On Monday, July 11, Swan Hellenic announced that the christening ceremony of its 2nd ice-class cultural expedition ship, SH Vega, had taken place at Helsinki Shipyard.
The vessel is now on her way to Norway and her first cultural expedition voyage of the Arctic, an 11-day Svalbard Archipelago exploration, departing Tromso on July 20.
The purpose-designed newbuild was named by Patrizia Zito nee Passalacqua, wife of Andrea Zito (Swan Hellenic CEO), in the presence of Helsinki Shipyard Senior Management, media, and members of the cruise & travel industries.
SH Vega is the 2nd in a series of 3 stylish, high ice-class, cultural expedition cruise ships made for premium discovery experiences, with a strong bias for extreme latitude areas. The newbuild boasts a 5MW diesel-electric propulsion system with selective catalytic reduction along with a PC5 ice-strengthened hull with extra-large stabilizers for exceptional comfort. With LOA length 113 m and volume 10600 GT-tons, the vessel was designed to explore the most inaccessible spots on the planet.
SH Vega, like the sistership SH Minerva, has been specially designed to meet the latest environmental regulations. She is self-sufficient for up to 40 days/8000 NM/nautical miles (9200 mi / 14800 km). Preparations were made to implement battery technology which would make it possible to operate silently. The ships are equipped with exhaust gas cleaning, as well as advanced wastewater treatment systems and waste storage facilities required for sailing in sensitive polar areas.
Providing 5-star accommodation for 152 passengers in 76 staterooms (on 3 out of 9 decks), the majority with large balconies, Swan Hellenic's Vega is operated by a team of 120 crew to provide the highest levels of service.
Soon after the naming ceremony, SH Vega set sail from Helsinki (Finland) to Tromso (Norway) for a season of Arctic voyages, from Svalbard to Iceland and Greenland, Northern Canada, and the Northwest Passage.
Come late autumn, she will make her way down the East Coast USA over 12 days, taking in everything from Charleston SC, Norfolk VA, and New York to Miami Florida. From November, Vega will be offering a series of 11- to 21-day cultural expedition sailings in Antarctica until March 2023, when she is due to sail up Africa's West Coast to the Canaries and Western Europe, also immersing passengers in the Celtic lands of Ireland and Britain on the way to her 2nd Arctic season.
This is expected to end with a Greenland-Nova Scotia crossing, followed by the Caribbean and Brazil in October 2023.
Minerva and Vega will be joined in early 2023 by the slightly bigger SH Diana, already under construction at Helsinki Shipyard.