Polar Expedition Cruise Ships Past and Present (Revised)

This is an adapted version of the table on Pages 170-174 of Penguins and Polar Bears. It has revised passenger and crew numbers with an added column for staff, where known.

Name	Previous Name	Built	Pax¹	Crew *()**	Staff *()**	SR	Ice	Notes
Akademik Ioffe		1989	92/ 110	42	22	48	1A	Withdrawn May 2019
Akademik Sergey Vavilov		1988	92/ 110	42	21	48	1A	Withdrawn May 2019
Akademik Boris Petrov		1984	42	32			Y
Akademik Shokalskiy		1982	48/ 54	22	10	24	1D
Aleksey Maryshev		1990	46	22	6	23	1D	Laid up 2010
Alexander von Humboldt²	Minerva	1996	350	155	15			Currently laid up
Antarctic Dream	Piloto Pardo	1959	80	43			1A	Laid up 2012
Bremen	Frontier Spirit	1990	164	94	11	82	E4
Caledonian Sky	Renaissance VI	1991	114	70	17	57	Y
Clelia II	Renaissance IV	1991	98	65	10	49	?
Clipper Adventurer	Alla Tarasova	1975	122	72	9	61	1A
Corinthian³	Clelia II	1990	98	65	7		1D
Crystal Serenity⁴		2003	1070	645	20	545	N
Europa		1911	40	14	3			3 mast Barque
Expedition	Ålandsfärjan	1972	134	56	14	67	1B	Built as a ferry
Explorer	Lindblad Explorer	1969	104	52	9	50	1A	Sank 2007 Antarctic
Fram		2006	318	70	15	124	1B
Fridjof Nansen		2019	530	151		265	PC6
Greg Mortimer		2019	120	56		60	1A
Grigoriy Mikheev		1990	46	22	5	23	1D
Hamburg	cColumbus	1997	400	163	17	197	No	Great Lakes Fitted

Pax=Passengers, lower berth: SR.= Staterooms; Ice, Y=Yes, but degree not known; E3, E4= Germanischer Lloyd, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, Lloyds Class; L3, UL Russian Register; IB=Ice Breaker. N=No Ice Class

(*) Staff and crew numbers are those seen most frequently for the ship on Antarctic cruises. However, these can vary considerably depending on the nature of the cruise.

