MV Plancius

MV Plancius cruise ship (formerly named "HNLMS Tydeman") is part of the Oceanwide Expeditions fleet - together with Ortelius, Hondius, and the sailing ships Noorderlicht and Rembrandt van Rijn.

This is an ice-strengthened Arctic and Antarctica expedition ship. The vessel was converted from an oceanographic research vessel that served the Royal Netherlands Navy between November 10, 1976, and June 3, 2004. Like all the other fleetmates, Plancius is equipped with rigid-hulled zodiacs (inflatable boats) used for landings (ship-to-shore passenger transportation) in remote areas.

During its Royal Navy service, approx 30% of the vessel's operational time was used by various non-military research organizations (universities and institutes). At the time, the smaller ships HNLMS Blommendal and HNLMS Buyskes, along with HNLMS Tydeman formed the so-called "white fleet" of the Navy's Hydrographic Service. From 2003, this fleet was replaced by HNLMS Snellius and from 2004 - by HNLMS Luymes.

Plancius as Tydeman was named after the hydrographer of Siboga Expedition (Dutch East Indies) Gustaaf Frederik Tydeman (1899–1900) and was the 2nd ship to bear this name. Tydeman was designed for worldwide deep sea research, but in her last years of navy service the tasks were limited to hydrographic surveying in the Europe's Baltic Sea and North Sea. When decomissioned, HNLMS Tydeman was sold to the Nigerian Navy, but they didn't pay.

In January 2007, the Vlissingen (Holland)-based company Oceanwide Expeditions acquired the vessel for EUR 900,000. In 2008, the ship was refurbished at Reimerswaal shipyard in Hansweert. On November 14, 2009 Tydeman was renamed to "MV Plancius" - honoring the Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius (1552–1622).

MV Plancius can accommodate up to 116 passengers in 53 staterooms. The crew of 45 includes 19 hotel staff (1 steward-barman, 1 hotel manager, 6 chefs, 11 stewards / cabin cleaners), 17 nautical crew, 7 expedition staff (6 guides-lecturers, 1 expedition leader) and 1 doctor.