It comes as the Norwegian specialist became the latest line to reveal plans to ban all “unnecessary” single-use plastic company-wide – a move it said it would achieve by July 2.

This will include plastic straws, drink mixers, plastic glasses, coffee lids and plastic bags, which Hurtigruten said would be removed from all its ships.

Hurtigruten chief executive Daniel Skjeldam said: “At Hurtigruten, we have focused on the problem with plastic pollution for years. There is a lot of talk about the impact plastic has on our oceans. But it’s time to take action.

“By getting rid of single-use plastic on board all ships already by this summer, we will hopefully get others to follow. It is possible to act now, and the oceans do not deserve more hesitation.”

The line said plastic straws would be replaced with metal straws and it would remove glasses wrapped in plastic, plastic cutlery, bags, lids on coffee cups, toothpicks and aprons, along with single-use packaging for butter “and all other single-use plastic”.

The ban will be effective across Hurtigruten’s entire fleet of expedition vessels and the company said it would also be imposed on hotels, restaurants “and other establishments of Hurtigruten’s land based operations on Svalbard”.