Hurtigruten Expeditions will return to Antarctica from November and December 2021 with the battery-hybrid powered MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fram, departing from Punta Arenas, Chile.
Due to the travel restrictions situation, the third ship planned for Antarctica, the newly named battery-hybrid powered MS Fridtjof Nansen, will instead be offering expedition cruises to the coast of Norway from Hamburg, Germany. She will complement the refurbished battery-hybrid powered MS Otto Sverdrup, as most of her sailings are sold out for the first quarter of 2022 due to strong demand.
Affected guests have been contacted with rebooking options.
“Launching a two-ship Antarctica season this November marks a remarkable turning point for us. With MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fram sailing out of Punta Arenas, and MS Fridtjof Nansen sailing in-demand expedition cruises in Europe, we will be back on track with all of our planned expedition fleet activities at the start of the new year. Couple this with the fact that all Hurtigruten Norwegian Coastal Express ships are back in schedule, and that all hotels and on-land offers will be open to guests again, the 2022 travel landscape for Australia and New Zealand is looking very optimistic,” said Damian Perry, Managing Director, VP Sales & Marketing, Asia-Pacific.
With very strong 2022 booking numbers demonstrating substantial pent-up demand for future adventure travel, Hurtigruten Expeditions now prepare for:
MS Roald Amundsen to sail her first Antarctica expedition cruise out of Punta Arenas on November 25.
MS Fram, originally scheduled to depart from Ushuaia, Argentina, to kick off her 2021/22 Antarctica season from Punta Arenas, on December 14.
MS Fridtjof Nansen, initially scheduled for Antarctica 2021/22, to have her first departure from Hamburg in January 2022.
All guests and crewmembers for all Antarctica expedition cruises will be vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency.
MS Roald Amundsen’s first departure will be a Solar Eclipse sailing. The ship will bring guests to the Scotia Sea near the South Orkney Islands, a group of four islands almost 400 miles northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, supposedly the best place to experience the eclipse. As this region’s next solar eclipse phenomenon will not occur for about 400 years, it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
