Ortelius

Is Ortelius a good ship for Antarctica?

Yes, if reaching places that ice usually closes off matters more to you than comfort. Ortelius is a 108-passenger expedition ship sailed by Oceanwide Expeditions, built in Gdynia, Poland, in 1989 for the Russian Academy of Science and rated UL1, which Oceanwide gives as equivalent to the Finnish-Swedish class 1A.¹ Oceanwide brings its own helicopters on select Ortelius cruises, and none of the 2026-27 Antarctic voyages on its other two motor ships, Plancius and Hondius, lists them.²³⁴ The cheapest Ortelius fare of the season is $7,800 per person, one berth in a shared four-berth cabin on the 11-day whale-watching voyage from Ushuaia on March 18, 2027, read October 15, 2026.³⁵

The trade-offs are age, speed and motion. Oceanwide describes "simple but comfortable cabins", gives an average cruising speed of 10.5 knots, and lists no stabilizers in its Ortelius specifications, although it does list them for its newer Hondius.¹⁶ Every Antarctic departure is a round trip from Ushuaia, so you cross the Drake Passage by sea both ways.³ We have not sailed on Ortelius; this page is built from Oceanwide's specifications, cabin lists, voyage pages and fares, IAATO's rules and estimates, and published ice-class tables.

What are Ortelius's specifications?

Ortelius began life as a special-purpose vessel named Marina Svetaeva, not as a cruise ship. Oceanwide added it to the fleet in 2011, two years after Plancius, and renamed it after Abraham Ortelius, the Flemish cartographer whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of 1570 was the first modern world atlas and, at the time, the most expensive book ever printed.⁷⁸

Oceanwide's own documents split the eight expedition staff two ways: the specification sheet lists an expedition leader and seven guides and lecturers, the ship page an expedition leader, an assistant and six lecturer-guides.¹⁸ The ship page says passengers usually range from their 30s to their 80s, most of them 45 to 65, and that dress on board is informal.⁸

How well does Ortelius handle sea ice?

Well for a ship that is ice-strengthened rather than an icebreaker: Oceanwide says it is rated to one of the highest ice-class notations for non-icebreakers.¹⁰ Its specification sheet calls UL1 "the highest ice-class notation" and says it makes Ortelius suitable for "solid one-year sea ice and loose multi-year pack ice".¹ The company is not consistent on the equivalent: the ship page and specification sheet say 1A, while its FAQ on ice-strengthened ships says 1A Super, the same equivalent it gives for the Polar Class 6 Hondius.⁸¹¹

The Finnish-Swedish classes show how far apart Oceanwide's two 108-passenger ships are. The Swedish Maritime Administration describes 1A as the class for "difficult ice-conditions", with 0.5 to 1.0 m in its table, and Category II, the lowest, as "very easy ice-conditions", at 0.1 to 0.15 m.¹² Plancius is Lloyd's Register Ice Class 1D, which the Maritime Office in Gdynia's correspondence table lines up with Category II.¹³¹⁴ Of the pair, only Ortelius is scheduled for the 2026-27 Remote Weddell Sea and Bellingshausen Sea voyages.³

On February 5, 2026, during the 27-night Remote Weddell Sea Explorer, Ortelius recorded 78°05.60'S in Vahsel Bay. Oceanwide announced it as the southernmost point reached in the Weddell Sea by a non-icebreaker vessel, beating the 78°03.471'S Ortelius itself reached the season before.¹⁰ That is the company's claim rather than an independent ranking, and no voyage can promise to repeat it: ice decides how far south any trip gets.

How do the Ortelius helicopters work?

Ortelius carries two helicopters on its helicopter voyages and uses them to reach landing sites that the ship and its Zodiacs cannot; ship-to-shore helicopter transfers are included in the fare, but no amount of flying time is guaranteed.⁹ The conditions on Oceanwide's voyage pages are strict:

• If one helicopter cannot fly, all helicopter operations stop, because each one must always be backed up by a second working helicopter.⁹
• Each helicopter takes 4 to 5 passengers per flight, and an operation takes a full day.¹⁵
• The crew assigns seats, so travel partners cannot always fly together, and passengers may not enter the hangar.⁹
• Flights depend on weather, sea and ice, visibility and technical issues, and can be canceled at any moment.⁹

The Weddell Sea emperor voyage page still mentions possible scenic flights, but the helicopter FAQ on the Peter I Island voyage page says Oceanwide does not offer them and flies only where there is no other way in.¹⁵⁹

The best-known target is the emperor penguin colony at Snow Hill Island, home to about 2,000 birds and, Oceanwide says, almost always ice-locked even for ice-strengthened ships.¹⁶ It puts the chance that the sea route there is clear of multi-year pack ice at under 50%, and warns that the walk from the helicopter landing site to the colony can take up to 45 minutes.¹⁵ In November 2022 it reported its fourth consecutive successful landing there, its first attempt in three years, with each passenger spending about an hour and a half near the rookery.¹⁶

The struck-through "was" prices carried no end date when we read the page.³ Peter I Island is an uninhabited volcanic island claimed by Norway, discovered by Fabian von Bellingshausen in 1821 and rarely visited by passenger ships; Oceanwide hopes to land passengers by helicopter on its glaciated northern part.⁹

Which Ortelius cabin should you book?

