Cruise and Ferry Review - Summer/Spring 2020

2 4 2 newsworthy in this time and age, but also because you have to believe that all of us want to leave behind something better than we started with,” comments Littley. “It might not be foremost on our guests minds but, they really realise it when something is amiss. They want to rely on the fact that, when they cruise with us, everything is taken into account. It is key in how they experience the cruise and we need to do it right.” When it comes to choosing homeports, Littley says: “With the growth of the expedition fleet there are a lot of places with the ability to turnaround, for example Longyearbyen in Svalbard and St John’s in Newfoundland, which are seeing an increase in cruise traffic. The challenge is that not every place has the necessary facilities.” There are also new opportunities for the existing fleet, with Haifa in Israel on the map for a turnaround call in 2021. “If all goes well, we will probably do a couple more in 2022,” says Littley. “It only needs a small step to open the door for a new-to-cruise port.” Even for someone so well travelled, Littley is excited about the new destination possibilities a new ship brings. “Having the expedition ship joining the fleet is like having a whole new canvas to paint and a set of colours,” he says. “What I have learnt most of all with the expedition planning portfolio, now that I am delving deeper into it, is that people offhandedly say the world is becoming smaller, but now I am realising the world is far bigger than I thought. There are so many places yet to discover, but it takes a lot of dedication and motivation to get to some of these new destinations. “Seabourn is more than what we do onboard. The destination is as important – or more important – than anything else. One reason guests choose Seabourn is because we go to destinations both near and far. Some places are totally off the grid, for example Kimberley in Australia. In a way, we are offering something guests cannot do independently.” CFR Seabourn’s guests can enjoy adventurous excursions like kayaking among giant lily pads in the Amazon INTERV IEW