Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1534781
I never enjoyed science classes at school, couldn't understand the point of Bunsen burners and looking at boring rocks under a microscope when there was a rich world of literature to explore. Yet here I am in Antarctica onboard the brand-new Viking Polaris, rushing back from a penguin colony visit to an ornithology lecture, happily risking frostnip to watch the release of a weather balloon and tracking whales with the sort of laser focus I normally apply to tracking down online shopping bargains. Buoyed by the idea that the research we participate in on this 11-night cruise will contribute real data to real scientific discoveries - could possibly even inform the way people look at and understand the world - I am a citizen scientist convert. It is as thrilling as it is surprising to me, and it's all part of Viking Cruises founder Torstein Hagen's plan. Viking's river and ocean cruises minus casinos, kids and butlers have always focused on cultural enrichment and learning, albeit on beautiful ships with all the luxury comforts. With the inaugural season of Viking Expeditions to Antarctica and the Great Lakes of the United States, there's an even sharper focus. From a family of modest means in Norway, Hagen's early wanderlust had to be satisfied by airmailed exchanges with penpals. What he wanted most of all was a stamp from the end of the world. In 1957, the 14-year-old Hagen devised a clever plan, writing to his sister at a fictional address in Ushuaia, Argentina, the gateway to Antarctica. Unable to locate the addressee, the post office returned the registered letter, stamped in that faraway land, to sender. Hagen has been fascinated by Antarctica ever since. Today, the 80-year-old billionaire founder and chairman of Viking Cruises has a new dream: To put scientific exploration and discovery at the heart of cruising to Antarctica and the Great Lakes. A physicist by training and a scientist by self-identification, Hagen handpicked a team of the experts to bring his dream to life, in partnership with a constellation of world-class science organisations including University of Cambridge and Scott Polar Research Institute. Two new purpose-built ships, Viking Polaris and Octantis, are up to the challenge. In addition to 189 luxurious staterooms, each ship carries a submarine (yellow, naturally), onboard research labs, Special Operations Boats built to military specs and the best expedition equipment that money can buy. The hardware is essential, but it's the human resources - senior scientists in fields as diverse as glaciology, whale genetics, volcanology and oceanography - that bring hundreds of combined years of scientific knowledge onboard. Lectures in the Aula, the panoramic state-of-the-art auditorium, are so well-attended it's sometimes a challenge to find two empty seats together. One presentation on whales is repeatedly interrupted by actual whales cavorting in the waters surrounding the ship. In between dips in the pool, Nordic spa treatments and lobster dinners, guests are encouraged to ask countless questions and to get their hands dirty, if they wish, collecting plankton from the sea or mashing up bait in the lab. While some are content with Zodiac rides to shore and close encounters with curious penguins (we see thousands), many relish the opportunity to learn even more about the natural world H u m p b a c k W h a l e viking.com 69