Hot on the heels of Silversea's decision to bring Prince Albert II back to the Arctic for summer 2009, Hurtigruten has added capacity in Spitsbergen for June, July and August for 2009.
The additional cruises are on the 120-passenger Expedition, which is owned by Gap Adventures and has been chartered on a crew basis for four years by Spitsbergen Travel, which is a subsidiary of Hurtigruten.
Expedition will be sailing 13 nine-day Kingdom of the Polar Bear cruises for Hurtigruten from Longyearbyen, circumnavigating Spitsbergen, weather permitting.
Hurtigruten's head of commercial Kathryn Beadle said demand has outstripped capacity on the line's two other ships in Spitsbergen.
"Our main nine-day Spitsbergen voyage is already close to being sold out for 2009 and we still have more than six months' selling time."
Expedition, which has an ice-strengthened hull, was built in 1972 and is currently undergoing modernisation. When it enters service it will have a panorama lounge, expedition lounge, restaurant, library, bar, fitness room and sauna.
Cold is clearly the new hot for British cruisers. Just a month ago Titan HiTours announced it had signed an alliance with National Geographic which enables Brits to travel on the company's expedition ships, operated by Lindblad Expeditions, to Antarctica, the Arctic, Alaska, the Galapagos and other such exciting places.
Jane Archer
