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Heritage Expeditions’ ship arrives in New Zealand for first cruises since lockdown

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Spirit of Enderby (Professor Khromov) in the Port of Lyttelton
After 29 days at sea, Heritage Expeditions’ flagship Spirit of Enderby (Russian icebreaker Professor Khromov) arrived at the Port of Lyttelton on Monday.

She will next head for Bluff to operate an ‘Unseen Fiordland and Stewart Island’ cruise on November 24.

Spirit of Enderby will undergo some maintenance in Lyttelton in preparation for the company’s upcoming Southern Ocean season.

Exemption granted

As Heritage Expeditions is a family-owned New Zealand company, Spirit of Enderby was granted an exemption by the New Zealand government to restart cruising in the country.

NZ$67m cruise berth

She is the first passenger vessel to utilise Lyttelton’s new NZ$67m cruise berth, just days ahead of the official opening on November 25. 

The ship was docked by New Zealand’s first and only female marine pilot, Captain Joanne Laing.

All tested negative

There were cheers all round when Spirit of Enderby sailed out of the Port of Vladivostok on October 16, after spending 14 days isolating on anchor in the harbour. All aboard returned two negative COVID-19 tests.