{"id":14920,"date":"2009-06-23T10:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-23T10:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/cruise-weekly-comment-adventure-cruising-expedition-cruising-now-eco-cruising-2\/"},"modified":"2009-06-23T10:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-23T10:24:00","slug":"cruise-weekly-comment-adventure-cruising-expedition-cruising-now-eco-cruising-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2009\/06\/cruise-weekly-comment-adventure-cruising-expedition-cruising-now-eco-cruising-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruise Weekly Comment: Adventure cruising, expedition cruising, now eco cruising."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
Product differentiation in the travel business is an ongoing challenge for those marketing existing products and even more so for those launching new ones and trying to get their heads above the noise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A couple weeks back I attended a function aboard the superb ten passenger charter vessel, MV Platinum<\/span>. The premise for my attendance was the announcement of new \u201cadventure cruising\u201d and \u201ceco cruising\u201d itineraries aboard this sparkling new vessel.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, the 38m MV Platinum<\/span> is like no other vessel offering adventure cruise itineraries. It\u2019s lavish, exclusive and oh-so posh. Immediately I\u2019m thinking of visiting royalty and uber-celebs chartering this vessel for a week or so between coronations or Academy Awards. I see flowing evening gowns, balmy moonlit nights and lots of champagne.<\/p>\n

So where does this lovely boat fit in with chunky ex-Russian spy vessels and 50-passenger expedition yachts? To be honest I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n

Platinum\u2019s idea of eco-cruising is white sandy beaches, a spot of snorkelling, gourmet meals, relaxation and hand-and-foot pampering. 5-day itineraries between the Gold Coast and Whitsundays run at around $800pp\/day, fractionally more expensive than our regulars in this market but without the included excursions. If you\u2019re planning a honeymoon or smart get-away-from-it-all break this would be hard to beat, but adventure seekers might find themselves left to their own devices. Where are the kayaks and Scuba tanks? BYO I imagine.<\/p>\n

The 32-cabin Fantasea Ammari <\/span>struggled throughout 2008 with itineraries in the Whitsundays and was eventually withdrawn back to Brisbane last October. The Ammari<\/span> is a perfectly capable vessel, more in line with regular adventure yachts like Coral Princess\u2019 Oceanic Discoverer<\/span> and Captain Cook\u2019s Reef Escape<\/span>. Her so-called \u2018adventure cruises\u2019 were more leisure orientated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI see her as a sort of floating beach house,\u201c said Fantasea Cruises patriarch Hume Campbell at the time of the vessel\u2019s re-introduction, \u201csomewhere where guests can slow down quickly and relax.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Fantasea\u2019s experience is anything to go by, there seems to be something missing from the \u201ckick back\u201d small ship cruising model, especially in our region. I would argue that in order to apply the \u2018adventure\u2019 or \u2018expedition\u2019 label, a cruise itinerary needs much more than fine wine, marble bathrooms and scenery. Luxury is all well-and-good, but enrichment and the oft-touted \u201cexperiential and transformational\u201d need stirring into the mix too. Our big ship brigade seem to have \u201claid back\u201d down pat, especially in the $200pp\/day price bracket.<\/p>\n

Have a clear idea what you want out of your next small ship cruise and scrutinise itineraries and activities closely. In my mind at least, adventure cruising needs \u2018adventure\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Product differentiation in the travel business is an ongoing challenge for those marketing existing products and even more so for those launching new ones and trying to get their heads above the noise. A couple weeks back I attended a function aboard the superb ten passenger charter vessel, MV Platinum. The premise for my attendance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[324],"class_list":["post-14920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cruise-weekly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}