The optimism is starting to translate into people booking travel. We’re getting there.
Last week, I shared with you about a river cruise boom. And, we’re also starting to see that with small ship ocean and expedition cruising.
Of course, there’ll always be clients who love the mega ships, and like to sail on the latest and greatest floating city. I do have some clients who used to plan vacations around the launch of the latest ship – and I’m sure with some of the mega ships starting to sail again, they’ll be back to them next year.
But the trend I’m seeing with the vast majority of my clients is smaller ships.
It’s a pandemic thing, sure – smaller crowds. But, it’s also the luxury of time and space, and travelling with a ship and people who are more similar to you.
And if that interests you, then smaller ships are the way to go.
Smaller ships can be anything from a Seabourn or an Oceania, a Regent or a Silversea with around 1200 people or less (as compared to some mega ships with 6000+). On the expedition side, there’s LIndblad and Quark and Ponant – which typically have 100-200 passengers. And, of course, there are river cruises, with an average of around 150 passengers..
The small ships were the only ones given clearance to still sail to Alaska (before recent changes) and enter Canadian sailing waters. Now, the bigger lines will sail later in the summer, but the smaller ships still will lead the way.
Here are some recent articles about sailing on small ships.