MV Plancius

MV Plancius cruise ship (formerly named "HNLMS Tydeman") is part of the Oceanwide Expeditions fleet - together with the newbuilds Janssonius (2021) and Hondius (2019), Ortelius and the polar 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 fleet mates, 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 Europe's Baltic Sea and the North Sea. When decommissioned, 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" - honouring 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.

History - construction and ownership

Specializing in passenger shipping and navigation in icy waters, with the newbuilds Janssonius and Hondius the headquartered in Vlissingen Netherlands cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions grew not only as fleet/capacity but also as brand popularity and trust.

Founded in 1993, Oceanwide Expeditions (shipowner) is one of the industry's small cruise lines offering regularly-scheduled and flexible polar cruise tours providing its customers with the opportunity to contact with Arctic-Antarctica's wildlife, unique landscapes, nautically important polar regions and historical sites. Oceanwide Expeditions has year-round planned itineraries - during summer (April through September) in the Arctic and during winter (October through March) in Antarctica. Most Oceanwide-organized tours are in sea-only accessible areas, usually without any land/port infrastructure. In most of these locations, the cruise ship anchors near the coast and all passengers are tendered (via Zodiac Milpro boats) to the landing sites. Each boat is crewed and guided by a dedicated expedition team.

Oceanwide Expeditions supports renown organizations dedicated to wildlife preservation and sustainable environmental development projects in Earth's polar regions. Among these organizations are AECO (Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators - cruise line organization working mainly in Europe's Arctic / Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard Norway), IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, 1991-founded association of 100+ members/companies) and BirdLife International (1922-founded global organizations dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats).