Hurtigruten Expeditions to offer...

The installation of SpaceX’s Starlink across its entire fleet is near completion

Hurtigruten Expeditions will become the first cruise line to implement SpaceX’s cutting-edge broadband service, Starlink, across all ships when the installation is completed this month.

Commenting on the news, Hurtigruten Expeditions CEO Asta Lassesen said: “As the world leader in exploration travel, it’s only fitting that we bring the world’s most innovative technologies onboard our ships to further enhance the experience and day-to-day lives for our guests, crew, partners and the communities we visit.”

Speedcast and Hurtigruten Expeditions began testing and installing Starlink terminals back in March 2022 and the installation will be completed by the end of October.

Lassesen added: “We’ve seen major players announcing plans for implementation of Starlink connectivity. Our partnership with Speedcast and fleet-wide introduction of the new service not only puts us ahead of the rest of the cruise industry, it also puts us ahead of the technology. When Starlink introduces maritime coverage in Antarctica and the Arctic, we will be ready.”

Speedcast CEO Joe Spytek added: “With vessels operating in some of the most remote and spectacular areas of the world, Hurtigruten Expeditions is an ideal partner for introducing groundbreaking technology in the cruise industry. Speedcast’s expertise lies in our ability to combine all available connectivity paths and manage a complete service that offers the highest levels of uptime, availability and performance.”

As well as connectivity, this development will also further the line’s sustainable and educational goals. Through an industry-leading network of science partnerships, Hurtigruten Expeditions hosts research scientists on every sailing on every ship.

All ships feature signature Science Centres and a variety of science equipment, and all guests are offered the opportunity to take part in citizen science programmes. Faster and more reliable internet further enables delivery of science results from some of the most unexplored areas of the planet.

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Guests, crew and scientists on all three Hurtigruten Expeditions ships that will explore Antarctica from this fall, will be the first to do so on ships able to connect through the faster broadband service.

Starlink is slated to introduce Antarctic maritime coverage in Q4 2022.

For more information, visit www.hurtigruten.com and www.starlink.com