Heritage Expeditions acquires former Silver Explorer

#expeditioncruising .

NZ-based expedition cruise operator Heritage Expeditions has acquired the former Silver Explorer, a polar-capable vessel previously operated by Silversea Cruises, and plans to introduce it into service in May 2027 under the name Heritage Discoverer.

Wildlife Television Presenter Nigel Marven to Film 'The Last Penguin' Documentary on Heritage Expeditions' Ross Sea Antarctica Voyage

#expeditioncruising .

Pioneering small-ship expedition cruise company Heritage Expeditions is excited to announce its partnership with legendary wildlife television presenter, producer, author, zoologist and naturalist Nigel Marven on his new wildlife documentary, The Last Penguin.

Heritage Expeditions Releases 2025-2026 Brochure

#expeditioncruising .

Including New Voyages and Cruise Industry First

Expedition cruise pioneers Heritage Expeditions have just released their Authentic Small Ship Expedition Cruising 2025-2026 brochure featuring two new voyages to Japan and a cruise industry first in the Philippines, alongside its iconic adventure cruises.

Heritage Expeditions Partners with Antarctic Heritage Trust on Inspiring Explorers™ 10-Year Anniversary Voyage 🇦🇶

Heritage Expeditions is proud to partner with the Antarctic Heritage Trust, caretakers of Scott and Shackleton's Antarctic expedition huts and their artefacts, as its Inspiring Explorers™ Expedition Partner on a very special 10-year anniversary expedition into the 'heart of Antarctica' the Ross Sea in January 2025.

Heritage Expeditions Announces Photography Workshops with Award-winning Photographer Ewen Bell

#expeditioncruising .

Pioneering small-ship expedition cruise company Heritage Expeditions is excited to announce its partnership with award-winning Australian travel photographer and author of ReIMAGINE: Change your Photography by Changing your Perspective Ewen Bell offering his bespoke, small group photography workshops on three voyages in 2024.

Heritage Expeditions and Professor Tim Flannery Search for Mysterious New Mammals on Indonesian Explorer voyage

#expeditioncruising .

Pioneering small-ship expedition cruise company Heritage Expeditions is taking its citizen science programme to the next level giving guests the opportunity to join legendary mammalogist, conservationist, author and scientist Professor Tim Flannery in his search for mysterious new mammals on its upcoming Indonesian Explorer voyage.

Heritage Expeditions Creates affordable Expedition Cruise: South Pacific Sojourn

#expeditioncruising .

Christchurch, New Zealand, 22 May 2023: Pioneering expedition cruise company Heritage Expeditions has introduced an exciting new 'priced-to-entice' voyage South Pacific Sojourn into its 2023 expedition calendar.

Heritage Expeditions 2024 Kiwi Cruise Season aboard 18-guest yacht Heritage Explorer

#expeditioncruising . 

Pioneering New Zealand-based expedition cruise company Heritage Expeditions has released their 2024 Kiwi Cruise Season announcing Fiordland summer voyages and some exciting new expeditions aboard their luxurious 18-guest expedition yacht Heritage Explorer.

Heritage Expeditions' Two Ships Rendezvous in the Bay of Islands

#expeditioncruising .

While most ships are known for passing in the night, pioneering expedition cruise company Heritage Expeditions brought its sister vessels together for the first time with a rendezvous in the Bay of Islands.

New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands: Galapagos of the South

#expeditioncruising .

Wildlife rules the roost on the subantarctic islands of Australia and New Zealand

Words and pictures Roderick Eime

Like a chorus line of overweight, bad-mannered beer drinkers, they gather to recite the only lyrics they know. Cavernous mouths agape and bulbous heads akilter, it’s a strangely musical sound despite the random, belching monotone each can only manage.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - Michener's Tales

#expeditioncruising .

Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

Every time I come to Santo I can't help recalling James Michener's epic novel, Tales of the South Pacific.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - Loh and behold

#expeditioncruising .

Torres Island Group. Loh Island.
Google Map Link 

Young women colour their hair with ground flower petals (Fiona Wardle/Heritage Expeditions)

With so many islands earlier in our voyage having not seen rain for months of end, today was the day the drought broke.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia: Noipe's Red Feathered Brides

#expeditioncruising .

Nendo Island Google Map Link

The village of Noipe on the island of Nendo is the last place in the Solomons where the tradition of  'red feather money' is carried on and the village has turned out in force to show us how the rituals are performed. We also visited here in 2015, so some of the faces were familiar. 

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - A Makira Morning

#expeditioncruising .

Location: Star Harbour, Frigate Island (Nafinua), Makira

Google Map Link

In our now well-rehearsed procedure, our flotilla of Zodiacs approach the beach on Frigate Island (Nafinua) at Star Harbour in Solomon Islands' remote Makira province. Grass and shell-clad men await and as our bows touch the sand, they issue their formal challenge of yelps and hollers accompanied by much waving of warclubs.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - Mysterious Malaita

#expeditioncruising .

While there may not be any uncontacted tribes remaining in the Solomon Islands, the Kwaio people of the Malaita highlands would come close.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia. Tetepare Island - cursed or blessed?

#expeditioncruising.

Google Map Link

Tetepare warrior confronts his guests (Fiona Wardle/Heritage Expeditions)

The 120sqkm lush, thickly wooded island of Tetepare located in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands is the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific. Just how it became that way is the stuff of legend.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - Kolombangara Solomon Islands

#expeditioncruising .

Google Map Link

(Pic: Fiona Wardle/Heritage Expeditions)

Lukim Yu (Goodbye) Papua New Guinea, hello Solomon Islands.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - Panguna Mine, Bougainville

#expeditioncruising .

Panguna Mine Google Map Link

Let's face it, the mention of Bougainville does not automatically conjure warm and fuzzy images. The 93,000 sq km island of some 300,000 people has endured more than its share of tumult beginning with its annexation by Germany in 1899, the location of fierce battles in WWII and then its own civil war that saw its people effectively isolated from the world until the 21st Century.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - Nissan Island, Bougainville

#expeditioncruising .

Google Map Link

Again, on the gorgeous island of Nissan in the Green Islands of Bougainville, we are presented with the perfect tropical hideaway.

From On Board: Heritage Expeditions in Melanesia - Rabaul, New Britain

#expeditioncruising .

 Some might say Rabaul is a town that can't turn a trick. Located in one of the most beautiful harbours anywhere in the Pacific, it has over time attracted the attention of several of the world's major powers. Britain, Germany, Japan, USA and Australia have all had dibs on this idyllic location for one reason or another.