The ship was named after the Australian mountaineer, polar explorer and founder of Aurora Expeditions,
Greg Mortimer. Mortimer arguably became best known as one of the first two Australians (with
Tim Macartney-Snape) to successfully climb
Mount Everest, on 3 October 1984.
COVID-19 pandemic On 7 April 2020, the cruise ship, which holds up to 216 passengers, became stranded in South American waters, asking for help after people exhibited symptoms such as fever, which prompted authorities to ban them from disembarking. Uruguay was the only country which allowed the cruise ship to dock, after Uruguayan medical teams boarded the cruise ship to test passengers on 1 April, 81 people tested positive for
COVID-19. Six people found seriously ill with
coronavirus were evacuated and transferred to a hospital in
Montevideo. The ship received permission to dock and Uruguayan authorities arranged an evacuation flight to Australia and New Zealand. By that time 128 persons on the vessel had tested positive for COVID-19. Six had transferred to a hospital in Montevideo. Passengers from Europe and America who had positive tests would not be allowed to travel to their home countries until their subsequent tests indicated negative results. On the night of 10 April some passengers were evacuated in order to fly to Australia. On 18 April, a 52-year-old Filipino crewman died of the coronavirus.
Repairs and substitution In July 2023 the
Greg Mortimer suffered propeller damage, and was placed in dry dock for repairs. While under repair, Aurora substituted a similar
Infinity-class ship, the
Ocean Explorer. ==References==