Eco Friendly Expedition Cruises with Hurtigruten

Categories

I have never been a tree hugger environmentalist.  I consider myself a mindful person who tries to do what is right, but not much more beyond that.  On a recent expedition cruise with Hurtigruten, I attended an eye-opening lecture about plastics and the oceans.

 

I think almost everyone has heard about the “island” of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean.  I figure if I have heard about it, most people have.  For some unknown reason I never put it together how that plastic got into the Pacific Ocean.  The lecture I attended made all of that more clear and also brought home why this is such a huge problem that can’t be easily solved.  What I didn’t understand was that the Pacific Ocean is not the only ocean with this problem.  There are about 5 of these plastic waste islands in the oceans of the world.  Where ever the ocean currents circle around themselves an island of plastic has formed.  I could spend an entire blog post just on this subject alone.  That is not the reason for this post so I am going to move on.

 

“The Prius of the Seas”

 

Hurtigruten has taken it upon themselves to become a more environmentally friendly cruise line.  Their newest ship which is due to launch in July of 2018 will be the first hybrid cruise ship.  It will be able to run on electric power for an hour at a time.  This will reduce the pollution caused by other engines.  Since the visit very sensitive regions of the world on a regular basis, they feel a responsibility to reduce the amount of disruption to those regions as much as they can.  They provide “muck boots” for clients to where that are easier on the environment and do less damage to the fragile life there.

 

Environmentally Responsible

 Hurtigruten has also taken steps to reduce the amount of plastics being used.  They have actively reduced their plastic use by eliminating all one-time use plastics aboard their ships.  They have gone to the extreme of purchasing clothes that do not come in plastic wrap.  You will not find a straw anywhere on board a Hurtigruten ship.  Nor will you find a plastic water bottle, plastic cup, or plastic utensils.  In addition to eliminating all one-time use plastics aboard their ships, they work in concert with their destinations to provide service to those areas affected by the enormous amount of plastic waste drifting in our oceans.  For example, in the Svalbard islands, some of their beaches become the resting place for some of the drift plastics.  Whenever a Hurtigruten expedition lands in these islands, they spend time cleaning up the plastics from the beaches and they take it back to the ship to be properly disposed of.  Whenever the come across plastic waste they do everything in their power to properly retrieve it and dispose of it.

 

 

I don’t’ know of many other travel related companies that go to this length to improve the areas that they visit.  If this type of conservation effort is important to you and your travels, contact us, your Hurtigruten specialists and we will help find an itinerary that will not only get you to some spectacular locations, but will also enable you to participate in these conservation efforts.