The ‘breakout travel trend’ of the decade: What to know about expedition cruising

It felt arsenic if we had the jungle to ourselves.

As we explored Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park, we spotted uncommon birds, spider monkeys — adjacent a sloth and her babe — among the trees of the rainforest.

It was 1 of galore experiences I had connected an expedition cruise with 32 passengers aboard the Greg Mortimer, operated by the Australia-based Aurora Expeditions.

During the 13-day voyage, we crossed the Panama Canal and snorkeled amid hawksbill turtles successful Panama's UNESCO-protected Coiba National Park. We besides met members of the indigenous Embera tribe heavy successful Panama's heavy jungle. 

Built for polar regions, this was the ship's archetypal foray into tropical waters, arsenic companies similar Aurora are responding to the increasing request for expedition cruises.

Instagram posts — which often showcase trips to Antarctica — whitethorn person fixed expedition cruising much publicity, but this signifier of cruising isn't new. 

U.S.-based Lindblad Expeditions started taking travelers to Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands successful the mid-1960s. 

The institution specializes successful expedition cruises, which disagree from accepted cruises successful that they absorption connected exploring isolated, little visited oregon inaccessible destinations. Smaller ships besides let itinerary flexibility, which means the skipper tin dilatory down for guests to observe polar bears oregon a whale shark.

Aurora Expeditions has been plying Antarctica's frozen waters since the cruise enactment archetypal leased rudimentary Russian icebreakers to scope the icy continent successful the aboriginal 1990s. 

"Bathrooms were shared, and we'd drawstring our apparel crossed the cabins to dry," said Bronwyn Stephenson, a seasoned Aurora expeditioner.

With its spacious cabins, plush room and lecture theater, the Greg Mortimer is simply a acold outcry from these archetypal expedition cruise ships. 

Today, determination is stiff contention among expedition cruise lines to motorboat much technologically precocious vessels and to unafraid onboard talent. Lindblad precocious recruited underwater archaeologist Mensun Bound, who has discovered past shipwrecks, and erstwhile NASA main idiosyncratic Robert Bindschadler, to amended passengers.

Noah Brodsky, main commercialized serviceman of Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, described expedition cruising arsenic the "breakout question inclination of the decade."

"There's thing genuinely peculiar and transformative astir experiencing distant destinations alongside a tiny radical of like-minded people," helium told CNBC.

Lindblad recorded its biggest-ever booking time connected Jan. 3, racking up immoderate $5.6 cardinal successful sales, according to a institution representative.

In-demand destinations this twelvemonth see Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, the Arctic and Antarctica, according to the representative, portion involvement to Costa Rica is up 54% from 2019.

The institution besides launched caller routes to Greenland, French Polynesia and Western Australia's Kimberley region.

James Cole, laminitis of the U.K.-based cruise bureau Panache Cruises, said expedition cruising saw the astir maturation successful the cruising assemblage successful the past decennary — expanding from astir 67,000 passengers successful 2012 to 367,557 successful 2022.

"An expanding fig of radical nary longer privation run-of-the-mill holidays," helium said. "People crave escapade … determination is simply a definite magnitude of romanticism present which harks backmost to the clip of large explorers similar Hillary, Cousteau and Shackleton."

Most of the request for expedition cruises comes from the over-55 property group, namely the semi-retired and retired who person the clip and resources, Cole said. 

But helium noted: "We are seeing much families entering the market."

Gen Xers and millennials correspond a smaller percent of clients. "It is the 'experience' and 'adventure' which is driving their interest. The cruise facet is truly a secondary dimension," Cole noted. 

Expedition cruising is besides a bully enactment for the increasing fig of solo travelers. 

I hadn't visited Central and South America before, mostly due to the fact that deciding which countries to sojourn and readying an autarkic travel seemed overwhelming and complicated. As a woman, I was acrophobic astir information too. The Aurora cruise was the perfect introduction, with enactment excursions led by onboard experts and engaging section guides. 

Plusher ships, onboard experts and less passengers construe to higher fares than accepted cruises. Expedition cruises often commencement astatine astir $1,000 per idiosyncratic per day. Trips typically past 8 to 15 days — though immoderate tin instrumentality a afloat month.

While accepted cruises tin big thousands of radical astatine once, companies similar the polar micro cruising institution Secret Atlas tin instrumentality arsenic fewer arsenic 12 cruisers astatine a time.

But a propulsion for much comfortableness and luxury successful the manufacture is causing immoderate expedition cruises to get bigger, said institution co-founder Andrew Marsh.

"Unfortunately, this has meant the caller expedition cruise ships person go larger and the expedition acquisition itself has been sacrificed," helium told CNBC. 

Though they're smaller successful scale, expedition cruises have faced disapproval for polluting oceans, introducing microbes to delicate environments, and colliding with ample mammals similar whales. 

To combat immoderate of these issues, the luxury question bureau Abercrombie & Kent is chartering the luxury icebreaker Le Commandant Charcot for a North Pole expedition adjacent year.

"To trim emissions to the lowest imaginable level, this Ponant vessel uses LNG arsenic a fuel," said the company's merchandise improvement and operations vice president Stefanie Schmudde. "The vas besides uses hybrid operation, with batteries to grip load fluctuations."  

In February, Aurora and Sylvia Earle led an Antarctic clime expedition connected a vessel named aft the renowned oceanographer. The purpose was to rise nationalist and authorities consciousness of the Antarctic's biology importance. 

Aurora Expeditions' Peacock-Gower said the institution worked with 117 clime ambassadors, aged 12 to 88, to formulate 8 clime resolutions that are designed to execute net-zero emissions by 2035. 

"Travel is ever the champion educator, and we connection the accidental to enrich our passengers' curiosity … connected and off-ship," she said.