Hapag-Lloyd Cruises will take delivery of two state-of-the-art expedition ships in 2019. The Hanseatic Nature and Hanseatic Inspiration are being built at an estimated cost of $155 million each by Vard, and will help raise the line’s product offering with new luxury expedition ships.
“The expedition market has been tremendously successful for us. When I took over the company the plan was to restructure the company and stabilize it. And then we had our most successful year ever in 2016 and had to target growth,” said Karl Pojer, CEO, in an interview with Cruise Industry News.
In early March, Pojer said both the company’s current expedition ships, the Bremen and Hanseatic, were sold out for the rest of the year. He noted market studies undertaken by the company showed demand for their expedition cruises to be three times higher than their current supply.
Pojer credited the mainstream cruise market in helping drive the expedition sector by building more and bigger ships.
“We think the opposite, our clients don’t want to be on a floating city, and they want to go to destinations the big ships cannot go to.
“The interest for expeditions came up as people realize you can make money with small ships. It’s more difficult, but it is possible. You need the right product for the right niche.”
The new ships will have a full viewing area on the bow accessible to passengers, which is designed to hold all guests at once.
Excerpt from the 2017 Expedition Cruise Market Report.
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About the Expedition Market Report
The 2017 Expedition Cruise Market Report is a comprehensive PDF report detailing the quickly expanding expedition cruise market.
It includes capacity projections through 2027, and profiles of 17 major players with exclusive reporting, research and interviews.
There is also a trends report, original research and a look at the new ships, plus much more.
