Viking Expeditions Set to Launch with Pair of 378-Guest Ships

Viking Polaris

Viking Cruises has rolled out its expedition offering in Viking Expedition Cruises, which currently has select itineraries available only to past guests before general sales open in early 2020.

Viking will build a pair of expedition ships at VARD, the Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris. Each Polaris-class ship will carry 378 guests and offer Polar Class 6 hull specifications.

The expedition offering will mix in with the company’s dominant river cruise brand and luxury cruise offering as Torstein Hagen continues expanding his Viking Cruises empire.

The ships will have six cabin categories with the smallest starting at 218 square feet. Cruise Industry News previously reported the ships will feature submarines and carry a large 20-person expedition team.

Similar to the company’s ocean program, the brand will offer the “thinking person’s” cruise product.

Onboard, guests can look forward to trademark Viking features such as Manfredi’s Italian Restaurant.

Among the options available for early booking, the company’s Antarctic Explorer program sails from Ushuaia in early 2022, with each cruise at 13 nights for the inaugural season. Early bird offers start at $15,393 per person. Embarkation starts in Buenos Aires, where guests will spend a night before a charter flight to Ushuaia.

An Arctic Adventure program is also available for past guests for early booking, sailing roundtrip 13-day cruises from Tromso in August and September 2022.

Silversea expedition ships to explore new destinations

By Tom Stieghorst
Silversea Cruises said its eight ships will visit a combined 845 destinations in 2016, with 107 new stops on 272 cruises.

Many of the new destinations will be visited by Silversea’s three expedition ships, which can go to very small ports not frequented by most cruise lines or by Silversea’s five luxury vessels.

Included among 88 inaugural calls on 95 expedition cruises are Gough Island, St. Helena; Lizard Island, Australia; Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles; Ko Phra Thong, Thailand; and South Cinque Island, Andaman Archipelago.

Silversea Discoverer will offer a new 17-day expedition to the Seychelles, Maldives, Mozambique, and Tanzania, with an inaugural visit to Aldabra, an raised coral atoll that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Silversea’s more traditional fleet will make 177 voyages, including a trio of 10-day cruises in South Africa aboard Silver Cloud. Among 19 new ports are Le Marin, Martinique; Shimizu, Japan; Rijeka and Rab Island, Croatia; and Bremerhaven, Germany.