Adventure on the high seas
11 Aug 2018
Is it “cruising” or “adventure by ship”? Take a closer look at the growth of expedition cruising.
For those with a yearning for natural, cultural and outdoor experiences, there’s a type of cruising just for you. Most commonly known as “expedition cruising”, you’ll also hear the term “adventure cruising” – or perhaps a combination of both.
The idea for this type of travel has been around for decades, but has only really gained mainstream popularity in the last 10 or so years. Traditionally, passengers didn’t come from the regular cruise segment of big, ocean-going vessels like those of Cunard or Carnival, but rather from adventurous travellers such as “grown-up” backpackers, hikers, mountain climbers, and those who may have spent time in universities as lecturers or students studying some discipline of ecology or biology.
Today, it’s a much different affair. Having seen the growing popularity of this type of travel among regular folks – spurred on by David Attenborough’s famous BBC documentaries and tales of heroic explorers like Shackleton and Mawson – cruise companies like Silversea, Ponant and now Crystal have launched their own mini-fleet of ships dedicated to bringing their own specific brand of luxury cruising to the adventure market.
Once the domain of the sturdy-but-dated former Soviet vessels, this new wave of high-class ship is bringing champagne, caviar, sumptuous cabins and fine dining to those who wish to experience remote destinations like Antarctica and Greenland in style and comfort.
Many will tell you it was cruises to the Antarctic Peninsula from South America all those years ago that kicked off this type of adventure travel among people who craved to see these destinations for themselves and wonder at the incredible wildlife and scenic beauty just like they saw in National Geographic magazine. But as these excited travellers develop a hunger for more, the cruise companies must find new destinations and experiences to quench this seemingly insatiable thirst for exploration.
Now we have polar bear expeditions in Svalbard, remote river cruises in the Amazon, scuba diving adventures in the mid-Pacific and visits to once-forbidden lands in Africa, Russia and
South America. Yet still the quest for more continues, and it’s now possible to take an adventure cruise somewhere new and exciting every year for the rest of your life.
Are you ready for expedition cruising?
If you’re asking questions like “how many polar bears might I see?” or “when is the best time to visit a King Penguin colony?” then you’re probably the right person for adventure cruising. If you’re more concerned about the brand of champagne, the type of spa treatments available or the thread count of your Egyptian cotton sheets, then perhaps you might be best suited to a more conventional luxury cruise.
That said, it’s now very possible to combine luxury shipboard experiences just like you’d find on the world’s top-rated cruise ships with a dash of adventure as you sail among the Arctic ice floes. Now the choice is yours.
Cruise converts
Neil Nightingale and Karen Bass have each spent more than 25 years travelling the globe filming award-winning nature and wildlife documentaries for the BBC and National Geographic. Many of the seminal TV programs presented by Sir David Attenborough are a result of their work. The couple are now converts to expedition cruising, and I was fortunate enough to meet them aboard a recent journey in the Arctic. I asked them what they loved about this type of travel.
“One of the things that struck me early on is that not everyone is here for the same purpose,” Nightingale says. “Some may come to see a particular animal, while others
may just be generally interested in nature and wildlife having watched a nature and wildlife program that excited them. Some will have saved for a trip of a lifetime, and others will have become hooked and be on their third or fourth trip to a special and unique place. This all comes together to create a special atmosphere on these voyages that is very different to your typical cruise.”
With decades of experience in the wild, striving for the amazing vision like we’ve seen in such shows as Life on Earth, Bass has a keen appreciation for the skill needed to deliver such experiences.
“For us, getting the camera in the right place at the right time is where the rewards are,” she says. “And I can see the parallels in expedition cruising where the skill and experience of the expedition leader and the captain are critical in getting passengers positioned for these encounters. Even when, despite their best efforts and just like with our filming, not everything goes to plan, they are still able to produce unexpected surprises. For instance, who could plan for that breaching whale or the polar bear and three little cubs swimming past the bow of the ship?”
The thrill of the unexpected is a key attraction for many on expedition cruises. However, there are also experiences that can be guaranteed, like arriving at a famous penguin colony on South Georgia with just a relatively few people with whom to share that experience.
“While I may not be so experienced on other types of cruise ships,” Bass continues, “I’ve often wondered what are the logistics of putting hundreds and hundreds of people ashore at these places and what effect that might have on the environment. One of the things Neil and I were very keen to enjoy was time ashore in proximity to the animals in something like privacy. Just like when we’re filming, the last thing you want is a convoy of tourist buses drive past spoiling the scene.”
Nightingale was able to very succinctly wrap up his motivation to choosing an expedition cruise. “Well, put simply, this is the only way for the regular person to experience these remote wildlife spectacles like a polar bear on ice or a rare bowhead whale,” he says, before wrapping up with typical English understatement. “And compared to what we’ve often endured to film these animals, this is quite luxurious!”
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