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EXPEDITION MARKET
28 New Ships and Counting
Ponant has been the
trend-setter in the
market, introducing
new purpose-built
luxury ships.
When Ponant’s 180-passenger Le Laperouse is delivered
in June, it will usher in a new era for the cruise industry as meanwhile, expanded aggressively with new, purpose-built
the expedition market will officially begin its new capacity
boom.
Twenty-eight new expedition ships are scheduled for in-
troductions between June 2018 and the second quarter of
2022, and by all indications more are coming.
Four new ships this year represent three companies, and
two are new to the oceans: Scenic and Mystic.
Next year, 11 ships join the expedition fleet, all from es-
tablished operators, while the ship introductions keep rolling
into 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The business model is simple: go to very unique places,
like Antarctica and the Arctic, and charge an extremely high
ticket price while offering an exclusive and safe sense of ad-
venture.
Driving Factors
An aging group of baby boomers have money and (some)
time and have been everywhere else. Now, helped in part by
social media and perhaps global warming, they want to see
the polar areas.
Driving ticket prices up, new ships will offer comforts that
are new to the market, which was dominated by rugged yet
simple Russian research vessels as recently as a decade ago.
Silversea and Ponant have arguably led the way. Silversea
entered the expedition market with a single ship in 2008, see-
4 Cruise Industry News: 2018 Expedition Market Report
ing a need to appeal to returning high-end guests. Ponant,
luxury expedition ships, with seven more to come.
Expedition ships are generally smaller, averaging around
200 guests. The total expedition orderbook stands at 5,420
berths, less than the passenger count on the recently intro-
duced Symphony of the Seas.
With roughly 31 cruise lines offering expedition sailings
on dedicated small ships, the offerings are radically diverse,
from three-star adventure products to six-star ships with the
best of any amenity imaginable.
The market is also diversified from a sourcing point of
view. Strength comes from dedicated English-speaking mar-
kets, like most of the broader cruise business, while Germa-
ny and China are key growth areas in which to source guests.
The destination mix is growing as well. Guests that have
previously sailed in the polar regions are heading back for
tropical expeditions, for example.
There are more shoulder season sailings than ever before,
as ships that used to sail empty, racing between the poles, are
now selling warm water cruises.
Concerning
The new ship boom has been helped in part by a number of
smaller shipyards. While not accustomed to building cruise
ships, they have been looking for work after their other ship-
building businesses underperformed.