Lunching on fresh fish and sipping ice-cold rosé in a cove where private yachts anchor to play in the turquoise waters off of Sardinia, it was hard to believe I was traveling on a sister ship to the one that took me through the notoriously rough Drake Passage and a blizzard with hurricane-force winds last year in Antarctica.
Instead of learning about and braving the cold to search for penguins, whales, and seals, we were making pasta with an Italian chef, wandering neighborhood fish and produce markets, competing in onboard cook-offs, and sampling local wines and cuisine.
Welcome to the new generation of expedition cruising.
While the sector has traditionally been associated with sailings to much colder and more remote regions of the world, such as the Arctic and Antarctica, that is changing, thanks to a growing number of modern, upscale expedition ships that are a lot more like luxury yachts and sail in warmer waters for part of the year.
What expedition sailings offer “is a deeper dive wherever you go,” according to Mara Papatheodorou, our onboard culinary expert during a July “epicurean expedition” in the Mediterranean with Atlas Ocean Voyages, an American expedition cruise company that launched in 2021.
Atlas is among several expedition lines offering new and expanded sailings in destinations such as the Mediterranean, where, rather than taking a deep dive into exploring glaciers, icebergs, and polar wildlife, they are using the same equipment to bring passengers closer to the beauty and richness of places like Italy, Greece, Spain, and France—in high style.
With fewer passengers on board, vessels like the World Traveller typically feature larger staterooms and suites than standard cruise ships do.
Photo by Rui Ribeiro
Sailing the Mediterranean, expedition-style
Our 12-day Mediterranean sailing aboard Atlas’s 196-passenger World Traveller began in Rome and ended in Athens, a popular route for ships of all sizes. But save for a stop in Barcelona, we never saw another ship as we traveled along the coast of Italy, France, and Greece, and to small ports and islands such as Elba, Portovenere, Sicily, and Sardinia in Italy, as well as Nice along the French Riviera, the Spanish Balearic island of Menorca, and the picturesque city of Chania on the Greek isle Crete.
While the trip was admittedly anything but the extreme adventure I would normally associate with the term expedition, it offered an intimate, casual, and luxurious way to explore away from the masses. Rather than the natural and wildlife immersion you get during polar cruises, these sailings focus on culinary and cultural immersion on and off the ship. Although, unlike with polar sailings—during which outings are included—excursions do cost extra.
In the port city of Sète in southeastern France, we sampled local oysters and tuna during a culinary walking tour before happening upon a water jousting tournament along the main canal. An unusual sport that dates back to the 1600s, water jousting involves players who stand on ladders that stretch from huge row boats and try to knock each other off into the water as the town cheers from the sidelines.
In Sicily, we visited one of the original Marsala wine houses (where the fortified Sicilian wine is made) outside of the city of Trapani in the west. We also took a chef-led tour through a neighborhood market in Messina on the northeastern tip of the island, where the ship’s chef bought some of the region’s famed sweet yellow tomatoes, prosciutto, and local cheeses that he used to make a special appetizer for our dinner that night.
On the Spanish island of Menorca, we went to the fishing village of Fornells, where some of the guests did a food- and gin-focused walking tour. I jumped at the chance to enjoy the cool Mediterranean water on a kayaking and snorkeling excursion among underwater rock formations and caves.
During Mediterranean cruises, Atlas Ocean Voyages puts a strong focus on cuisine, serving local dishes on board (left) and guiding passengers through fresh produce and fish markets (right).
Courtesy of Atlas Ocean Voyages/Photo by Jeri Clausing
Mostly, it was all about the food, with both onboard and offboard activities offering Papatheodorou’s promised deep dives into the history of the region’s famed cuisine and wines.
Papatheodorou, a culinary expert, editor, and television producer, was our epicurean leader. She taught us about the history of the region’s foods and wines while emceeing pasta-cooking classes with Marcello Zaccaria—who has worked as Academia Barilla’s executive chef since 2001—wine tasting with a Sicilian sommelier, and chocolate making with Julieta Davey, a Costa Rican sustainability-focused chocolatier who is also known as Mama Cacao.
While many onboard cruise activities can be snooze-worthy lectures designed to fill time at sea, that wasn’t the case with Atlas. True to the educational spirit of expedition cruising, the lectures, cooking lessons, tastings, and talks on the ship were interactive, entertaining, and informative. Who knew there was such an art to pairing the right size pasta with the right sauce? It’s something Papatheodorou referred to as “the cling factor.” Or that you can cook your pasta right in the sauce, rather than boiling it separately?
Besides learning to make dishes like traditional pesto pasta and aglio e olia, or pasta with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes, guests participated in cook-offs to see who could take a table full of varied ingredients to make the best Greek salads and chocolate desserts using select provided ingredients.
And there’s nothing like a little healthy competition to bond with and get to know the true colors of your fellow travelers.
The growing trend of polar ships getting off the Arctic trail
Atlas, one of the newer entrants to the small-ship expedition market, having launched in 2021, first created its epicurean adventures in the Mediterranean last year for summer sailings when its ships are not sailing Antarctica or the Arctic Circle. With the launch of a third ship last November, the company has expanded its warmer-water offerings to include cultural expeditions in South America, Morocco, and the Azores.
It’s a growing trend among both the more mainstream ultra-luxury lines, such as Viking and Seabourn, that have entered the expedition space and more traditional polar adventure operators.
While the World Traveller was purpose-built for polar, there are ample benefits to sailing with this luxury, intimate expedition ship elsewhere in the world.
Courtesy of Atlas Ocean Voyages
Aurora Expeditions, for example, which has offered Arctic and Antarctic cruises for more than 30 years, in 2026 will for the first time expand beyond the polar regions to offer immersive itineraries in destinations such as Indonesia, Borneo, the Mediterranean, the British Isles, and the Atlantic Coast.
And Aqua Expeditions, which began as a luxury river-cruise operator in the Amazon and expanded to river ships in Southeast Asia and explorer yachts in Galapagos and East Indonesia, just announced plans for a sixth ship, an explorer yacht that will sail the Seychelles, Zanzibar, and Tanzania beginning late in 2025.
Like Atlas, Aurora Expedition ships were built for the harsh polar regions. But unlike the basic exploration and ice-breaking vessels of the past that aren’t exactly known for plush accommodations or hotel-style extras, these newer-generation, under-200-passenger expedition ships offer modern luxurious amenities such as spas, pools, and gourmet cuisine in a casual, intimate, and upscale atmosphere. In other words, being more polished, they translate well to the yacht-like style and vibes of destinations such as the Mediterranean.
Another bonus is that on Atlas and Aurora alike, most standard cabins are larger than those on traditional cruise ships, with balconies, sitting areas, and oversize showers. Public spaces include glass-domed observation lounges with sweeping views, outdoor grills on the pool for dining alfresco, and sophisticated lecture halls for insightful presentations.
The best part, of course, is the ability to anchor off and dock in ports that big ships can’t get to.
Call it expedition, immersive adventure, hybrid, or expedition light. Whatever term you prefer, I call it small-ship cruising at its best.
