''National Geographic Orion'' (previously known as MS ''Orion'' and MY ''Orion'') is operated by New York City-based

Lindblad Expeditions Lindblad Expeditions (Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, ) is an expedition travel company headquartered in New York, NY. The company currently offers expedition cruises to destinations on all seven continents aboard 15 ships with capacit ...

- National Geographic.

History

Built by Cassens shipyard in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

registered company Explorer Maritime, with technical management by the Greek-based company Helios Shipping, the ''Orion'' was originally operated, albeit for a short time, by US-based cruise operator Travel Dynamics International (TDI). TDI had operated the vessel in the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

and the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

and many points in between, including the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

and the Amazon River.

Orion Expedition Cruises Orion Expedition Cruises (OEC) was an Australia-based luxury expedition cruise line that operated the German-built 4,000-gross ton cruise ship in Australasian and Antarctic waters. History Founded by Australian businesswoman Sarina Bratton ...

(OEC), since absorbed by Lindblad, then entered a long-term agreement to lease the vessel, handing it over to OEC in the

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

an port of

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...

in March 2005 for transfer to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. OEC quickly expanded and further developed the expedition cruise market in the region and gained international recognition. In May 2008, OEC announced the purchase of the company by KSL Capital Partners, a Denver-based private equity company specialising in high end travel and leisure enterprises. OEC now plans to expand beyond its one-ship operation in the

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

region through the building of new ships and/or other acquisitions. On the evening of 20 January 2013, the ship rescued round-the-world

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

sman Alain Delord from his

life raft A lifeboat or liferaft is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts ( liferafts) are also used. In the m ...

south-southwest of

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

() in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. He had abandoned his yacht after it lost its mast and its hull was damaged in rough weather. The ship, with 100 passengers and 80 crew on board, was on its way from Antarctica to the world heritage-listed

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...

when it responded to the call for help. The captain of the ''Orion'', Mike Taylor, undertook the 1500 km rescue in moderate to rough seas from Antarctica's

Commonwealth Bay Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km (30 mi) wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the main ...

. In a race against time, the ship successfully tracked the sailor's emergency radio beacon and effected the rescue with just an hour of sunlight left. On 5 March 2013 it was announced that Orion Expeditions had been acquired by US-based small-ship operator Lindblad Expeditions, which owns five ships and charters a further five and operates cruises to a variety of destinations. CFMF holds a 60 percent interest in Lindblad Expeditions. MV ''Orion'' was renamed ''National Geographic Orion'' in March 2014, and joined the fleet-owned ''

National Geographic Endeavour MS ''National Geographic Endeavour'' was a small expedition ship operated by Lindblad Expeditions for cruising in remote areas, particularly the polar regions. History The ship was originally a fishing trawler built in 1966 as ''Marburg'', ...

'', '' MS National Geographic Explorer'', ''National Geographic Islander'', ''National Geographic Sea Bird'' and ''National Geographic Sea Lion'', along with their chartered vessels ''Delfin II'', ''Jahan'', ''Lord of the Glens'', '' Oceanic Discoverer'' and ''

Sea Cloud ''Sea Cloud'' is a sailing cruise ship owned by Sea Cloud Cruises of Hamburg, Germany. Launched as a private yacht as ''Hussar V'' for Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1931, she later served as a weather ship for the United States Coast Guard and U ...

''.

Current operations

Following OEC's takeover by Lindblad Expeditions announced in March 2013, it was announced that Lindblad intended maintain cruises to ''Orions destinations of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and the

Kimberleys The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on ...

. In March 2014 itineraries to more easterly and remote Pacific islands were added. It was to be equipped with an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV), capacity for up to 24 scuba divers and oceangoing kayaks, with cruises to be accompanied by a National Geographic photographer. In a statement in January 2015, Lindblad surprised the industry by announcing that ''Orion'' would be based in Europe for the northern summer from 2016, ceasing Southern Hemisphere winter operations. On December 27, 2016, the ship suffered catastrophic main engine failure approx. 200 miles south of the Beagle channel, on the way from the Antarctic peninsula to Ushuaia. There were no injuries, and the ship arrived safely to Ushuaia a day later than planned using its back-up engine. Lindblad canceled the December 27 and all January 2017 sailings of Orion.

Further Vessel Specifications

Hull: Ice-reinforced for voyages in the Arctic and Antarctic Ice Class: E3 (Germanischer Lloyd) Engines: Mak; 8M25; 3,265HP Stabilisers: Blohm & Voss, retractable fin stabilisers Classification: Germanischer Lloyd; 100 A5 E3 Passenger Ship; MC E3 AUT Regulations: ''Orion'' is built according to the latest international safety regulations, and the USL code in a 1a survey including those of the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Public Health, Canadian Arctic Shipping, St. Lawrence Seaway and to Lloyds. Additional Craft: 10 Zodiac Heavy Duty MK5 Inflatables, 10 Sea Kayaks, 2 Jet Boats and a Fishing Boat

Sister Vessels

While she is essentially a unique ship, she was preceded by two slightly smaller but very similar vessels built at the Cassens Emden shipyard in

. * ''Sun Bay'' The 88.5 m, 96 passenger ''Sun Bay'' was launched in 2001 and was originally operated by Sun Bay Cruises in the Bahamas before being transferred to

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Royal Caribbean Group, formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is a cruise holding company based in Miami, Florida, United States and incorporated in Liberia. It is the world's second-largest cruise line operator, after Carnival Corpor ...

and is currently operated by their

Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in ...

division as Celebrity Xpedition in the Galapagos Islands *''Sun Bay II'' The 88.5m, 96 passenger ''Sun Bay II'' was launched in 2002 and as with the Sun Bay was originally operated by Sun Bay Cruises in the Bahamas. By 2002 the Sun Bay II had been renamed ''Corinthian'' and was operated by American cruise company Travel Dynamics International. By 2004 the vessel had passed to private ownership and was briefly named the ''Constellation''; after its latest refit it is currently operated as the ''Lauren L''.

References

External links

Official website

Cassens-Werft Shipyard homepage

Downloadable PDF specifications for MV Orion
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Geographic Orion Expedition cruising Cruise ships Ships built in Emden