On December 18, 2020, Hull 487 (polar cruise ship Ultramarine) set sail for her maiden voyage in order to be docked at Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Rijeka Croatia. The technologically advanced vessel is contracted with Quark Expeditions USA (part of TravelopiaGroup).
Most of the newbuild was constructed during the pandemic. The vessel was launched / floated out from drydock in May 2020.
Following the drydock at Viktor Lenac, Ultramarine will sail back to Bodosplit Shipyard (Split Croatia) where test runs will be performed along with final equipment installed prior to the handover, which is scheduled for the first half of February.
MS Ultramarine was specifically designed to navigate the ice-filled polar waters. This technologically-advanced ship has a max passenger capacity of 200 and is ice-classed 1A (polar class 6 / PC6 for passenger ships).
Like all Quark ships, Ultramarine is guided by a crew highly-experienced in polar navigation. The ship's inaugural season is in Antarctica. Quark Ultramarine's current fleetmates include Ocean Adventurer, Ocean Diamond, Ocean Endeavour, Ocean Nova, World Explorer, plus two Russian nuclear icebreakers - 50 Years of Victory and Kapitan Khlebnikov.