Travelmarvel’s first ocean ship, due in April 2029, will be between two brands.

APT Travel Group will own this new vessel outright, but for half the year it will effectively hand the keys to Quark Expeditions, the polar specialist, to run its polar deployments, before taking it back for a Mediterranean season.

“Yes, we will totally own the new vessel,” said Paul Melinis, managing director UK and Europe for APT Luxury and Travelmarvel.

“We will have it in the Med, and then they will have it in polar.”

It is a rather unusual structure for a company moving from chartered ocean operations into its first purpose-built ocean vessel to adopt.

“Look, we do recognize that we are not specialists in ocean ships and for this type of new idea to work, we really wanted to keep the small ship personalization that our customers love about our whole brand for 100 years, but we also have to look at our potential longer-term vision and where we can sail into new waters, so to speak,” he said.

“And then, also if we’re going to do something so completely different like this venture, it’s best of course, to know your strengths and weaknesses and rather just partner with someone who can help facilitate that type of vision.”

The current arrangement lets Travelmarvel put its name on a category, ice-strengthened polar cruising, that it has never operated in before, while leaning on a partner that already has the permits, guides and logistics for the Southern Ocean and high Arctic all sorted out.

Quark, will in turn, get access to a newly built (shipyard not yet made public) 99-suite vessel carrying an estimated 160 to 170 guests, positioned as a four-star-plus yacht within Travelmarvel’s premium small ship tier.

The ship is being built specifically to offer a smaller-scale alternative to the larger vessels entering the Mediterranean market.

“There’s going to be more and more ships coming online, new ships everywhere across the Med,” he said. “We hear a lot about people who absolutely love traveling the Med but just don’t want to travel with like another four or five thousand people.

“So as a family owned business,we thought our view is simple, it’s always been this simple in terms of our operation,” Melinis continued. “We care about our customers, we want them to have the best and most personal experience available, on and off board, so if we’re venturing into now newer, colder waters, we’re not going to forget our raison d’etre, our brand, our rivers operation which we are loved for.

“We’re going to look for new, interesting ships that can accommodate who we essentially are, even if you’ve got a big ocean liner for us, we’re not really that interested in that type of thing. It’s just not our style.”

He pointed to the Caledonian Sky, which Travelmarvel used in the Mediterranean in 2025 after the vessel had previously operated for APT in Australia’s Kimberley region, as the data point that convinced the company.

“We had a vessel in the Med last year that we also had used for Kimberley, and it totally sold out,” Melinis said. “So we knew the demand was there, then we started thinking then, well could we build a warm and cold water vessel in the future, and that’s exactly what we’re currently doing.”

Perhaps one of the most notable shift is who APT is expecting to actually book it. Travelmarvel’s core river cruising guest skews around the 65 and older range group, a demographic Melinis has been candid about targeting deliberately in the past.

The new ship, he said, is aimed at something closer to the 50 and up, a change he traced to guest patterns the company has already observed on its existing yacht product in Croatia.

“It wasn’t done with a totally new younger audience in mind, but it will probably introduce a slightly younger more adventure seeking one,” Melinis said. “Our Croatia product certainly does, and with this we’re looking at more than just your 50-plus guests. Honestly, our existing river guests are already loyal to us because they have gotten to know us over many many years, and this will also introduce Travelmarvel’s premium cruises to maybe a new group of people about how fantastic smaller ship cruising is.”

Pricing, specific itineraries and design details remain at present unresolved, with Melinis indicating that a clearer picture is still a few months out as the team navigates through the “weeds.”

What this particular deal structure does make clear is how APT is choosing to expand into a new category it has no direct experience in.

However they’re splitting the operational calendar with a specialist and keeping ownership of the asset itself. This means that they are not acquiring an expedition brand outright or spending to build the expertise inside the house right from scratch.

From Rigel joining the Rhine fleet to Sirius debuting on the Nile to this new ship, Melinis said Travelmarvel does not currently see a need for even more capacity on Europe’s rivers, but sees here an opportunity to take its small-ship model into brand new waters, and finding a partner who already knew how to get them there.