Hurtigruten Expeditions, the world’s largest and leading expedition cruise line, has announced it will become the first cruise line to completely outfit its fleet of ship with SpaceX Starlink internet. The company says the installation across their fleet will be complete this month.
The cruise line partnered with Speedcast for the installation, which began installing and testing Starlink on its small-size expedition ships in March.
Once active the service will be available for free to both guests and crew members on board their fleet of 14 different cruise ships.
“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. We’ve seen major players announcing plans for implementation of Starlink connectivity,” Hurtigruten Expeditions CEO Asta Lassesen said in a statement.
The cruise line frequently travels to remote areas like the Antarctic and Artic, and hopes to soon be able to provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity in those areas once Starlink activates the service, which will hopefully happen before the end of the year.
Our partnership with Speedcast and fleetwide 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,” added Lassesen.
While Hurtigruten will be the first cruise line to complete a Starlink installation fleetwide, they are the second cruise line to announce it is adding Starlink to its ships.
Royal Caribbean announced the same in August, and soon after began outfitting their ships with SpaceX’s new Flat High Performance dishes.
