| IMO | 9857640 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 15,540 GT |
| Length | 138 m |
| Beam | 22 m |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 230 |
| Crew | 175 |
| Service speed | 16.0 knots |
| Builder | Vard |
| Yard | Tulcea |
| Launched | 2021 |
| Maiden voyage | 2021 |
| Operator | Hapag-Lloyd Cruises |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Hanseatic Spirit is the third and final ship of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' new Hanseatic expedition class, following Hanseatic Nature (2019) and Hanseatic Inspiration (2019), and entered service in 2021. She is a 15,540 GT, 230-passenger expedition ship built to ice class PC6, designed from the keel up for polar and remote-coast operation under the German operator's bilingual expedition programme — the German-language Nature concept and the international Inspiration concept meeting, in Spirit, in a ship deployed flexibly across both markets in Hapag-Lloyd's planning.
Where her two sisters had their debuts before the pandemic, Spirit's 2021 entry into service made her a restart-era ship: completed by Vard, with hull construction at Tulcea, Romania, and outfitting in Norway in the established Vard pattern for this class, she arrived when expedition cruising was re-establishing itself as the industry's growth segment.
Her directory significance is completeness of the class: with her delivery, Hapag-Lloyd fielded three identical-platform expedition ships, the largest purpose-built polar fleet commitment by a European luxury operator of its generation.
Key specifications
Dataset: IMO 9857640, 15,540 GT, 138 m by 22 m, 230 guests maximum, 175 crew, 16 knots, Vard Tulcea, 2021 launch and maiden voyage. Class-published figures for the Hanseatic ships align: PC6 ice class — the second-highest polar class for passenger ships in general service — a fleet of Zodiacs for landings (the class is commonly described with 17 Zodiacs ), marina-style landing arrangements, and a high proportion of balcony cabins for an expedition ship, with the class's study / "Ocean Academy" concept for lectures and self-guided learning in Hapag-Lloyd's descriptions.
The 230-to-175 guest-crew ratio, plus an expedition team carried within the ship's complement in operator practice, underlines the labour intensity of the product: this is a ship whose itinerary is delivered by guides, Zodiac drivers and lecturers as much as by hotel staff.
Design and construction
The Hanseatic class was contracted to Vard Group, with hulls built at Vard Tulcea in Romania and final outfitting at Vard Langsten in Norway for the earlier ships; Spirit's dataset builder credit is Vard, Tulcea, reflecting her hull yard. She was ordered as the third unit after the first two proved the design, and completed for 2021 service — a schedule that slipped from the class's original pre-pandemic cadence, as did the whole industry's.
Design hallmarks of the class, all present in Spirit: an ice-strengthened hull with the class's distinctive raked, ice-going bow form; extensive glazing in the public decks, including glass balconies / viewing platforms in class descriptions; a central atrium-free, low-rise hotel arrangement for a maximum of 230 guests; cabins and suites mostly with balconies, unusual in expedition ships of earlier generations; and an expedition infrastructure of Zodiac embarkation, mudroom and lecture spaces sized for the whole passenger complement at once, so briefings and landings run without splitting the ship into watches.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
One name only, Hanseatic Spirit, completing the class's abstract naming set — Nature, Inspiration, Spirit — that broke with Hapag-Lloyd's earlier geographical Hanseatic naming (Hanseatic, Bremen) in favour of expedition values. Nature operates primarily for the German-speaking market and Inspiration bilingually; Spirit was introduced with the same flexible deployment in the operator's programme.
Launched and maiden voyage are both recorded in the dataset only as 2021, and this guide does not invent precision the sources used do not supply.
Career by operator
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–present | Hanseatic Spirit | Hapag-Lloyd Cruises |
Single name, single operator. Her career is a class career: Hapag-Lloyd schedules the three Hanseatic ships across the polar seasons — Antarctica in the southern summer, the Arctic, Greenland, the Northwest Passage region and northern Europe in the northern summer, with warm-water expedition seasons between — and Spirit has drawn notable assignments in that rotation, including the line's first extended Weddell Sea expedition in its 2025–2026 Antarctic programme, a 22-day voyage in the operator's release, and announced semi-circumnavigation and Kimberley deployments in later programme years. Those are programme facts about the ship's standing in the fleet, recorded here without itinerary detail in line with this directory's rules.
Onboard character
Onboard character is German expedition luxury: a full expedition team and lecture programme (the Ocean Academy concept of interactive study walls and expert sessions), three restaurants for 230 guests in class descriptions including a speciality venue, a large spa and fitness area for the ship's size, and observation as the central pastime — from the deck, the lounge and the class's forward viewing areas. Cabins are contemporary, quiet and mostly balcony-fronted; the ship's social centre is the expedition itself, with landings, Zodiac cruises and expert talks structuring the day rather than staged entertainment.
The bilingual capability — German and English programming across the expedition fleet in varying mixes by ship and voyage — is a genuine operational characteristic, reflecting Hapag-Lloyd's Hamburg base and its push for international guests.
Major refits and incidents
None recorded. A 2021 ship early in her career; no major refit, casualty or notable incident appears in the sources used for this guide. Her build-period story — completion through the pandemic years — is the closest she has to an early-career disruption.
Sister ships and class
Sisters: Hanseatic Nature and Hanseatic Inspiration, both 2019, same Vard platform, same 15,540 GT class figures and PC6 ice class. The dataset's class field is blank; the class is universally described by the operator and trade press as the Hanseatic class / Hanseatic-series expedition ships. In the wider Hapag-Lloyd fleet she sails alongside the luxury (non-expedition) Europa and Europa 2, a different product line entirely.
Fate and where she is now
Active with Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, per the dataset. A young expedition ship in a three-ship class at the centre of her operator's growth plans (including announced first deployments for the line in new expedition regions) — no sale, charter or renaming recorded, and none expected on any near horizon the sources support. Her fate entry is simple continuity in polar service.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapag-Lloyd_Cruises; https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Hanseatic-Spirit-1867