visit. “If you’re not doing that right now, you
won’t have a business for much longer,” says
Monika Sundem, Adventure Life’s CEO.
The industry is going upmarket, too.
“Historically, expedition cruises’ itineraries
have always been amazing but the ships
were built more to travel to those regions
than to wow travellers on board,” says Adam
Coulter, managing editor of Cruise Critic UK.
By custom-building new ships and gently
upping capacity, companies can recoup their
investment fast, says Curry, while providing
“much nicer cabins at a similar price point”.
Of course, in adventure cruising, luxury also
refers to the product. Ponant’s Le Commandant
Charcot, which debuted in 2021, can go “far
deeper and further [into Antarctica] than
anyone else,” says Edwina Lonsdale, managing
director of expedition cruise specialists
Mundy Adventures. “And that’s a luxury in
itself.” Other boats are incorporating their
own helicopters or submarines, she adds.
Some are prioritising the luxury of time: flying
one leg of an Antarctica trip, to save a two-day
Drake Passage crossing, for example.
The other big change? The arrival of big-gun
cruise companies. Coulter flags Viking Ocean
Cruises’ two new adventure cruise ships, and
Seabourn’s 20 23-scheduled Venture, as ones to
watch. Viking’s new Expeditions division, which
launched in January, will “take the immersive
experiences we offer to the next level,” says
Wendy Atkin-Smith, managing director of
Viking UK. Each journey will have at least 25experts in attendance — they’re partnering
with Cambridge University, among others.
Even tour operator G Adventures is getting
in on the act — its first custom-built ship took
to the Galápagos waters in April. That ship, the
Reina Silva Voyager, will, unusually, have two
solo cabins. Yves Marceau, G’s VP of product,
says that the adventure cruise demographic,
which always skews high-ish, because of the
cost, is beginning to open up post-pandemic.
In the future, cruising destinations will get
more varied, predicts Lonsdale, who flags the
Kimberley in Australia and IndonRFesia’s Raja
Ampat as hotspots-to-be. Curry, meanwhile,
says the new trend is for solar eclipse journeys.
The future of adventure cruising looks bright,
then — literally.Le Commandant Charcot