Svalbard - A fascinating destination to showcase expedition cruise!
Being in the travel industry, I am privileged to have so many amazing opportunities but I think this one tops them all and I very nearly didn't get on it. Within hours of registration opening there was a waitlist that I joined but thankfully managed to get a place along with only 45 other agents.
As one of cruise's fastest growing sectors and with adventure travel as my passion, I really wanted to expand my knowledge of both destinations and suppliers, so considered it to be worth the big personal investment in myself and my business.
The first day, hosted by CLIA's Andy Harmer, was spent in business sessions, firstly hearing from Andy Tait of Aurora Expeditions about emerging destinations and the latest trends, did you know expedition isn't just in the cold polar regions, warm weather destinations are becoming more popular and the Galapagos are now an all year round destination. Fridrik Pall Fridriksson of Seabourn Cruise Line imparted his knowledge of being an Expedition Leader, specifically in his favourite place, Svalbard. Jos Dewing, FRGS of ExplorEarth entertained with his story of how his own expedition cruise around Cornwall turned him into a 'Birder' and keen photographer.
An afternoon of product training sessions provided a delve into the most popular expedition cruise destinations; Antarctica (still at the top), but with so many others like Greenland, Iceland, Africa and the Indian Ocean, there is at least one, if not several expedition bucket list trips to take.
Product training sessions provided each of the 8 expedition cruise lines the opportunity to outline their USPs, providing information to help us understand their offerings and better match our customers to the right product.
The following days were spent out of the conference room and just getting around Longyearbyen, you often encountered reindeer, flocks of barnacle geese and the occasional artic fox in his summer fur!
We were offered the opportunity to take part in either a Sightseeing Excursion or go Fossil Hunt Hike - I opted for the lesser active of the two but found the tour of Longyearbyen so enjoyable as this town has such an interesting history and too many quirky traditions to mention. For instance, you are expected to remove your shoes when entering many buildings such as restaurants, hotels and museums, a tradition that goes back to the old days to avoid spreading coal dust everywhere. So for most of our time indoors we were wearing slippers or fluffy socks!
A really big attraction for most expedition cruise customers is the wildlife and we really got a feel for for this on the 'Captain's Favourite Coastal Boat Tour'. Within the first 10 minutes of leaving port we had spotted a pod of 7 beluga whales, followed by countless puffins, guillemots, fulmars, an iceberg and the pièce de résistance- a walrus! Sadly the elusive polar bear didn't wander to the water that day!
However, probably the biggest draw of the event was the opportunity to have a tour of not 1 but 6 expedition ships, seeing the various cabins, restaurants, mudrooms, science labs and even medical facilities. For those of you not in the travel industry, this is an unique opportunity, as for an agent to board any cruise ship, you have to travel to a port such as Southampton or Liverpool but the expedition cruise ships are like a rare bird, they provide few opportunities to view them and you have to travel to more remote destinations to do so!
In conclusion, I can't thank all involved enough for this opportunity and to everyone who attended, it was a joy to be around so many likeminded professionals, all excited to learn and share knowledge and experiences with each other.
I am now excited to not only sell these life changing trips to my customers but hopefully embark on my own, but choosing which cruise line or destination to go to first could be a hard decision!
So for anyone who already has an expedition cruise on their bucket list or for anyone that is now thinking about one, I'd love to help.
In addition to those already mentioned above, thanks also go to the team at CLIA UK & Ireland for organising the event. Craig Upshall & Melissa W. of Albatros Expeditions , Luke Clarke & Mario Bounas of Swan Hellenic Limited , Anthony Daniels of PONANT , Becky (Francis) Robertson & Nick Hindle of Quark Expeditions , Bernard Carter of Atlas Ocean Voyages , Pierre Thomas & Donatella Valzasina of Silversea Cruises , Damian Gevertz of Widgety , Carlos Nelmes of Mail Metro Media
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