By
Rebecca Gibson |
Adventure travel operator Lindblad Expeditions has revealed plans to order a second purpose-built polar expedition cruise ship, which is expected to be delivered in 2021.
Prompted by growing customer demand for “high quality and authentic expedition travel”, the ship will be the latest in a line of newbuilds for Lindblad. They include coastal vessels National Geographic Quest (launched in June 2017), National Geographic Venture (to debut December 2018) and Lindblad's first new purpose-built polar expedition ship, the 126-guest National Geographic Endurance. The latter, which was designed by Norway’s Ulstein Design & Solutions, is currently being built to Polar Class 5 standards at Crist Shipyard in Poland and will be delivered in early 2020.
Once she starts service, the yet-to-be-named newbuild will joins National Geographic Endurance to become the fourth polar vessel in the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet. Others include National Geographic Explorer and National Geographic Orion, which are both currently in operation.
“We are extremely excited to announce the further expansion of our expedition fleet,” said Sven-Olof Lindblad, president and CEO. “This is the next step of our long-term growth strategy to capitalise on the expanding demand for high quality adventure travel. By marrying additional capacity with a dedicated and growing loyal customer base and 50 years of experience, we will be able to build upon our proven track record of delivering unparalleled expeditions to the world's most remarkable destinations.”
Lindblad is yet to confirm which shipyard will build the new vessel.