Sailing Off The Grid
Penguins, piranhas and places where few people have gone before. Welcome to the wonderful world of exploratory cruising. Jane Archer picks some of the best
Peruvian Amazon Aqua Expeditions
If you saw the BBC Two series Earth’s Great Rivers, you’ll know what to expect from an Amazon cruise: adventure. It’s the greatest river in the world, some 6,400km long, and so wide that large cruise ships can sail nearly 1,400km inland to Manaus. That’s fine for sightseers, but thrill-seekers will want to head upriver to Iquitos, where Aqua Expeditions’ Aria Amazon is based. This small, 32-passenger boat was built for exploring in style: you can go from trekking through thick jungle to keeping watch for pink dolphins while sipping a pisco punch in the Jacuzzi. There are daily guided walks or motorboat rides along tributaries in search of toucans and macaws, howler monkeys and sloths, as well as trips to rainforest villages and markets. Go in high water (November to May) to fish for fierce piranhas and enjoy a night-time boat ride on the Dorado River looking for the kind of critters that only come out after dark.
Travel Details
From £7,200pp for seven nights departing 1 November 2019. Price includes transfers, all meals, drinks and trips ashore. aquaexpeditions.com
Kimberly, Western Australia Ponant Cruises
With a population of just 50,000, the spectacular Kimberly region – think vast swathes of wilderness, dramatic gorges, savannah and a largely isolated coastline – was one of Australia’s first settled areas. It remains one of the last unspoilt regions on the planet, making it the perfect destination for intrepid cruise-goers. Sailing on the French flag-flying Le Laperouse (offering just 92 staterooms and suites), Ponant’s new 11-day itinerary makes a beeline for the Hunter River, home to wild mangrove forests, rare species of birds and saltwater crocodiles – the largest of all living reptiles – with naturalists on hand to share their extensive knowledge. You’ll also chart a path to the King George River and majestic Twin Falls, the highest falls in Western Australia – as seen in Baz Luhrmann’s epic film Australia. Following thrilling Zodiac excursions in Collier Bay, home of the biologically diverse Montgomery Reef, relax back on board over dinner in the ship’s 260sq m panoramic restaurant, which serves exceptional French-led cuisine.
Travel Details
From £8,462pp for ten nights departing 21 August 2019. Price includes transfers, all meals, drinks, trips ashore and Wi-Fi. ponant.com
Base Camp Baja, Calfornia Lindblad Expeditions
Wellness in the wilds awaits on this cruise in the Sea of Cortez, a body of water between Baja California and the west coast of Mexico. Dubbed by Jacques Cousteau as ‘the world’s aquarium’ on account of all the wildlife, the area is home to whales, turtles, sea lions and thousands of blue-footed boobies, pelicans and frigate birds. The cruise is on National Geographic Venture, a new 100-passenger ship with interconnecting cabins for families that acts as a mobile base camp for a fun few days exploring these pristine shores, and which carries snorkelling gear, kayaks and paddleboards that are free to borrow. You’ll join Venture in La Paz and sail to Isla San Francisco, where there’s yoga on the beach for mindfulness fans, rock-pooling and swimming. In Isla Partida, get ready for an action-packed two days, with hiking and snorkelling among options. A specialist photographer will also be on hand with tips on taking better pictures.
Travel Details
From £2,120pp for four nights departing 23 December 2019. Price includes all meals, soft drinks and trips ashore. expeditions.com
North Mekong River, Laos Pandaw Cruises
Only the adventurous need apply for Pandaw’s expedition cruise, which takes on the wild waters of the Mekong River in Laos and visits remote villages on the muddy banks where electricity is a rarity and Westerners are a novelty. The cruise is on the Laos Pandaw, an elegant, wood-clad river ship that holds just 20 passengers in spacious cabins that open onto a wraparound deck. She was designed to take on the river’s rapids and allow the captain to dock with a unique manoeuvre – she is driven straight into bank before coming to a halt. This is a thrilling itinerary, offering a chance to meet the locals, peek into village schools, take part in a baci spirit ceremony said to bring luck and prosperity and release fire lanterns into the night sky. There’s a small boat trip to the Pak Ou Caves, a shrine by the river crammed with thousands of Buddha statues, and a return to civilisation in Luang Prabang, where early risers can join locals in a market selling everything from T-shirts and local crafts to live bats and crickets. Breakfast, anyone?
Travel Details
From £3,925pp for ten nights departing 8 December 2019. Price includes flights, one hotel night, transfers, main meals, soft drinks, trips ashore and tips. pandaw.com
Scotland's West Coast Hebrediean Island Cruises
The lochs are alive to the sound of music on this Hebridean Island Cruise on Hebridean Princess – a delightful ship carrying a total of 50 passengers that makes you feel part of a private house party as she explores bays and fjords that you’d struggle to reach any other way. She’ll sail from Loch Linnhe to Aonach Mòr, where a gondola whisks visitors 650m up the eponymous mountain, one of the highest in Britain, at 1,221m. Later, you’ll call into Islay for a trip to the Laphroaig Distillery for a dram and an exclusive concert by musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, who are in town for the annual Cantilena Music Festival. Also on the itinerary, musicians from the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival will perform on board – very fitting given you’ll have just visited Fingal’s Cave, a vast cavern coated in hexagonal basalt columns where Mendelssohn was inspired to write his 1830 concert overture The Hebrides.
