Atlas Ocean Voyages charts course toward 'expedition' cruises to mainstream destinations

For years, expedition cruising has been defined in the cruise world as a type of cruising that involves traveling to the most remote places in the world on small, hardy vessels that carry their own landing craft.

It has been a subset of cruising that mostly included trips to far-off polar regions, most notably Antarctica, but also such little-visited Arctic destinations as the glacier-lined East Coast of Greenland and the icy Northwest Passage.

It has been about going to places that few people have visited and where few people live.

James Rodriguez, the new president and CEO of Atlas Ocean Voyages, is out to change all that.

In his first year at the helm of the fast-growing small-ship cruise operator, he's been redefining the brand as a cruise line that offers expedition-type sailings to not just remote places but all sorts of destinations around the world, including such mainstream destinations as the Mediterranean and Australia.

"We want to make sure that we're programming the experience on board for those active travelers who really want to engage in these regions of the world through an expedition lens," Rodriguez told TPG in an exclusive interview.

Speaking at length about the brand's shifting direction, Rodriguez said it would increasingly expand beyond a core focus on expedition sailings to the polar regions to offer more voyages to other parts of the world. But these new offerings will be more active trips that draw on the ethos of expedition cruising as opposed to what he calls the "passive" sort of cruise travel that most lines offer in mainstream destinations.

The new direction comes as the line prepares to roll out several more ships in quick succession. The brand on Wednesday will unveil its third ship, the 196-passenger World Voyager.

"We're going to try to create that [expedition] element that is created in the polar regions in other parts of the world, whether we're going to East Africa and doing safaris or whether we're in the Kimberley in Australia or in the South Pacific," he said.

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Related: The ultimate guide to expedition cruising

Already, the line has launched what it is calling expedition sailings in the Mediterranean, which started this past summer. But they are expedition sailings with a twist. Passengers shouldn't expect expedition cruise-type landings by Zodiac boats to see unusual wildlife and scenery, as is the norm on the typical expedition cruise to remote places such as Antarctica.

Instead, they are expeditions to experience the region's culture, cuisine and wine, Rodriguez explains.

The line is calling them Epicurean Expeditions, and they incorporate such things as culinary demonstrations and tastings on board vessels during the trips, led by top chefs and sommeliers, plus culinary-focused touring on land with local guides that involve sampling local cuisine, visiting local food markets, touring wineries and the like.

Bottling that Antarctica cruise feeling

Rodriguez and his team developed the idea for the sailings soon after he joined Atlas Ocean Voyages a year ago and sailed on an expedition cruise to Antarctica with the brand for the first time.

It was also his first expedition cruise.

"What I walked away with is there's something really special about an expedition-type program, and [I asked] how do you kind of bottle that and take it into other regions of the world," he shared.

The first step, Rodriguez said, was defining the elements that make such expedition cruises special and then figuring out how that translates to more mainstream destinations. That process led to the identification of three things.

"There's an educational component to these expedition voyages. There's [a component] where you're really immersed in these destinations ... almost to an overwhelming extent. And then there's also this inspired component," he noted. "You walk away being inspired, not only by the destinations but the experience you had and this camaraderie that you've built with your fellow guests."

For the Epicurean Expedition sailings in the Mediterranean, Atlas replaced the expedition guides with expertise in polar regions that normally sail with its ships with a new set of expedition team members that include guest chefs and guest vintners.

Cuisine and wine are integral to the experience of traveling around the Mediterranean, Rodriguez noted, and the trips thus worked well, he suggested. But he said he and his team realized that the epicurean focus might not work as well elsewhere. That led to plans for expedition-type sailings in other parts of the world that had more of a cultural focus.

Related: The ultimate guide to Atlas Ocean Voyages | Atlas cabins and suites guide

For these trips, called Cultural Expeditions, the line will staff its vessels with expedition team members that have expertise in things like regional history or a background in archeology, Rodriguez said.

The epicurean-focused sailings, in particular, have echoes of the sailings offered by Rodriguez's former employer, Oceania Cruises. It is a brand that is known for its culinary offerings, including elevated onboard dining and onboard cooking classrooms.

Rodriguez was a founding member of the executive team that started up Oceania in 2003 and had a leadership role at the line until leaving in 2021. Before joining the startup team for Oceania, he worked for the famed luxury line Crystal Cruises.

Still, Rodriguez said what Atlas is doing in the culinary space is different. Whereas Oceania's culinary experience revolves around onboard offerings, the Atlas epicurean expedition experience folds in a heavy dose of off-the-ship culinary exploration, he suggested.

A culinary cookoff

Onboard culinary programs are heavy, too, and include such things as a Yachtsman's Cookoff where guest chefs compete with passengers in an Ironman Chef-like competition (complete with mystery ingredients). There also are onboard wine and food tastings and other events.

"We're taking them to ... [experience] paella making when we're in Barcelona and really teaching them how to make paella," he said, citing one example of the sort of outings that occur during Epicurean Expeditions itineraries in the Mediterranean.

One caveat for the Epicurean Expeditions and other expedition-type voyages in mainstream destinations is that the land experiences aren't necessarily included in the fare, as is typically the case with expedition trips to far-flung regions such as Antarctica.

On expedition sailings to Antarctica, expedition cruise lines typically offer landings by Zodiac boats to see penguins and other wildlife, as well as scenery at no extra charge. The expedition touring experience is included in the cost of the trip.

The fares for Atlas trips in non-polar regions include one free cultural immersion per cruise that has a culinary component, such as a local market visit or a food tasting. But, otherwise, shore tours with epicurean components come with an extra cost.

New expedition destinations coming

Launched in 2021 with just one ship (the 196-passenger World Navigator), Atlas expanded to two vessels in late 2022 with the arrival of a sister vessel (World Traveller; yes, they use the British spelling for traveler). As noted above, the line's third vessel, World Voyager, will begin sailing on Wednesday after being christened in Ushuaia, Argentina. It will spend the coming winter cruising to Antarctica.

These three vessels unveiled in quick succession are just the first phase of growth for a line that already has plans to quickly expand to six ships in the next few years.

Related: Inside the first Atlas Ocean Voyages ship, World Navigator

The rapid rollout of new vessels will allow Atlas to expand to more regions of the world, which will mean more expedition-type sailings in new areas, Rodriguez said.

"These ships were built for the polar regions of the world, for the Arctic and Antarctica. But there are times [of the year] that we can't be there ... [and] as our fleet has grown, we're also expanding into other areas of the world," he explained.

Rodriguez cited the line's first voyages to East Africa as something that was in the works to incorporate a safari element that would help give the trips an expedition feel. He noted plans for sailings around Madagascar, for instance, and trips to South Africa.

Voyages that include visits to South Pacific islands on the way to Australia are also in the works, according to Rodriguez.

When Atlas ships end up in Australia, they won't do the "Sydney traditional things," Rodriguez said. Instead, they will go to places like the Kimberley region of Western Australia, which is known for its scenic, undeveloped coastline and large swaths of wilderness.

"We're trying to find those destinations that lend themselves to more of an expedition experience [instead of] a passive kind of vacation experience."

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