Hurtigruten cancels entire 20/21 Antarctic cruise season
On the very day that their season should have begun, Hurtigruten have made the decision to cancel the entire 2020-2021 Antarctic Expedition season for its ships - Fram, Roald Amundsen and Fidtjof Nansen. The hotly anticipated winter season included the once in a lifetime chance to view a southern hemisphere solar eclipse from the South Orkney islands at the beginning of December.
The ‘ring of fire’ seen on a solar eclipse.
A post on the Hurtifruten website explains that with international travel regulations and port closures changing from day to day… "The situation is still fluid, and developments are unpredictable. There are still major hurdles to overcome. As of now, they do not show much promise to be resolved in time to explore Antarctica under our strict health and safety standards in the coming months”
Although Daniel Skjeldam, CEO, calls this a ‘temporary setback’ in his post on the company's website it is a definite season long cancellation. He explains "There is currently a ban of cruise ship operations in many waters, and most flights to our departure ports in Argentina and Chile are cancelled. This is why we have made the decision that Hurtigruten will not operate our Antarctica expedition cruises departing in October, November and December 2020, or in January, February and March 2021. We will explore again.”
Seeing penguins in their natural habitat is a dream for many
These voyages are the ultimate in bucket list cruise destinations and although the company has a well respected and flexible rebooking policy there is no doubt that many people will be bitterly disappointed. However choosing to avoid cruising in the beautiful and fragile ecology of the Antarctic before the Covid virus is completely eradicated can only be viewed as a sensible precaution by Hurtigruten.
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Happy portExploring!
Love
Cathy
xx
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