Quark Expeditions Extends Office Hours to Meet Consumer Demand

WATERBURY, Vt., Jan. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Unprecedented interest in the Arctic and Antarctica compelled Quark Expeditions, a Vermont-based, polar expedition operator to extend its office hours in 2011. Quark Polar Travel Advisers are now available from 8:30 AM to 8 PM, eastern time, Monday through Thursday and from 8:30 AM to 5 PM, Friday. This change enables Quark to provide its one-touch service to West Coast travelers as readily as the company does for adventure travelers on the East Coast.

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"One Voice, One Smile, One Source" Service Style Desired

The complexity of arranging a trip to the Arctic or Antarctica means that most consumers rely on the services of experienced polar professionals. This desired "one voice, one smile, one source" style of service is delivered by three different means of communication - over the phone, by email or through the company's live chat feature on its website. Quark's Polar Travel Advisers have sailed on ships in the fleet, visited the locales offered and are backed by a professional Expedition Operations Team with decades of experience in the waters of the High Arctic and Antarctica.

Researching Polar Travel with Video Guides

Travelers considering the polar regions as a vacation destination frequently research available options on the Internet. Quark offers a selection of video guides to aid the selection process. Travel researchers can sail to the North Pole and back in under four minutes with the North Pole Video Guide.

Quark celebrates 20 Years with a Unique World Cruise in 2011

Travelers seeking a unique world cruise experience should consider Quark's Arctic Circumnavigation. Participants sail around the world in 66-days, for the most part above the Arctic Circle, during the northern summer. The sun never sets during most of the expedition that sails from Anadyr, Russia, northward to the Siberian Arctic, stopping en route at some of the remotest islands on the planet. Highlights of the cruise include polar bear sightings, shore landings in Svalbard, a semi-circumnavigation of Greenland and an icebreaker transit of the Northwest Passage.

Per person prices in US dollars, based on twin occupancy begin at $88,990. The world cruise is aboard the polar-class icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. The circumnavigation is the final Arctic voyage as an expedition vessel for the ship which retires from passenger travel in March 2012.

SOURCE Quark Expeditions