| Goodbye to a legend

FORMER SOVIET (KAPITAN SOROKIN CLASS)
icebreaker and (now) refitted cruise ship, the
Kapitan Khlebnikov, is slated to make her
very last circumnavigation of the Arctic in
July this year, following her reassignment to
escort duties in the Russian Arctic from
March next year.
Khlebnikov was launched in 1981 as a
polar-class icebreaker designed for work in
Siberia, and then remodelled for tourist
cruising in 1990 with 54 cabins and suites,
two dining rooms, a loungeroom, bar, heated
swimming pool, exercise room, sauna,
theatre-style auditorium, shop and library.
She was also the first ever vessel to
circumnavigate Antarctica with passengers,
and to mark her retirement from the leisure
sector Quark Expeditions has announced it
will host a 66 day full circumnavigation of
the Arctic from 10 July 2011 to 13
September 2011.
Accompanying the voyage will be
Canadian adventurer Laurie Dexter, and the
voyage can
be purchased
as a whole,
or broken up
into
segments.
See your
travel agent
for details.