As 2025 looks to be the year travellers seek experiences that go beyond traditional travel, Arctic Expedition Micro Cruises are surging in popularity offering the perfect mix of exploration, adventure and comfort.
Secret Atlas has announced a new partnership with Cabin Select, a leading travel tech company specialising in reservation management and distribution, to make it easier for consumers and trade to reserve and manage cruise bookings.
Whether a solo traveller wanting to connect with like-minded guests, families looking to inspire young minds or intrepid explorers in search of new challenges, a small ship voyage to the polar regions is the ideal choice.
Guest photographing an Arctic Fox in Svalbard during the Summer. Photographer Mike Brampton. Credit Secret Atlas.
Secret Atlas, pioneers of the Expedition Micro Cruise, is already seeing strong interest in their 2025 Arctic voyages and has shared 10 reasons why it should be at the top of everyone’s travel hot list this year:
- Multi-generational Family Fun – Enjoy a transformative adventure for all the family on an Expedition Micro Yacht Charter to the Arctic. Equipped with spacious en-suite cabins, freshly prepared meals by an onboard chef and large open lounge areas, families ranging from young teens up can experience the wonders of glaciers, polar bears, giant icebergs and local cultures all while travelling in the comfort of a private expedition vessel.
- Solo Travel Connections – Solo travellers can enjoy a friendly and inclusive atmosphere with a small, intimate group size of just 12 like-minded explorers. Accommodation options range from single cabins to sharing a cabin with travellers of the same gender at no extra cost, making it the perfect opportunity to meet and connect with fellow travellers in a safe environment.
- Intimate Exploration – Travelling on a small ship with only 12 passengers, allows access to remote and less-visited destinations that larger ships can’t reach. This means a more exclusive and authentic travel experience for everyone onboard.
- Lower Environmental Impact – Smaller ships generally have a lower environmental footprint compared to bigger vessels and create less disturbance to wildlife. With a strong commitment to sustainable and responsible tourism practices, Expedition Micro Cruise operators observe strict guidelines to minimise their impact.
- Flexible Itineraries – Micro cruises offer more flexibility in terms of itinerary changes and shore excursions following the wildlife and weather to get the most from the trip. With a smaller group size, there is less time waiting to go ashore and more time spent exploring.
- Personalised Experiences – With a higher staff to guest ratio of one expedition leader to only six guests, it allows the opportunity for a tailored and enriching experience. Joining a micro cruise is a unique opportunity to interact with and gain first-hand expertise from world-class expedition leaders, scientists and guides in their field.
- Closer to Nature – Travelling in such a small group allows more opportunities to see some of the most incredible wildlife on earth and experience awe-inspiring landscapes such as cathedral-size icebergs and towering glaciers. Due to their size, expedition ships can get closer to glaciers and create a more intimate experience for wildlife watching including polar bears, walruses and arctic foxes.
- See the Northern Lights and the Midnight Sun – As an Expedition Micro Cruise can travel to remote locations with minimal light pollution and has the flexibility to adjust routes in line with aurora forecasts, guests have a better chance of seeing this natural phenomenon. During the summer months, visitors can also experience the Arctic’s midnight sun where the sun doesn’t set for weeks.
- Escape the Crowds – There are no queues, crowds or casinos on a Micro Cruise. With minimum time spent waiting to go ashore for excursions guests really do get the most out of the expedition and be a part of an intimate experience rather than joining an overcrowded commercial cruise.
- The Spirit of Exploration with First Class Comforts – Despite built to travel through pack-ice and visit those hard-to-reach places, the Secret Atlas expedition ships offer guests a cosy and comfortable home away from home while exploring the Arctic. After a day on land or exploring in the zodiacs, guests can enjoy spacious en-suite cabins, a large dining saloon bar with freshly cooked meals and even relax and warm up in the onboard sauna or hot tub providing guests with first class comforts.
Pioneers of the Micro Cruise concept, Secret Atlas launched in 2019 taking the smallest group
sizes in the Arctic (only 12 guests) and Antarctic (only 48 guests) while offering authentic
itineraries away from the larger cruise vessels. The micro cruise sector has since grown from
strength to strength and Secret Atlas has chosen Cabin Select to increase efficiency in the
process of taking and managing bookings from both direct consumers and trade partners
making it friction free.
Northern Lights in Greenland. Photographer Nikki Born. Credit Secret Atlas.
The partnership will make it even easier to book, manage and pay for bookings with Secret
Atlas through seamlessly integrating content, pricing, and live availability. It will also offer
access to a range of benefits including multi-language support, multi-currency transactions
and multi-cabin options streamlining and reducing the booking process and time.
Michele D’Agostino, Co-Founder of Secret Atlas said, “We created the Expedition Micro
Cruise concept to help adventurous travellers explore the polar regions with as much flexibility
and little environmental impact as possible. Our sector is niche, and Cabin Select offers the
opportunity to improve the booking experience adding real time data, local currencies, multiple
checkout methodologies for an improved efficiency making it easier for guests and trade
partners to book and manage an Expedition Micro Cruise with us.”
Kevin Walker, CSO of Cabin Select said, “We’re thrilled to welcome Secret Atlas to the Cabin
Select website. Secret Atlas is the first Micro Cruise brand to come onboard and opens the
inventory available to agents with clients interested in an expedition cruise to the polar regions.
Secret Atlas offers a unique way of exploring this part of the world, and we’re excited to help
the brand enhance their booking journey.”
Contributing members are responsible for the accuracy of content contributed to the Member News section of AdventureTravelNews.