Travel Details
From £4,820pp for seven nights departing 2 July 2019. Price includes transfers, all meals, drinks, trips ashore and tips. hebridean.co.uk
Falklands - Antarctica Hurtigruten
In April 1916, explorer Ernest Shackleton and five companions set sail for South Georgia to get help for members of his failed expedition to the South Pole stranded on Elephant Island. It was a perilous journey, undertaken in little more than a rowing boat. This voyage with Hurtigruten, following in part in Shackleton’s footsteps, will be altogether more wonderful. It’s on HM Fram, a comfortable expedition ship built to sail the frozen waters of the Southern Ocean that’s allowed under Antarctic Treaty rules to land her 200 passengers on the seventh continent. This really is the ultimate expedition, miles from civilisation, where pristine landscapes and majestic snowy peaks vie with penguins, seals and seabirds for your attention (be sure to pass on the inside cabins and book a room with a view). You’ll visit Shackleton’s final resting place in South Georgia, hopefully cruise past Elephant Island (itineraries are dictated by the weather), kayak among dramatic icebergs and maybe even sleep under the stars on Antarctica.
Travel Details
From £8,751pp for 22 nights departing 17 November 2019. Price includes transfers, one hotel night, domestic flights, all meals, drinks, trips ashore, tips and Wi-Fi. hurtigruten.co.uk
Seward - Nome, Russian Far East Silversea
Most big ships start and end their Alaska cruises in Seward,
a rugged and isolated locale on the Kenai Peninsula’s
Resurrection Bay. For Silversea however, this port is just the
beginning of a gripping expedition to remote islands in the
Russian Far East that few have heard of and even fewer have
visited. It’s all about the wildlife, with trips ashore in search of
brown bears and inflatable Zodiac cruises to get you close up to
rocky inlets and sheer cliffs on the lookout for walruses, seals,
and kittiwakes, cormorants, puffins and all the other seabirds
that call these islands home. The cruise is on Silver Explorer,
a 144-passenger all-suite ship (splash out on a room with a
balcony for the best views) with butlers for all and experts in
everything from geology to botany on board as your guides.
There are hikes to waterfalls in Peter Bay in Russia and tales of derring-do in Dutch Harbor, one of the few places on US soil to have been bombed by the Japanese during the Second
World War and the setting for the Discovery Channel’s series
The Deadliest Catch about the dangers faced by local fishermen.
Travel Details
From £10,440pp for 15 nights departing 25 July 2019. Prices include meals, drinks, trips ashore, tips and Wi-Fi. silversea.com
Northwest Greenland Hapag - Lloyd Cruises
A voyage on board the Hanseatic Inspiration – launching in October 2019 with a maximum passenger capacity of 230 – will allow you to feel the wind in your hair and spray on your skin as you power across the Greenland Sea, home to traditional Inuit settlements, humpback whales and Unesco-listed ice fjords. This thrilling polar expedition starts at Kangerlussuaq, from where you’ll cruise to Uummannaq, a settlement in the shadow of a heart-shaped mountain, which towers above it and glows red in the sunlight, and the geologically fascinating isle of Storoen, with its lunar-like terrain, before disembarking in Kangerlussuaq. Zodiac excursions will allow you to witness, among other things, a ‘water ballet’ of drifting icebergs, while in Sisimiut, you’ll hike to Tele Island’s pretty old town. Refuel on board: Japanese, Peruvian and bistro menus are all on offer.
Travel Details
From £8,237pp for 13 nights departing 21 July 2020. Price includes flights, transfers, meals on board, trips ashore, use of specialist equipment. hl-cruises.com
Galápagos Outer Loop Celebrity Cruises
It is possible to stay in a hotel on a couple of inhabited islands in the Galápagos – possible but not smart. The clever way to see these islands, some 1,000km off the coast of Ecuador, is on a cruise that calls into two islands, and bays or beaches most days, so that passengers can go ashore and learn about the wildlife that so inspired Charles Darwin when he visited in 1835. The cruise not only promises eight days of close encounters with animals that have no fear of humans, but is on board Celebrity Flora, a new 100-passenger all-suite ship on which all the rooms face the water (even the lowliest Sky Suite is a gem). There’s a lecture room on board, where expert naturalists hold court with tales about the islands’ unique geography, flora and fauna before guiding you to land to see sea lions, giant tortoises, marine iguanas, blue-footed booby birds and so much more. Don’t miss the bustling fish market in Puerto Ayora, where hopeful pelicans hang around waiting tirelessly for a tasty morsel to come their way.
Travel Details
From £7,120pp for seven nights departing 29 September 2019. Price includes flights, transfers, meals on board, drinks, trips ashore, tips and Wi-Fi. celebritycruises.co.uk
Buenos Aires - Santiago de Chile Oceania Cruises
Cape Horn was one of the most feared sea routes in the world back in the days when ships were powered by wind and dinner meant weevils with everything. But now Oceania Cruises is going round the horn on an unforgettable voyage from Buenos Aires to San Antonio in Chile. The cruise is on Marina, a 1,250-passenger ship that’s altogether more stable and stylish than the ships of old, and famed for a grand Lalique staircase, a suite decorated by Ralph Lauren Home and some of the best cuisine at sea – as well as a culinary centre that offers guests the opportunity to sign up for classes at the only hands-on cooking school at sea. Go adventuring on this cruise and you’ll sail through the spectacular Chilean fjords, marvel at hanging glaciers and visit remote communities where visitors are news and kayaking in the Magellan Strait and trekking in Patagonia are among activity highlights, before returning to the ship to relax in one of the many intimate lounges. You’ll spend Christmas Day in the Falkland Islands, where Rockhopper penguins and battlefield tours remembering the 1982 conflict with Argentina are an exciting alternative to turkey and tinsel.
Travel Details
From £4,519pp for 15 nights departing 19 December 2019. Price includes flights, all meals, speciality dining and four trips ashore. oceaniacruises.com
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