot ranks it 1 of 5 in Cruise Line Company. We last checked this profile on 2026-09-24 and found 27 new reviews. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Elsewhere: 4.8★ on Google (0 reviews)
TrustScore over time
4.9 → 4.9 across 12 census measurements since 2026-08-17. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal: 2026-08-17 (50%, 4.0d) · 2026-08-21 (50%, 4.0d) · 2026-08-28 (50%, 4.0d) · 2026-08-31 (50%, 4.0d) · 2026-09-03 (0%, 0.0d) · 2026-09-06 (0%, 0.0d) · 2026-09-09 (0%, 0.0d) · 2026-09-12 (0%, 0.0d) · 2026-09-15 (0%, 0.0d) · 2026-09-18 (0%, 0.0d) · 2026-09-24 (0%, 0.0d).
What their policy promises
support availability: Mon-Thu 7:30 am-9 pm, Fri 7:30 am-6 pm EST
“Contact a Quark Expeditions Polar Travel Adviser by telephone or live chat Monday through Thursday 7:30 am to 9 pm and Friday 7:30 am to 6 pm.”
support availability: toll free 1.888.892.0073 or +1.203.803.2666
“Travelers in North America may call toll free 1.888.892.0073 or +1.203.803.2666.”
support availability: telephone or live chat
“Contact a Quark Expeditions Polar Travel Adviser by telephone or live chat”
support availability: online at QuarkExpeditions.com
“Bookings can also be made online at QuarkExpeditions.com.”
Quoted verbatim from the company’s own published policy (source page); complaint counts are census classifications. As of 2026-09-17.
Policy-page monitoring
We monitor this company’s published policy page for changes. No changes have been detected since we started watching on 2026-09-01.
Automated change detection on the company’s own published policy page — a record of when the page changed, not a judgement on what changed.
47% of its 192 recent 5★ reviews came from accounts that had written only that one review when we captured it (the median across companies is about 39%). A high share is a reason to look closer, not evidence of fake reviews.
Sector benchmark: not as described makes up 46% of this company’s complaints vs a 25% median across 100 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 384 of this company’s 556 Trustpilot reviews (69%) were written in the last 12 months.
Not enough reviews to establish a trend.
What are the most common complaints about Quark Expeditions?
Not as described
6 reports · 46% of complaints“The company changed the itinerary at the last minute deleting a major part of the trip”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“The people on the second flight had to return back to Punta Arenas and their trip was cancelled entirely.”
“was sold a trip to norway after erick from quark clearly said we were going to the east coast of greenland”
The company replied on 2024-08-23: “Hi Jacqui, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We sincerely regret that your experience did not meet your expectations and understand how the confusion about the itinerary could…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
Hard to cancel
5 reports · 38% of complaints“Quark Expeditions is now informing us that our $24,000 refund will take an unreasonable 60 days to process.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Quark Expeditions cancelled our cruise without any prior warning or communication.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They won't refund me, despite not being capable of actually delivering the trip I paid for.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unhelpful
5 reports · 38% of complaints“Quark Expeditions is now informing us that our $24,000 refund will take an unreasonable 60 days to process.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Quark Expeditions cancelled our cruise without any prior warning or communication.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They won't refund me, despite not being capable of actually delivering the trip I paid for.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Misleading pricing
3 reports · 23% of complaints“We were told that if we went home we would not be reimbursed.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“All advertising is about polar bears however no mention that you have to remain at least 500 m distance.”
“do not believe the brochures etc with respect to polar bear sightings in Svalbard.”
Refunds delayed
3 reports · 23% of complaints“Quark Expeditions is now informing us that our $24,000 refund will take an unreasonable 60 days to process.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Quark Expeditions cancelled our cruise without any prior warning or communication.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I was given a huge run around about the refund being told that my credit card could not be refunded.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Compare Quark Expeditions with…
Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-09-24.