For most couples, the twin window. It measures 17.5 to 17.7 m², against 11.4 to 15.1 m² for a twin porthole, and on the March 18, 2027 voyage it costs $450 more per person.¹⁸³ All 50 cabins are outside cabins with at least two portholes or windows and a private shower and toilet; none of the cabin types lists a balcony, so read our balcony guide if that matters.¹

Prices are per person with the cabin shared, as listed on October 15, 2026, for the 11-day whale-watching voyage (March 18) and the 10-day Around Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet voyage (August 15).³¹⁹ Counts are from the specification sheet; sizes are from the cabin page, which says layouts vary.¹¹⁸

Deck matters as much as type. The quads and a few twin portholes sit low on deck 3 next to the galley and expedition office, the remaining twin portholes are on deck 4 with the dining rooms and lecture room, and all window, deluxe and superior cabins are on deck 5, one flight below the observation lounge and bar.¹ A twin porthole to yourself on March 18 costs $16,405, Oceanwide's standard 1.7 times the berth price; the Hondius page covers how shared berths for solo travelers work.²⁰³

What activities are included on Ortelius, and what costs extra?

Every voyage includes Zodiac landings and cruises, lectures and loaned boots and snowshoes; on Ortelius the extra worth knowing about is that helicopter transfers cost nothing on the trips that carry them.⁴³ Its two 2026-27 Basecamp trips, which include the activity program described on our Plancius page, start at $10,150 for 13 days but were waitlisted in every cabin when we checked.³

Where does Ortelius sail in 2026-27 and 2027?

In Antarctica, Ortelius sails 10 departures from Ushuaia between November 3, 2026 and March 28, 2027, matching IAATO's preliminary estimate of 10 Ortelius voyages carrying 1,000 passengers.³²² Besides the helicopter trips, the season has four voyage types:

Fares read October 15, 2026.³ For how November and March compare, see best time to visit Antarctica.

In summer 2027 the ship goes north: a short positioning trip from Vlissingen to Aberdeen, a birding voyage by way of Fair Isle and Jan Mayen to Longyearbyen, Svalbard from June to August, and two crossings to Greenland in late August and September.³

The June pack-ice trips are the ones to look at if polar bears are the goal. The ship may spend several days in the ice north of Spitsbergen, making no landings while it does, and may reach 80° north at the Seven Islands, 870 km (540 miles) from the North Pole.²³ The August Nordaustlandet trip passes Kong Karls Land, and Oceanwide puts its chance of a full circumnavigation of Svalbard at about 70%, based on 2013 to 2019.¹⁹ The September Greenland voyage aims for the Northeast Water polynya and the northern fulmar colony at Mallemukfjellet, near 80°11'N, with long hikes of at least 15 km (9 miles) included.²¹

Can everyone on Ortelius go ashore at once?

Almost. IAATO members may have no more than 100 visitors ashore at one Antarctic site at a time, so on a full 108-passenger sailing a handful must wait or take a Zodiac cruise; IAATO's 2026-27 estimate works out to an average of 100 passengers per Ortelius voyage.²⁴²² Landings also need at least one actively guiding staff member for every 20 visitors, and Ortelius carries eight expedition staff and 10 Zodiacs.²⁴⁸ Oceanwide's terms say Ortelius voyages operate only with at least 70 participants.⁴

How does Ortelius compare with Plancius, Hondius and Ultramarine?

On a classic Peninsula trip Ortelius costs exactly what the newer Hondius does, so the case for it rests on ice, helicopters and window size. On the late-March whale-watching voyages, a day apart, Oceanwide charges identical fares on the two ships for a quad berth ($7,800), twin porthole ($9,650), twin window ($10,100), twin deluxe ($11,150) and superior ($11,700).³⁴ For the same twin window fare you get 17.5 to 17.7 m² (188 to 191 sq ft) on Ortelius and 12.1 to 14.3 m² (130 to 154 sq ft) on Hondius, while Hondius adds stabilizers and a hull built in 2019.¹⁸²⁶⁶

The emperor trips show the gap between the two helicopter ships most clearly. Ortelius's 11-day Snow Hill voyage starts at $12,100 for a quad berth and $13,900 for a twin porthole on its November 25 and December 5 departures; Quark's 14-day Emperor Penguin Quest on Ultramarine starts at $26,090 for a triple, including a Buenos Aires hotel night and the charter flight to Ushuaia, which Quark values at $1,295.³²⁷ Quark also flies its helicopters from two helidecks and sells them for flightseeing as well as landings, which Oceanwide's FAQ rules out.²⁵⁹

Pick Ortelius over Plancius for the deep-ice routes, the helicopters and two-window cabins; Plancius for the lowest fare per trip; Hondius, at the same price, for stabilizers and a newer ship; Ultramarine if you want flightseeing and will pay roughly double. For the operators side by side, see Quark vs Oceanwide.

Who should pick Ortelius, and who should not?

Pick Ortelius if you want the Weddell Sea, a chance at the Snow Hill emperors or Peter I Island without paying for a luxury ship, if you would rather spend a little more for a large window cabin than a lot more for a suite, or if you want days in the Arctic pack ice in June. It suits experienced and hardy first-time polar travelers who accept that an expedition can end without its headline landing.

Skip it if you are prone to seasickness and want a ship with listed stabilizers, since every Antarctic Ortelius trip crosses the Drake by sea; our guide to flying or sailing the Drake Passage covers the alternatives. Skip it too if you want a balcony or a modern ship; Hondius sails similar Peninsula routes from the same price.⁴ For the wider picture, see the Oceanwide Expeditions page, our Antarctica trip cost guide and how to choose an Antarctica cruise.