Heritage Expeditions
Heritage Expeditions: the back story
The back story
About Heritage Expeditions: the back story
Heritage Expeditions was formed in 1984 by Rodney and Shirley Russ and is still run by their family from Christchurch. Its three small ships carry expedition teams of naturalists, botanists and historians to the Ross Sea, the Subantarctic Islands and the far coasts of the Pacific.
A biologist’s idea
Heritage Expeditions began in 1984 with a conviction rather than a ship. Rodney Russ was a biologist with the New Zealand Wildlife Service, working with the kākāpō and the Chatham Island black robin, and he came to believe that wild places are best protected when people are allowed to see them and return home as their advocates. With his wife Shirley he set out to share those places through small, carefully led expeditions. The company is still family-owned, now run by their sons Aaron and Nathan Russ from purpose-built offices in Christchurch.
The Grande Dame
The flagship, Heritage Adventurer, was built in 1991 at Rauma in Finland for polar exploration and sailed for years as MS Hanseatic. She holds 1A Super ice class, which the line describes as the highest rating for a passenger ship, and has traversed both the Northwest and Northeast Passages. Designed for 184 guests, she now carries 140, with 14 Zodiacs to put everyone ashore. Beside her sails Heritage Discoverer, the former Silver Explorer, a 130-guest ship refurbished in 2023 and 2026, and the 18-guest Heritage Explorer, a wood-finished expedition yacht built in Picton for the fiords and sounds of New Zealand.
Rather than locking wilderness areas away, it was important to share them with people.
Into the Ross Sea
The voyage that defines the line is In the Wake of Scott and Shackleton, a 28-day expedition from New Zealand that calls at The Snares, the Auckland Islands, Macquarie Island and Campbell Island on the way to the Ross Sea. Pack ice limits the season there to about two brief months each austral summer, and Heritage Expeditions has been sailing it for more than 35 years: historic huts, glacial ice tongues, Mount Erebus and the penguin rookeries the early biologists described.
Closer to home
Not every voyage is polar. The Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia, with their albatross and megaherbs, are a speciality, and Heritage Adventurer also sails Australia’s Kimberley Coast between Darwin and Broome. Heritage Explorer runs short voyages through Doubtful Sound and Fiordland, with kayaks and fishing gear on board and a chef who cooks local produce and the guests’ catch of the day.
How the days run
An open-bridge policy lets you visit the captain and officers at work, and the expedition team gives daily lectures alongside the landings and Zodiac cruises. The fare includes a hotel night before departure, all meals, house beer, wine and soft drinks at lunch and dinner, and every expedition excursion; suites add a replenished minibar, a spa credit and, in the largest, in-room dining and laundry.
Our advice: if you only sail with Heritage Expeditions once, choose the Subantarctic Islands or the Ross Sea, the waters the Russ family know better than almost anyone. For a first taste, a few nights on Heritage Explorer in Fiordland show the same naturalist spirit on a much smaller scale.
Why it's on our list
- Family-owned since 1984
- Ross Sea voyages for more than 35 years
- Three ships, from 18 to 140 guests
- Naturalist-led landings every day
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Heritage Expeditions: the back story before you go.