Mario was born at the foot of the Alps in Turin, Italy. A trained researcher, with a PhD in the feeding ecology of walrus, Mario has significant fieldwork experience in remote areas in the Arctic, Antarctic and the Bolivian Altiplano.

Before joining Hurtigruten, Mario worked at the University of Tromsø, Norway, where he was an award-winning teacher and communicator.

Ralf gained a PhD in outdoor education at Edinburgh University and has since worked in a range of diverse roles such as ranger, Outward Bound instructor, lecturer as well as trekking and sea kayak guide in national parks in Svalbard and North-East Greenland.

Saga grew up in a small Icelandic village called Budardalur. She studied tourism and then became a biologist. Her studies brought her to North Norway, where she has lived for the past 10 years.

Saga today works as a dog sled musher and helps Sámi reindeer owners minimise the loss of their animals to predators. She spends each summer in Svalbard to study seabirds.

As a wildlife biologist, Delphin has studied and worked around the world. He has also taught at UCLA and participated in various nature conservation projects.

Every summer since 2011, Delphin has studied seabirds in Svalbard for the Norwegian Polar Institute, but during the Arctic winter, he works as a Northern Lights guide in Northern Norway, where he now lives.

Heidrun studied biology and psychology at Braunschweig University, Germany. She received a doctorate in Ethology. She later studied biosociology, anthropology and palaeontology.

At the Natural History Museum in Braunschweig, she teaches about environmental protection organisations and zoological gardens.