Taking a cruise is an amazing adventure. They say there is a cruise ship for anyone in the world, they just need to find it. But what is becoming ever so popular is cruise expeditions. What’s the difference you ask? You can recognise a cruise expedition by a number of features. These being the likes of zodiacs (rubber duckies) so the guests can get up close to nature – be it wildlife or geographic wonders. The ships have less people onboard but they normally pump above their weight with the value of experience onboard.
I’ve been on a number of expeditions in my time. The first was a Kimberley cruise on what is now National Geographic’s Orion (Lindblad Expeditions). To give you a guide to the scale of things, there are only 53 cabins onboard which normally equates to 106 people on average. Add 75 crew and that’s it, so less than 200 people tops. It’s a pretty high ratio of staff to guests but you’re dealing with the best of the best.
The lean number of staff mean they have to be versatile, nimble on their feet and very capable. They have to help out where it’s needed. The staff rostered will depend on where you’re cruising. Expedition Leaders are traditionally incredibly knowledgeable about the destination, the flora or fauna, or wildlife for that region. They may be geologists, archeologists or have a deep understanding of a particular culture that’s relevant to that part of the world. Whatever their strength, it will deepen your appreciation for where you are and enrich you with more insight than before the trip began.
An expedition ship is specifically designed to take on more challenging waters than the larger ships, therefore they are traditionally more technologically advanced. Given their size, they can take you down smaller waterways or rivers. A good example of making size matter came in to play in the Kimberleys. We visited King Cascade waterfall. Due to the size of the vessel, the captain could put the nose of the ship right up to the waterfall so we could feel the freshness of the water coming down. Large ships have no hope in getting this kind of access.
It’s not common knowledge that the Kimberly have massive tidal shifts. When we explored the Horizontal Falls, it became ever so prevalent. Coming back via zodiac once we’d travelled through the falls a couple of times was a much longer trip. The tides changed that dramatically they had to move the ship whilst we were out having fun. I didn’t even notice it at the time. It’s this type of thing you’ll learn to love when it comes to travelling on a smaller ship.