Atlas Ocean Voyages has announced that World Voyager, the new cruise line's third Explorer Class expedition vessel, will join its fleet in NOV. The 198-guest expedition yacht will begin her deployment for the 2023/24 Antarctica season following a naming ceremony in OCT.
“We are delighted to add capacity for exploring the world’s seventh continent during the upcoming 2023 season,” said James Rodriguez, president and CEO of Atlas Ocean Voyages. “As our valued travel advisor partners and guests request more year-round expedition experiences, we look forward to welcoming a third expedition vessel to the Atlas Ocean Voyages fleet a full year earlier than originally planned.”
Rather than a newbuild, as Cruise Industry News reports, the World Voyager was originally delivered in 2020 and comes to Atlas from European sister company Nicko Cruises to Atlas, which is Portugal-based Mystic's U.S. brand.
Atlas Ocean Voyages told Open Jaw that the World Voyager was built along the same lines as Atlas' two existing ships. It will go a refresh to bring her into line with her two Atlas sister ships before joining the Atlas fleet.
World Voyager, like her Atlas fleet mates, is a Polar Category C- and Ice Class 1B-certified expedition yacht featuring two Rolls Royce 9,000 kw hybrid diesel/electric engines and incorporating 3D forward-looking sonar (FLS) technology to detect underwater hazards, obstacles, and shallows.
The company told Cruise Industry News that it had concluded World Voyager would be better deployed with its Atlas brand. “We are still convinced of the advantages of the small expedition ship, but we see a significantly higher demand for expedition cruises in the luxury segment from our U.S sister company,” Guido Laukamp, managing director of Nicko cruises told the publication.
New Ship; New Offering
With the new deployment, Atlas Ocean Voyages will introduce a Fly and Cruise Expeditions option for the first time. The offering includes air departures from Punta Arenas, Chile, expediting the Drake Passage crossing with direct charter flights to Chile's Eduardo Frei Montalva air base on King George Island, Antarctica.
Featured are two new five-day round trips from King George Island and four new one-way Drake expeditions of seven nights from King George Island or Ushuaia, Argentina. The one-way expeditions include charter flights from Punta Arenas to King George Island and Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. Guests will also receive a complimentary pre-cruise hotel night on all expeditions and a post-cruise hotel night on all journeys ending in Punta Arenas. In addition to the Fly and Cruise Expeditions, a collection of ten 9- to 11-night expeditions from Ushuaia will be offered.
All expeditions will go on sale on Tuesday, 16MAY, at 9 am EST. The preview voyage calendar is available here
More information is available at www.AtlasOceanVoyages.com.
