Tough Times for Expedition Cruise Operators

I just recently discovered www.cybercruises.com and they seem to have reported quite consistently on the cruise market, covering also expedition cruise products and operators. Just now they have summed up the recent developments for a number of exp cruise companies, and unfortunately it is mostly bad news:

We have seen plenty of offers from the main cruise lines to attract business. But the small ship and expedition business seems to have been having an even worse time of heading into this recession. Recently, we have seen $2,000 air credits, free flights to Antarctica, 40% reductions and two for one offers from several small ship or expedition companies.

The article goes on to mention that Quark Expeditions has cancelled the entire Arctic season for its iconic "flag ship" the conventional icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. Also, there was a cancellation of the final 2009 Arctic voyage on the ice-strenghtened vessel Akademik Sergey Vavilov as well as the first departure from Murmansk to the North Pole on the nuclear icebreaker 50 Years of Victory.

Quark Expeditions has been operating the 112-berth Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov in the Canadian Arctic, traversing the Northwest Passage and other waters every summer for the last fifteen years, while the 50 Years of Victory has just recently replaced its better-known sister ship, Yamal which has done these icebreaking voyages to the North Pole in previous years.

Although there has been a large amount of consolidation in the expedition voyage business, with TUI Travel taking over Quark Expeditions, Peregrine Adventures and Clipper Cruise Line's non-US flag operations, this industry has had a particularly hard time of it. While cruise lines have been happy to get targeted volumes, admittedly at much lower fares and yields, expedition companies have been desperately seeking to attract enough business.

Other companies have recently undertaken huge investments to acquire and convert new vessels for their purpose of expedition cruising, and are now exposed to both the current downturn in bookings as well as serious delays in their conversion schedules:

GAP's new ship, the 120-berth Expedition, now being converted from a Scandinavian ferry, will commence operations in the Azores this April and will then go on charter to Spitsbergen Travel for the summer. After having lost the Explorer in November 2007, the Expedition, as her replacement, was to have been ready for the 2008/09 Antarctic season, so this will now mean two seasons for GAP without their own ship in the Antarctic.

And GAP Adventures - whose last vessel was the "Little Red Ship" which I covered extensively when she sank in Antarctic waters in November 2007, are not the only ones to suffer such setbacks:

As with GAP, Oceanwide's latest ship, the 112-berth Plancius, has also been delayed. Initially due to have entered service in June 2009 in Spitsbergen waters, she will now not be ready until the 2009/10 Antarctic season in November. In the meantime Oceanwide is offering reductions of up to 30% on some February and March 2009 Antarctic departures and 25% on certain 2009/10 departures by the 49-berth Professor Molchanov, including some 12- to 21-night itineraries that are not set to depart until much later this year. One of these, the 21-night departure, was a full charter that was cancelled.

Also, not mentioned in this article but also slightly delayed was the latest addition to the National Geographic fleet, the National Geographic Explorer which was supposed to be ready in Spring 2008 but was delayed by several months and could only commence operations at the end of the Arctic season 2008.



There was some consolation in these desperate times, but only for some:

One operator that was able to take advantage of the present softness in the Antarctic market was Antarpply Expeditions of Ushuaia, whose 84-berth Ushuaia ran aground in early December. While out of commission for repairs for several weeks, her operators were able to find substitute space on other ships to protect their clients' holidays. In an ordinary season, this would have been difficult, if nor impossible, as most ships would have been sold out.

The article ends with a sobering statement:

In summary, it seems that destinations such as Alaska, the Antarctic and the High Arctic are often considered as "once in a lifetime" trips and many people are just saying "not this year."

It should be added that this market has traditionally been booked well in advance, and tour operators and travel agencies which could in earlier years be confident that they would sell them, had regularly reserved large allotments or even made down payments for whole charters. As these companies now get cold feet, they release or cancel their allotments or charters, and this is probably responsible for a large part of this sudden appearance of so many unsold berths.

Antarctic ozone hole second-largest size on record

At its maximum size for the year, the "hole" — an area of the stratosphere where the concentration of ozone falls below a certain thinness (220 Dobson units) — covered about 27 million square kilometers, an area larger than North America. The record of 28 million square kilometers was set in 2006. The hole, which has been forming on a seasonal basis over Antarctic since the mid-1980s, is largest around late September.



On September 12, 2008, the Antarctic ozone hole reached its maximum size for the year. Represented by blues and purples in this image from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA™'s Aura satellite, the ozone hole covered about 27 million square kilometers, making it larger than North America, which is about 25 million square kilometers. Though larger than it was in 2007, the 2008 ozone hole was still smaller than the record set in 2006. Image courtesy NASA's Ozone Hole Watch. Ozone depletion is caused by release of ozone-destroying chemicals — including chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) compounds known as "freons" and bromofluorocarbon compounds known as Halons — into the atmsophere. In 1987, following the discovery of their culpability in ozone depletion, the international community adopted the Montreal Protocol which banned the production of CFCs and halons as well as related ozone-depleting chemicals. The move has helped slow the growth of the ozone hole as well as prevented the release of potent greenhouse gases other than CO2. Still scientists say the ozone layer is not expected to recover until 2068.

