Antarctica cruise, Spirit of Antarctica

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION:

As we sail across the Drake Passage in both directions, travel aboard one of our two purpose built ships, featuring sustainable technologies. Innovative designs like Ulstein’s X-BOW® enhance efficiency, while shore-based power, reusing heat from the engines’ coolant and exhaust systems, and emission reduction systems contribute to minimising the effects of emissions.

We will always use shared transport when providing transfers to and from the ship if possible.

We aim to create a sustainable ‘farm-to-table’ style experience on board our ships, serving food sourced from regional and local farms that align with our passion for sustainable, regenerative practices and overall care for the planet. Working collaboratively with Anglo-Eastern Leisure Management, our long-time supplier and ship hospitality experts, we are developing a comprehensive programme designed to evolve and grow throughout our sustainable food journey. We are exploring regional suppliers in Chile, Argentina, the United States and the Netherlands and are having conversations on how these relationships can ensure that the way we source our food takes the sustainability of ecosystems and climate into account.

We provide vegetarian and vegan options every meal for guests onboard. We have also introduced a 'Sustainable Sea Day' on every voyage, when seafood will not be on the menu. This is to raise awareness of the decline in many marine populations and the importance of ocean and marine health for our planet.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE:

As founding members of IAATO, we are advocates for safe and environmentally responsible expedition travel to the Antarctic region. Operating within the parameters of the Antarctic Treaty System, along with International Maritime Organization (IMO) conventions and other similar international and national laws and agreements, IAATO fosters collaboration among members and creates ambassadors for the continued protection of Antarctica.

Every guest is briefed on the IAATO guidelines and rules in place when they join the ship. We guide our expeditions with a commitment to protect and conserve the delicate ecosystems, local communities and cultural heritage of the places we visit. We place utmost consideration on safety while ensuring our passengers and staff adhere to all local requirements. These requirements include a range of measures to minimise our impact on the environment and promote responsible and sustainable practices on land and at sea. Some of the actions we take onboard include, but are not limited to:
- Keeping a minimum of five metres away from all wildlife including birds.
- Special care is taken during breeding or moulting season.
- Monitoring of plant life and avoiding stepping on vegetation.
- Checking and vacuuming clothing to avoid introducing foreign flora between important ecosystems.
- Reducing noise to ensure minimal disturbance to wildlife.

We also partner with the Polar Citizen Science Collective. This charitable organisation aims to meet the needs of the polar science community by engaging travelers in data collection projects. This collaborative and community-focused programme creates essential opportunities for data collection. Research in the polar regions is challenging, due to remoteness and limited seasonal access, with the scientific community often grappling with data scarcity. Our expeditions provide a unique platform to help collect high-quality data. With extended access to these remote regions and our expedition teams equipped with scientific backgrounds, we have the potential to participate and engage our passengers in citizen science projects to provide valuable data to the global scientific community.

Some of the projects we invite guests to take part in are:
- Happywhale - We participate in this project worldwide by taking good identification photographs of whales – notably humpbacks in Antarctica – and a variety of marine mammals. Using software that compares unique markings on animals, Happywhale can track marine life globally which, over time, helps scientists learn about migratory and home-range movements, population growth and decline, and even an individual whale’s survival rates.
- eBird - Seabird surveys provide data for long-term monitoring of seabirds in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula that is recorded through eBird. Guided by our expert ornithologists and naturalists, guests can be actively involved in spotting birds at sea, counting while ashore, or scribing for those observing differences in bird species, ages and breeding cycles while contributing valuable data to science.
- GLOBE Observer - This international science and education app from The GLOBE Program is an opportunity to participate in cloud data collection and contribute meaningfully to our global understanding of Earth’s weather systems and environments. Cloud observations by photographs and written notes are entered directly into the app under the guidance of a trained expedition team member.

On every single voyage we are joined by a global team of highly trained specialists. Many are recognised as world leaders in their fields, and they share their knowledge with guests onboard through lectures and talks throughout the voyage.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY:

Whilst in Ushuaia, we employ local tour guides and transfer companies to provide local expertise and transportation for guests, a vital source of income for an extremely remote community. We also include an overnight hotel on this voyage, which are all locally or nationally owned with no international chains used.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY:

With an average of 46.5% of our workforce being female, across both head office and our expedition team, speaking over 15 native languages we seek to create a diverse workforce that truly represents the people of the world.
We also have an equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination policy to nurture equal employment without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.