Poseidon Expeditions announced that it had signed an agreement with shipowner SunStone Ships, Inc. to extend the charter of the 114-passenger cruise ship Sea Spirit for 2 years. This will keep the cruise ship flying the Poseidon Expeditions banner through May 2024.
According to Nikolay Saveliev, founder and president of Poseidon Expeditions, specialized in active adventure cruises in Arctic and Antarctic regions, Sea Spirit had received great acceptance in the marketplace and the company was delighted to be able to continue offering the vessel to its travel partners and polar travellers around the world.
Poseidon's founder added that plans were still moving forward with a newbuild, configured for fewer than 150 cruisers. An official announcement with details is still forthcoming.
MV Sea Spirit spends her year between the 2 polar regions, in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica from late October through mid-March, then in the sub-Arctic and Arctic regions of Svalbard Islands, Franz Josef Land, Greenland and the British Isles from mid-May through September.
Sea Spirit cruise ship was built in 1991 in Carrara Italy and launched under the name "Renaissance V". Subsequently, the vessel was operated by Cruise West (as "Spirit of Oceanus") before being modified (drydock refitted) in 2010 to become more suitable for polar cruises.