| IMO | 9868869 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 8,181 GT |
| Length | 104.4 m |
| Beam | 18.4 m |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 200 |
| Crew | 100 |
| Service speed | 15.5 knots |
| Builder | China Merchants Heavy Industry |
| Yard | Haimen |
| Launched | 2020 |
| Maiden voyage | 2021 |
| Operator | Polar Latitudes Expeditions |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Ocean Victory is the third of SunStone Ships' Infinity-class expedition vessels, delivered from China Merchants Heavy Industry at Haimen on 12 October 2021. Like her sister Ocean Explorer on the preceding pages of this directory, she is an owned-for-charter hull: Ulstein-designed, Chinese-built, and operated in turn by a succession of brands. Unlike her sister, she was from the start a two-season, two-operator ship — Antarctica in the southern summer for Denmark's Albatros Expeditions, Alaska in the northern summer for American Queen Voyages' Victory Cruise Lines.
She also holds a small place in expedition history. On 3 December 2021 she was named in South Georgia — the first expedition ship naming ceremony held there — with the champagne bottle replaced by a block of ice.
Her record since includes the shortest-lived of her charters, a Spanish start-up line, and a merger: the dataset records her current operator as Polar Latitudes Expeditions, the company formed in October 2025 when Albatros Expeditions and Polar Latitudes joined forces.
Key specifications
The dataset records her registered figure of 8,181 GT — her designer and owner also publish an 8,000 GT class figure, and CruiseMapper's 7,400 GT is the generic class number the dataset notes specifically reject for this hull — with a length of 104.4 m, a beam of 18.4 m, a maximum capacity of 200, a crew of 100 and a speed of 15.5 knots.
Capacity is the figure most often misquoted for her. She has 93 staterooms, all with an ocean view and about 90 per cent with a balcony or French balcony. Contemporary operator material put her guests at about 185; the dataset's 200 is a maximum. The two numbers describe the same ship loaded differently.
Technically she matches her class: Ulstein X-BOW, Polar Code 6 and Ice Class 1A, Tier III engines with selective catalytic reduction burning low-sulphur marine gas oil, heat recovery, zero-speed stabilisers and dynamic positioning.
Design and construction
Ocean Victory is built to Ulstein's CX103 Infinity design. Ulstein's lead naval architect described a hull optimised by computational fluid dynamics for low fuel consumption, with the X-BOW softening head-sea motion, reducing slamming and vibration, and improving rest for guests and crew. Albatros, after her sea trials, claimed record-low fuel consumption and emissions per passenger for the ship — a claim made for the combination of hull form, Tier III machinery and gas oil fuel.
Against the lead ship Greg Mortimer she differs in detail: an infinity pool on the aft deck, two observation platforms in place of conventional bridge wings, 93 staterooms, several restaurants, a wellness area, a Nordic bar reflecting her Danish charterer, an open-deck dining facility and a lecture lounge. Her interiors were designed to reflect a Nordic heritage.
Her build milestones are documented by her designer: steel cutting on 12 March 2019, launching on 16 March 2020, sea trials in early February 2021 — conducted together with Ocean Explorer — and delivery on 12 October 2021. The dataset's launched year, 2020, follows the designer's milestone.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
After delivery she sailed from Haimen to Manila for crew, on to Papeete, and then to Ushuaia, Argentina, where her cruising was to begin in late November 2021. Her first sailing, on 26 November 2021, was a sold-out voyage timed for a solar eclipse between Antarctica and South Georgia.
The naming ceremony followed at sea. On 3 December 2021, in South Georgia, she was christened by Elise Grøndahl, operations manager at Albatros Expeditions, using a block of ice rather than a bottle of champagne — a gesture the line linked to its support for the South Georgia Heritage Trust and the island's ecosystem recovery. Ulstein records it as the first expedition ship naming ceremony in South Georgia, and it marked the formal beginning of her Antarctic maiden season.
Career by operator
Her name has never changed. Her operators, per the dataset, have been four.
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2021– | Ocean Victory | Albatros Expeditions (Antarctic seasons) |
| 2022– | Ocean Victory | American Queen Voyages / Victory Cruise Lines (northern summers) |
| 2025 | Ocean Victory | Alma Cruceros |
| 2025–present | Ocean Victory | Polar Latitudes Expeditions |
The first two entries overlap by design: the ship was chartered seasonally to two operators from delivery, Albatros for Antarctica and Victory Cruise Lines — later within American Queen Voyages — for Alaska. After American Queen Voyages ceased operations, she spent a period with the Spanish start-up Alma Cruceros, and after a brief layup at Funchal she passed, from October 2025, to Polar Latitudes Expeditions, the merged Albatros–Polar Latitudes company — bringing her back, in effect, to her original Antarctic operator in a new corporate form. The exact charter dates for the middle period are thinly documented.
Onboard character
Her character is Nordic expedition: 93 suites and staterooms, nearly all with a sea view, interiors that trade on Scandinavian restraint, an observation platform arrangement instead of bridge wings so that guests rather than only officers get the forward vantage, and a lecture lounge as the social centre. The infinity pool aft and the open-deck dining are warm-weather gestures on a ship built for the Drake Passage — her captain's and designer's accounts alike return to the X-BOW's behaviour on that crossing as the quality guests notice first.
Major refits and incidents
No casualty, fire or grounding is recorded for Ocean Victory in the sources used for this guide, and no major refit. The significant events of her career are the commercial ones described above: the loss of her American summer charterer when American Queen Voyages failed, a brief layup at Funchal, and her transfer to a newly merged operator. For a five-year-old chartered ship, that is a representative Infinity-class story — the hull is sound and employable; the brands around it are the volatile part.
Sister ships and class
She is the third Infinity-class ship, to Ulstein's CX103 design for SunStone Ships, after Greg Mortimer (2019) and Ocean Explorer (2021) and before Sylvia Earle, Ocean Odyssey, Ocean Albatros and Douglas Mawson. All share her dimensions — 104.4 m by 18.4 m — her X-BOW, her polar classification and her machinery concept, differing in interior arrangement and charterer fit-out. The dataset records no class name in her row; Infinity class is the name used by her designer and owner.
Fate and where she is now
Ocean Victory is in active service, recorded in the dataset as status active and fate "Operating", with Polar Latitudes Expeditions as her current operator. She remains a SunStone-owned charter hull in expedition service, as she has been since 2021.
Sources: https://ulstein.com/references/ocean-victory, https://ulstein.com/news/first-expedition-ship-naming-ceremony-in-south-georgia