Plus, the company is adding more polar expeditions and offering discounts of up to 15% on most routes if booked by Nov. 1 this year.
Poseidon uses the 114-passenger Sea Spirit, recently fully refurbished, and the 128-passenger nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Years of Victory. Both sail northern climes in the northern summer, then Sea Spirit moves to Antarctica in the austral summer.
The new 12-day itinerary from Scotland to the Arctic sails June 3, 2019, from Leith (Edinburgh) to Norway’s Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen), tracing routes of Vikings who invaded Scotland’s coast centuries ago. Highlights include Skara Brae, a 5,000-year-old village and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Orkney Islands; Fair Isle in the Shetland Islands, famous for its sweaters and as a birder's paradise; Denmark's authentic, unspoiled Faroe Islands; Norway's stunning and wild Jan Mayen and the High Arctic wilderness of Svalbard.
Rates start at $5,396 per person, double occupancy, in a Main Deck Suite, after the discount.
Sea Spirit's new 12-day British Isles expedition, departing May 21, 2019, represents a new direction for Poseidon Expeditions because this adventure has nothing to do with the Arctic or Antarctica. The trip begins at Plymouth, UK, and proceeds along the Scottish coast to isles of Scotland and Ireland, ending at Leith. Many stops feature birding. Some highlights include the high cliffs of Scotland’s St. Kilda, the basalt columns of Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway, castles and monasteries (including Iona Abbey), Waterford (crystal), Snowdonia National Park and a 13th-century castle in Wales, Shetland ponies and a Highland distillery.
Rates start at $5,795.
Poseidon Expeditions added a second departure of its 11-day 'East Greenland Under the Dome of Northern Lights' in 2019, with departures on Sept. 6 and Sept. 16. The cruise, round-trip from Reykjavik, has sold out for the past four consecutive seasons. The starting price, inclusive of discount, is $7,556.
There also will be two departures of the 'Franz Josef Land Archipelago - Russian High Arctic' cruise, a 14-day program that is not available through any other expedition ship operator. Departures in 2019 are Aug. 1-14 and Aug. 13-26. Rates, including discount, start at $12,056.
For the 2019/20 Antarctic season, Poseidon Expeditions again offers a variety of classic Antarctic Peninsula programs as well as three longer Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands voyages, all aboard Sea Spirit. The season begins with the 23-day 'Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctic Islands Antarctica Awakening' program Oct. 20, 2019, embarking at Montevideo, Uruguay, and ending at Ushuaia, Argentina. The final voyage of the season, also 23 days, includes the same Southern Ocean destinations, embarking at Ushuaia Feb. 25, 2020, and ending at Montevideo.
Sea Spirit recently completed a $1m refurbishment of all 55 guest suites and public areas. The ship’s expedition staff-to-passenger ratio is a high 1:9.
In 2019, 50 Years of Victory will operate three prime season North Pole departures for Poseidon Expeditions: July 7, July 18 and July 29. This 13-day 'Expedition to the Top of the World' departs from Murmansk, Russia. The voyage north includes sightseeing helicopter flights. After celebrations at the North Pole, the south-bound voyage travels through Franz Josef Land, an archipelago of 191 uninhabited, volcanic, mostly glaciated islands that are part of the Russian Arctic National Park. Fares start at $28,495, inclusive of the discount.
Powered by two nuclear reactors generating 75,000 horsepower and capable of crushing a clear path through multi-year ice up to three meters/10 feet thick, 50 Years of Victory is the largest and most powerful icebreaker ever built. It offers comfortable, all ocean-view accommodations and even a swimming pool with heated seawater.
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