Name	Previous Name	Built	Pax	Crew	Staff	SR	Ice	Notes
Hanseatic		1193	184	114	9	92	E4
HANSEATIC Inspiration		2019	199/ 230	170	In crew	120	PC6	Great Lakes Fitted
HANSEATIC Nature		2019	199/ 230	170	In crew	120	PC6
Hebridean Sky⁵	Sea Explorer	1991	120	70	15	59	1C
Hondius		2019	176	72		83	PC6
Illiria		1962	209					Scrapped ?
Island Sky⁶		1992	120	70	15	59	1C
Kapitan Dranitsyn		1980	106	75	13	53	I/B
Kapitan Khlebnikov⁷		1981	108	70	13	54	I/B
L’Austral		2009	264	146	13	132	1C
Le Boreal		2009	264	146	13	132	1C
Le Bougainville		2019	184	110		92	1C
Le Champlain		2018	184	110		92	1C
Le Dumont d’Urville		2019	184	110		92	1C
Le Laperouse		2018	184	110		92	1C
Le Levant		1998	90	60		45	N	Now Clio
Le Lyrial		2015	264	146	13	132	1C
Le Soleal		2013	264	146	13	132	1C
Lindblad Explorer		1969	104	52	9	50	1A	Sank 2007
Livonia	Arnold Veymer	1984	52	23		26	Y	Now HSwNS Trosso
Lyubov Orlova⁸		1976	110	63	10	53	L3	Sank 2013
Magellan Explorer		2019	70/ 100	60			PC6
Marco Polo	Aleksandr Pushkin	1965	848	300	12		1C	See text for history
Maria Yermalova		1973	122	56	12	61	1A	scrapped
Midnatsol		2003	500	115	17	278	1C
Minerva		1996	350	155	15		1D	Laid up
Ntl Geo Endeavour				60	12
Ntl. Geo. Explorer	Midnatsol II	1982	154	85	14	81	1A
Ntl Geo. Orion	Orion	2003	102	64	11	53	E3
Noorderlicht	Falkgrund	1910	20			10	Bow	2 mast Schooner
Ocean Atlantic	Konstantin Chernenko	1985	198	104	21	99	1B
Name	Previous Name	Built	Pax	Crew	Staff	SR	Ice	Notes
Ocean Adventurer⁹	Clipper Adventurer	1975	132	75	18	61	1A
Ocean Diamond	Le Diamant	1974	366	100	29	189	1D
Ocean Endeavour¹⁰	Kristina Katerina	1982	199	115	33	100	1B
Ocean Nova	Sarpik Ittuk	1992	96	34	12	38	1A
Orion		2003	106	60	8	53	E3
Ortelius	Marina Svetaeva	1980	100/ 116	41	10	53	LI
Plancius	HNLMS Tydeman	1976	116	37	10	53	1D
Polar Circle		1990	95			35	IB	Scrap 2016
Polar Pioneer	Akademik Shuleykin	1982	54	25	8	26	1D
Polar Prince¹¹	Humphrey Gilbert	1958	55	20	5		1B	Now charter research
Polar Star	Njord	1969	96	35	10	46	1B	Possibly scrap
Polaris¹²	Shearwater	1968	76	36		38	1A	Now internal Russian service
Prince Albert II	World Discoverer¹³	1989	132	111	11	66	1A
Professor Multanovskiy		1983	48/ 52	30		24	1D
Professor Molchanov		1982	48/ 52	30		24	1D
Quest	Sea Endurance	1992	53			26	1B
RCGS Resolute	Hanseatic	1993	184	100	23	92	E4
Rembrandt van Rijn	Enno Doedens Star	1924	33	12			?	3 Mast Schooner
Roald Amundsen		2019	530	151	9	265	PC6
Scenic Eclipse		2019	228	182		114	PC6
Sea Adventurer	Ocean Adventurer	1975	132	70	12	61	1A
Sea Endurance	Saqqit Ittuk	1992	53			26	1B
Sea Explorer	Corinthian II	1992	114	67	12	57	?
Sea Spirit	Spirit of Oceanus	1991	120	70		59	1C	Built as Renaissance V
Seabourn Quest		2011	450	355	19	225	No
Shearwater	Disko	1968	76	36		38	1A
Name	Previous Name	Built	Pax	Crew	Staff	SR	Ice	Notes
Silver Cloud¹⁴		1994	260	201	25	148	1C
Silver Explorer	Prince Albert II	1989	144	107	12	66	1A
Society Explorer	Lindblad Explorer	1969	104	63	13		1A	Sank 2007
Spirit of Enderby¹⁵	Professor Khromov	1983	48	30		24	1D
Spitsbergen¹⁶	Atlantida	2009	280/ 290	70	10	106	1C
The World¹⁷		2002	200	286	16	165	1C
Ushuaia	Malcolm Baldridge	1970	84	36	5	46	Y
World Discoverer		1975	137	93	13	76	1A	Wrecked 2000, Solomon Isl.
World Explorer		2019	176	125			1B

1 Passenger numbers for Polar Cruising, particularly Antarctica, may be limited to 200 persons

2 There is a sail training vessel of the same name. From 2003 this ship chartered to Abercrombie and Kent Dec-Apr. as Explorer II and sailed with 198 passengers. During May-Nov chartered to Phoenix Reisen as Alexander von Humboldt. Also sailed in Antarctic as Minerva

3Launched as Renaissance IV The first four Renaissance small cruise ships were slightly different dimensions and capacity than the second group of four ships.

4 Capacity prior to 2018 refit, which reduced numbers to 980.

5 Built as Renaissance VII

6 Built as Renaissance VIII

7 Initially reported retired from passenger service in 2012 and returned to Icebreaker escort duty on the NSR. However, in expedition cruise service in 2016.

8 Arrested in St John’s NL in 2010, the ship was eventually presumed sunk off the coast of Eire in 2013 during a scrap tow. Crew numbers on board in St. John’s reported to be 51. This number may have excluded officers.

10 Delivered as Konstantin Simonov. Refits 1988,2001,2010,2014

11 A single trip in 2017 with a special purpose passenger ship certificate for Canada’s C3.Passengers were invited guests for specific voyage legs.

12 Charter to G.A.P. Adventures in 2007

13 Note this a different cruise ship to the one given in this table as having cruised the Canadian Arctic, and being wrecked Solomon Islands.

14 Ice strengthened 2017

15 To be replaced by Greg Mortimer from the 2019/20 Antarctic season

16 Doubler plates added to hull.

17 The World is owned by its residents. It is not a cruise ship per se and does not take cruise bookings.