Top tips for selling expedition cruise

Martin Johnson is director at tour operator Polar Routes

“Since the start of the year, we’ve seen an uptick in both interest and sales for expedition cruising. There are some good offers out there currently, which means it’s quite a reasonable market for us and our agent partners.

“We’re seeing people who’ve had Antarctica or the Arctic on their bucket list for a number of years and who are now deciding to book, which has fed into an uptick in demand.

“We’re booking Antarctica for the 2021 and 2022 season (November to March), as well as for the 2022 and 2023 season. We’re not seeing many Arctic bookings for this year, as this summer is still looking uncertain, so Arctic bookings are mainly for summer 2022.

“Because of the long lead times, people are happy to book at the moment as their expectation is that by the time they travel, Covid will hopefully be a thing of the past.

“Antarctica remains our number one seller. I’ve been myself and a trip there surpasses all expectations, even after multiple visits. [The Norwegian archipelago of] Svalbard is also doing well – it’s seen as a great wilderness destination and people also view Scandinavia as having performed well with Covid.

“We’re also seeing demand for Greenland and the North West Passage, [the latter of which] has quite limited availability due to cancelled cruises for 2020 and 2021 being moved to 2022.

“Small-ship expeditions remain popular for us – a lot of what we sell are expedition cruises for less than 250 people with two landings a day.

“Two-thirds of our business comes from first-time expedition cruisers. Even if clients only ever anticipated taking one expedition cruise, talk to them about what else is on offer. If you look after that client well and you get their first trip right, there’s normally huge loyalty to the operator and travel agency, so they could become repeaters.

“For second-time cruisers recommend the Arctic, south-east Asia and the Kimberley in Australia. Greenland is also a great option – the scenery is spectacular.

“Since Covid, clients are asking more questions about expedition cruising than ever before. They want to know almost everything – the size of ships, how many landings there’ll be a day, what’s included, plans for safety onboard and flexible booking options. Agents need to have good knowledge, and as a wholesaler we can help with that and hold agents’ hands.

“There are lots of new ships we’re really excited about – Swan Hellenic has three new ships coming to the market, Seabourn Venture is the most luxurious ship in expedition cruise and Albatros Expeditions’ Ocean Victory is designed to be more efficient in terms of emissions. The new Ultramarine from Quark is great for exploration and has two helicopters onboard.

“The exploration options are getting more sophisticated, with activities including kayaking, helicopter rides, heli-skiing, diving and submarine excursions.

“My advice for agents is to ensure clients know that expedition cruise is a style of travel you offer. Communicate it to your database with dedicated newsletters and use obvious imagery such as penguins and polar bears to grab clients’ attention. We can run joint webinar evenings with you and your clients – you don’t need to have big numbers of attendees either, as conversion rates are usually high as long as people are interested to start with.

“While expedition cruise bookings aren’t volume, they can be very lucrative and the margins are fantastic. “If you sell wildlife, multi-centre touring, luxury small-ship cruising or safari holidays, there’s no reason why expedition cruising shouldn’t be part of your sales mix too.”

Alexander Loizou is director of sales and marketing at specialist luxury agency Mundy Cruising and Mundy Adventures

“We’re seeing strong interest and performance in terms of bookings for expedition cruise, with Q1 bookings up 125% compared with 2019.

“The lead times for expedition cruise have got longer – in 2019 people booked seven months
ahead, now it’s a year.

“We’ve seen pickup in the number of firsttimers booking with Mundy Adventures and we’re also seeing people stepping into expedition from classic cruise for the first time.

“As the levels of luxury increase for expedition, it’s becoming more appealing to our Mundy Cruising clientele. There’s lots of fantastic product out there and exciting ships coming on the market. We’re seeing lots of interest for the likes of Silversea, Crystal Endeavor, Scenic Eclipse and Ponant’s hybrid icebreaker Le Commandant Charcot.

“The range of itineraries is growing and the new ships are greener and have more tools for exploration. With that exciting tonnage coming onto market, it pushes some clients who have been umming and ahing to book, especially when they have pent-up budgets from cancelled trips.

“Safety has always been the number one priority for expedition cruise ships and that hasn’t changed. We’ve kept our clients informed about how far cruise lines are going to ensure everyone is safe and the level of confidence we’re seeing is very pleasing.

“There’s a general leaning towards expedition destinations too since the pandemic – you’re getting out into nature, seeing wildlife and visiting destinations with no human population where social distancing is possible. Clients’ experiences will be exactly the same as prepandemic as the ship is a bubble and will operate as such. If some people are worried about what traditional cruising will look like in more populated destinations [due to the pandemic], they won’t have those worries with expedition.

“Selling expedition cruise always involves weeks of back and forth discussion with the client. It all comes down to the individual and what they want – some might want indulgent evenings, others might want to spend longer onshore or a more adventurous travel style. Time is also a factor. For people with time constraints wanting to visit Antarctica, we recommend Silversea’s bridge programme where clients fly over the peninsula instead of sailing across Drake’s Passage.