One week after the sinking of the expedition ship M/S Explorer, The Sunday Times has learnt that passengers booking cruises aboard the largest liner sailing in the Antarctic are being wrongly advised that the ship is certified as ice-strengthened.

At 108,977 tons, the Star Princess has a crew of 1,200 and can carry up to 3,102 passengers. With four pools, a hospital and a nine-hole golf course, the ship is also described as the world’s largest floating casino.

But passengers sailing the icy seas of the southern Atlantic on the Star Princess could be gambling with more than their holiday money. Posing as a potential passenger, The Sunday Times called the Princess Cruises booking line on three separate occasions seeking reassurance that the ship had ice-class certification, rendering it safe to sail in waters where icebergs occur.

“The Star Princess is perfectly safe for the Antarctic, and is rated for cruising in any waters,” we were told. Another salesperson described the ship as “ice-proof” – but our checks have revealed that the Italian-built mega-liner has no such certification.

“This ship definitely does not have ice-class certification,” said Stefano Cappelloza, of the Registro Italiano Navale. “The owners have never asked us to issue certification to this ship.”

London-based Lloyd’s, with which the Star Princess is also registered, confirmed that neither the Star Princess nor her sister ship Golden Princess, which sailed the Antarctic last season, was listed as ice-class.

When challenged, the cruise line said the Star Princess was a modern ship complying with “all the latest international ship design and Safety of Life at Sea regulations”.

“The captain of the ship plans the route for her sailing, depending on existing and forecast conditions, avoiding any ice,” said Princess Cruises’ Pieter van der Schee. “During her time in Antarctic waters, Star Princess will have an ice pilot on board, and the ship has access to the latest and most detailed weather information.”

But Dr John Shears, a polar policy specialist from the British Antarctic Survey, has warned that if a ship the size of the Star Princess encountered a near-invisible “growler” iceberg, of the type that sank the M/S Explorer, the Antarctic’s search-and-rescue infrastructure would be unable to cope.

“None of these huge ships is ice-strengthened, and if there were a problem, there could be a very significant disaster with substantial loss of life,” he said.

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