Life Trove: Introducing the star of our Arctic expedition: The Greg Mortimer

The ultimate polar expedition ship

The Greg Mortimer is Aurora's amazing polar expedition ship that took us on our Arctic adventure. The ship was launched in 2019 so it is still very new. It was designed and custom built for polar expeditions and icy conditions. It is a beautiful looking ship and apart from being highly functional, it also provides a high level of comfort and luxury. To say we were spoiled is an understatement!

Who is The Greg Mortimer named after?

The ship is named after Greg Mortimer – a famous Australian mountaineer (he was the first Australian to climb Mount Everest) and explorer who, along with his wife Margaret Werner, was the founder of Aurora Expeditions. They no longer own the company but Greg is still a trusted advisor.

A specially designed bow that cuts through waves and ice

The Greg Mortimer is the first expedition cruise ship designed with the Ulstein X-BOW. This streamlined bow cuts through the swell rather than being lifted by the waves so you feel fewer vibrations and disturbances. Thanks to this, I never felt sea-sick once on the ship and I can be very susceptible to it.

The streamlined bow also allows the ship to cross oceans more efficiently with lower fuel consumption and lower air emissions and means the ship is amazing at breaking through sea-ice as I will show in a video in a future post.

The bow also allows for virtual anchoring which means the ship can float anchor-less while launching the zodiacs without disturbing delicate sea floor areas.

Observation decks, platforms and lounge

The outdoor top deck allows for 360 degree views. It brings you wonderfully close to the environment for stunning views of Arctic scenery passing by and sea birds flying past.

The ship also has an indoor observation lounge with unobstructed panoramic views and bottomless coffee. This was one of my favourite places on the ship to chill and where I edited most of my photos.

The ship also features unique hydraulic viewing platforms which fold out for unobstructed views of passing marine life and seabirds. Gavin did one of this lessons on this viewing platform as you can see in the photo below.

The spacious observation deck in the front of the ship

The observation deck wraps around the side of the ship to the back where there is another large deck, thus offering 360 degree views.

Observation lounge where I hung out a lot

Gavin doing a lesson on the hydraulic viewing platform.

Lecture lounge

The ship features a modern lecture lounge. We met here every evening for a recap of the day and an introduction to plans for the next day. There were also some fascinating lectures by the ship's experts on topics like polar bears, glaciers, Svalbard's history, glaciers, marine biology and photography.

Elephant bar

Every night at 6 pm there were cocktails and canopies served in The Elephant Bar next to the lecture theatre. After a rather boozy Singapore, I drank very little but it was a very social place to come and meet other passengers.

The boys at The Elephant Bar

Cabins

The ship accommodates up to 132 guests in 76 cosy, comfortable cabins with en-suite facilities. On our trip, there were only 80 passengers and 100 crew! All cabins have a view of the ocean and 85% of cabins have their own balcony, as ours did.

A view from our balcony

Zodiac launching platforms and mud-room

The ship carries 15 zodiacs, which we were able to board via four dedicated, sea-level launching platforms. These platforms made boarding the zodiacs quick and efficient. When the zodiacs are launched, the ship's hydraulic system allows the ship to lean to one side, thus making the zodiac platforms more accessible. Very ingenious how it works.

The zodiac platforms enter into the ship's "mud-room". This is where our life jackets and boots were kept. For expedition landings onto the shore, there were also special buckets for us to clean our boots so that we didn't spread germs from one environment to another.

Zodiac platforms along the side of the ship.

The mudroom where we put on our boots and life jackets before getting on the zodiac

Ship library

A library stocked with a wide range of fascinating books on the geography, biology and history of all Aurora's remote destinations.

Restaurant

Ah, my favourite place on the entire ship! We ate like kings. Breakfast and lunch were buffets with a wonderful spread of options including lots and lots of dessert! Dinner was ala carte with a starter, main course and dessert and "always available" sides like chips and grilled vegetables. Dinner also included alcohol if we wanted it.

One of the highlights of the restaurant were the staff. They were so friendly and always happy to provide an extra dish (dessert!!) if we wanted it.

Dining room

Serving station for breakfast and lunch buffets

"So Graeme, what are you going to have for dinner?"

Gym

This was our least used part of the ship. Richard did one work-out and the rest of us zero!

Jacuzzis

Now this is a part of the ship we did frequent on an extremely regular basis! There were two jacuzzis, one on each side of the ship. What a setting and so lovely to luxuriate in lovely hot water, protected from the Arctic chill. Of course, it was decidedly chilly to get out which just encouraged us to stay in for longer until our fingers were prunes. The jacuzzi was the perfect place for watching the scenery go by and a lovely place for deep conversations and telling of stories.

What a setting !!

Wellness centre including a sauna

The Wellness Centre provided massage and other treatments but we didn't make use of this.

The sauna, part of the Wellness Centre, was another of our favourite places to heat up after chilly zodiac cruises, often before having a jacuzzi. Even the sauna had a great view of the passing scenery through a big window.