Contrary to popular opinion, the ozone layer is not the cause of global warming. In fact, scientific observations suggest the ozone hole may promote cooling. As such, the recovery of the ozone layer over Antarctica — the continent which has seen the last warming over recent decades — may speed local temperature rise.

Because the ozone layer prevents most harmful UVB wavelengths of ultraviolet light from entering the Earth's atmosphere, ozone depletion is a significant concern. Increased penetration by UVB wavelengths of ultraviolet light is believed to heighten the incidence of skin cancer, damage plants, and reduce ocean plankton populations.

So how does one become "expedition cruise guide"?

So it's been a while since I lasted posted anything - or since I even last touched my website and blogs. But from time to time, writing in "long form" is more attractive than facebook or twitter, so here is another post, jam-packed with my distilled wisdom!

From time to time passengers have asked me during our time together on an expedition cruise vessel, and more recently, a few people have approached me to learn about how they could qualify and apply for such a job. So I sat down and wrote some of them a humorous e-mail which I have now decided to elaborate on, and post here.

YOUR BACKGROUND

From what I have seen most expedition staff fall into one of the following categories:

A) the adventurers - preferably with some customer-service related background, like restaurant/hotel/travel industry...

B) the (former) science guys - biologists, geologists, geophysicists, who have pursued some interest in polar topics; mind you not all of them are actually "polar scientists"!

C) the naturalist/birder - usually not scientists, but people who have a lot of field experience and dedication to their subject

D) the history buff/former staffer at a polar installation - some of them true "armchair historians" or Shackleton fans, others with some "ice time" in a science support role

E)  the professional "outdoors guys" - kayak/dive guides, ice climbers, ski bums, etc.

F)  the "where the f*** did they find this guy?" people...

Combinations of one or several types occur, but are relatively few and far between.

WHAT YOU WILL HAVE TO DO

Before you try to figure out which category you (would like to) fit into, it is important to realize that there are a range of different job descriptions to fill on most expedition cruise vessels. They fall roughly into three categories:

1. the expedition staff (Expedition leaders, their assistants, guides, zodiac drivers, logistics support staff)

2. the hotel/hospitality staff (hotel managers, barkeepers, general assistants, chefs, sous chefs, kitchen hands, stewards)

3. the presenting staff (science lecturers/artists-in-residence/celebrity speakers...)

Now, depending on the size of the vessel, staff members might be expected to appear in at least two out of the three categories, most commonly is the combination of expedition+presenting functions, but also hospitality+expedition jobs. Sometimes, especially on the smaller vessels, you will be asked to "help out" in one of the other sectors, p.e. guides helping in serving drinks, helping in the galley, or barkeepers helping out in zodiac operations are quite common. So unless you are a "senior scientist/celebrity speaker" onboard, refusal to help out somewhere else than in your appointed specialty will reflect badly upon you. You are literally "in the same boat" with your shipmates, so when it's all hands on deck that's exactly where you should be.

Just to clarify, most people in the industry are actually not "type B" or even "type C" but even if you come from a background in, let's say corporate law & finance, you might find your niche in any of the other categories (let's just hope it is not in "type F"...). Also, if you have higher aspirations, it might be interesting to know that expedition leaders are recruited from all 6 types (yep, also from "type F" - deal with it...).

HOW TO APPLY

So here is what I recommend you do for your application:

• check out the websites and relevant literature of your prospective employer. Get an idea whether you are looking at a more "luxury-style" operator or a more "expedition-style" or even "budget" operator. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

• if you can, contact somebody "on the inside" and get the details on how the respective ships are operated, whether management seems to be knowing what they are doing, and what they are typically paying...

• find out who to contact and write a short CV outlining your relevant qualifications and experience. Be aware that these companies usually get a load of job applications and have a large staff file (or if they don't, maybe you should stay away from them...!).

• If you are willing to present something - which will maximise your chances of landing a job! - choose and shortly describe 3 (or more?) topics on which you could give a decent, public interest presentation (does not have to be "hardcore" polar science or polar history, some "human interest" stories with a polar twist - "my first polar bear"/"my time as student/guide/research diver... on Svalbard/in the Antarctic"/life at xyz scientific base" or something like that might do the trick).

HOW TO PRESENT ONBOARD

When planning and building those presentations (Powerpoint!) think pictures are better than text, simple words are better than scientific terms, funny is better than boring, and shorter is better than longer. 

Rule of thumb: not more than 30 minutes of slides, mix it up and change formats once or twice (i.e. mix still photos/video/sound bites/whiteboard/just talk...) and most important of all, allow plenty of time for interaction, questions, and debate. 

If you are confident, encourage questions during the presentation (but keep debate to the end), if you rather want to "coast through", make sure to mention that there will be time for questions at the end.

