Lindblad Expeditions is offering a combination of new geographies and doing new things in places they have already been.
“We have a new voyage from Nome via the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands to northern Japan and Hokkaido. While the voyage is new, the area is familiar,” explained Trey Byus, chief expedition officer for Lindblad Expeditions.
“Even in the Mediterranean we have a new product we call ‘Croatia Under Sail’ with the Sea Cloud II sailing from Dubrovnik to northern Croatia, Slovenia and Venice,” he added.
“Earlier this year, the National Geographic Explorer was in South Africa on a voyage from Cape Town to Dar es Salaam, calling at South African ports, Madagascar and Mozambique. We were there some 20 years ago and have gone back with a renewed product.”
Next year, Lindblad is bringing the Orion back to the Mediterranean. She has been in the South Pacific for the past couple of years, and while she has sailed in the Western Mediterranean, she hasn’t explored the eastern part, according to Byus.
“But the big news for us in terms of doing new things in places we already know quite well is in Antarctica where we are offering our guests, who are crunched for time or don’t want to sail across the Drake Passage, the opportunity to fly to Antarctica,” he continued.
There are two varieties of the program, guests can fly both ways or fly one way and sail the other.
In addition, Lindblad offers a variety of other Antarctica voyages from 12 to 22 days.
There is also a new trip on the Columbia River in partnership with Food & Wine (magazine), and Byus described the Columbia River as the “fruit and breadbasket” of the Pacific Northwest.
“Furthermore, I think you know that anywhere we go, we are going to talk about the nature, the topography and the history. And for starters, the scenery, geologically speaking, is one of the more fascinating in the nation,” he added.
Byus said while Lindblad loves its past guests, as they are the lifeblood of the company, because they are so loyal, the expedition company also needs more of them. One way to do that is to offer geographies and itineraries that appeal to first timers, and that includes Galapagos, but also Alaska and Antarctica.
Many of Lindblad’s guests get their first exposure to cruising in Antarctica because the only way to see the polar region is by ship. But the Arctic and Iceland also generate a lot of first timers.
Another way to attract first timers is to offer more short programs, and Lindblad has a variety of five-night voyages, including a program in western Greenland. Guests fly on chartered aircraft from Boston or Providence to Kangerlussuaq and return via Reykjavik.
With 10-owned ships in addition to six chartered vessels this year, growing to seven next year, Lindblad operates in more than 120 different countries and territories, according to Byus. That means more than 550 published departures and about 170 unique itineraries.
“We really do everything from small intimate 28-guest expeditions on the Amazon River to exploratory icebreaker-like voyages with our PC5 ice class vessels, the Resolution and the Endurance, in the Arctic and Antarctica,” he said.
“We are constantly evolving, and National Geographic helps us do that, while we also help bring the National Geographic brand to life.
“They are known for exploration, science, conservation, photography – all the things that we do, and we now have National Geographic photographers and certified photo instructors onboard, as well as hosting scientists in addition to our own expedition staff.
“We challenge ourselves every single day to bring all our expedition activities to the next level.”
Excerpt from the Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine Summer 2024
