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M/V Ortelius

The ice-strengthened vessel M/V Ortelius is an excellent vessel for Polar expedition cruises in the Arctic and Antarctica, providing us with possibilities to adventure in remote locations such as the Ross Sea and Franz Josef Land.

M/V Ortelius was built in Gdynia, Poland in 1989, was named "Marina Svetaeva", and served as a special purpose vessel for the Russian Academy of Science. The vessel is re-flagged and renamed M/V Ortelius. As Plancius, Ortelius was a Dutch / Flemish cartographer. Abraham Ortelius (1527 – 1598) published the first modern world atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum or Theatre of the World in 1570. At that time, the atlas was the most expensive book ever printed.

The vessel has the highest ice-class notation (UL1 equivalent to 1A) and is therefore very suitable to navigate in solid one-year sea ice and loose multi-year pack ice. M/V Ortelius is a great expedition vessel for 106 passengers with lots of open-deck spaces.The vessel is manned by 20 highly experienced international nautical crew, 19 international hotel crew, including stewardesses, 6 expedition staff (1 expedition leader and 5 guides/lecturers) and 1 doctor.

The vessel offers simple but comfortable cabins and public spaces

• 4 quadruple cabins with bunk beds (these can also be used as triple or twin cabins)
• 2 triple porthole cabins with bunk beds (these can also be used as quads or twin cabins)
• 25 twin porthole cabin with 2 single lower berths
• 10 twin cabins with windows and 2 single lower berths
• 6 superior cabins with double beds and a separate day room
• 1 suite with a double bed and a separate day room.

All cabins are spacious outside cabins with a minimum of two portholes or windows per cabin and all cabins have private shower and toilet.

M/V Ortelius offers a comfortable hotel standard, with two restaurants, a bar/lecture room. Our voyages are primarily developed to offer our passengers a quality exploratory wildlife program, trying to spend as much time ashore as possible. As the number of passengers is limited to approximately 106 on the M/V Ortelius, flexibility assures maximum wildlife opportunities.