Relevant skills expected from you as guide

- happy to be with tourists all day, in a guide/leadership role

- public speaking, some polar exposure and field competence

- VHF radio and GPS skills, zodiac and outboard experience

- some wildlife spotting and interaction experience

- being able to create and support a "good vibe" within your team and on your ship

Some of this stuff can be learnt (and should be part of the operator's staff training program) while other things are just crucial skills you should bring to the table. As a rule, let's say you should check on at least three of the five points mentioned.

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A few things you should avoid

(based on real life, believe it or not)

- complain about the cold...

- narrate how the last voyage was "so much cooler"

- disappear into one's cabin whenever possible (dude, you are working!)

- express the view that penguins/reindeer are "boring"

- excessively drink and party (dude, you are still working!)

- openly f*** around with passengers...

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Of course you should have fun onboard, and you should have the right to some privacy some times, but f***ing around or constantly "disappearing" are the two sure-fire ways to get yourself fired.

The other things will at least earn you some "quality time" with senior staff or the expedition leader (EL), which in this case would not be a good thing.

Having said all that that, I would like to conclude with some words of wisdom from my buddy Mike Murphy, a polar expedition cruise pioneer - he started working as zodiac driver in the 70's, about 5 minutes after expedition cruises were invented:

"It's not about being a polar explorer hero, or a brilliant naturalist, or a super communicator, or any of that old crap people tell you in the hiring interviews..."

...

"All of the above can be faked --- and boy you will see a lot of that being done out there all the time.... "(true enough!).

"But there is one thing, and one thing only, that cannot be faked, and it is the decisive quality for a good staffer:


...



It's all about Looking Good!"

Welcome to my new blog - port of longyear

Since I start in my new job as port agent in a few days, I thought it might be cool to set up a little topical blog for this.

So here it is: Port of Longyear.

Check it out, I will try to post some nicer pics than the PortCam can provide them, and also some news and info on the boats we are currently handling.

Update on Minerva aka Explorer II aka A.v.Humboldt

Fellow blogger and cruise ship expert Doug Newman is keeping tabs on virtually every vessel on the market and has managed to research their entire owner histories. I like to cross-post these things simply for the fact that I can pepper them with links... ;-)

UPDATE: Minerva is back in route as of May 31.

Swan Hellenic has been forced to cancel its first cruise with its once and future ship, Minerva, due to unexpected generator difficulties. The eight-night Norwegian Fjords cruise was scheduled to depart from Dover on Friday 23 May, returning on Saturday, 31 May and was scheduled to call at Bergen, Flam, Ulvik, Stavanger and Kristiansand. The ship is scheduled to arrive in Hamburg tomorrow, 22 May, concluding her charter to Phoenix Reisen. According to a statement from Swan Hellenic, “[The problem] in no way affects the safety of the passengers on board and the ship will finish its current cruise on schedule this Thursday at Hamburg, where a thorough assessment can be undertaken. Once this is completed a further announcement will be made.”

The 12,331 GT, 350-berth Minerva was originally built in for Swan Hellenic in 1996 off the hull of an unfinished Russian research ship. The ship operated for Swan — then part of P&O, and later its cruise spin-off P&O Princess Cruises plc, which became Carnival plc in a merger with Carnival Corporation in 2003 — until replaced in 2003 by the larger, 30,277 GT, 710-berth Minerva II, built in 2001 as Renaissance Cruises’ R Eight. In 2006, Carnival took the decision to transfer Minerva II to Princess Cruises as Royal Princess in April 2007, and sell the now-dormant Swan Hellenic brand. While many Swan loyalists feared this unique cruise line would disappear, former P&O and P&O Princess chairman Lord Sterling came to the rescue in 2007. He quickly forged a partnership with All Leisure Group plc, parent of Voyages of Discovery, which had already arranged a charter of the former Minerva beginning in 2008. Thus the ship, which had bounced around between Saga Cruises as Saga Pearl", Abercrombie & Kent as Explorer II (with additional sub-charters to Regent Seven Seas Cruises) and Phoenix Reisen as Alexander von Humboldt, would come full circle and re-join the revived Swan Hellenic, rather than Voyages of Discovery as originally planned. Now it appears that her long-awaited re-entry into service will be slightly postponed, but that is unlikely to put much of a damper on the enthusiasm of Swan regulars, many of whom found Minerva II too large and anticipated returning to “their” ship once again.

The story of my academic life (in three cartoons...)

Hooded Seals get SatNav, too

Southern Elephant seals have been known for a while to be perfect "vessels of opportunity" for oceanographic as well as biological research. More recently, narwhals were also discovered as suitable carriers of oceanographic data loggers, which communicate their collected data through the ARGOS satellite system, and were aptly titled oceanographic unicorns.

Now hooded seals join the club, as they now also get to carry loggers and sat transponders on their heads:



According to the researchers in charge, these SRDLs (Satellite-Relay Data Loggers) weigh about 400 g, and have negligible impact on the seals. They represent a maximum of 2% of the body weight of the animal carrying them, which range in size from 30 kg – 1.5 tonnes.