Story: ANN RUPPENSTEIN + photos: AURORA EXPEDITIONS
Even with its third purpose-built ship now in operation, Aurora Expeditions still maintains the same principles that guided its launch 35 years ago.
“Greg Mortimer and his wife Margaret built Aurora back in 1991 with the vision of transforming lives to protect the planet,” Katie Malone, CMO of Aurora Expeditions, told Travel Courier during a recent visit to Toronto. “His view is that when you take people to these amazing parts of the world, they realize how tiny they are in it and it makes them come back and be different, in the way that they approach their life. That’s his philosophy.”
Over the last three and a half decades, the company has grown from one icebreaker carrying 800 passengers to three purpose-built, small expedition ships carrying 8,000 guests a year, including the newest addition to the fleet, Douglas Mawson. Although Mortimer is no longer the owner, to this day, the explorer and conservationist remains active in the company and even has a ship in his name.
“He’s still involved, he still leads some of our voyages,” Malone shared. “His vision is still the vision that drives us today.
Notably, over the last few years, Aurora Expeditions has prioritized growth in the North American market and has invested in expanding its sales team in the market, including global head of sales David Tanguay, who is based in Toronto.
“Fifty-five percent of our business comes from North America now and it’s our opportunity to grow more,” she shared. “Travel advisors are absolutely essential. The role of travel advisors is absolutely essential to our success. We’ve been around for a long time but we want to work with you. We want to make it easy for you to book with us.”
After connecting with travel advisors last month, she said plans are now underway to launch a training portal for the travel trade.
While the targeted presence in the Canadian market has resulted in brand recognition in the industry, the focus is now on emphasizing why clients should choose Aurora and what sets the expedition company apart from the competition.
“What is it that’s truly Aurora? I think it’s the style in which we deliver and the fact that we have a consistent fleet. We’ve got three identical ships so it doesn’t matter which one you’re going to get on, it’s going to be a brand new, purpose built ship. For us, I think that’s leading in the market, that camaraderie by design and I think Canadians will really relate to this,” she noted. “We call it the Mortimer sparkle. We have a premium product but we want it to be very unpretentious. It’s about camaraderie and come and join us and have this amazing experience. We’re all in this together.”
Another aspect that sets the brand apart is its emphasis on sustainability.
“We are the world’s only B-corp certified cruise company. Even our ships have been built with sustainability in mind,” she shared.
The ships in the fleet have a specialized Ulstein X-Bow, an inverted bow design that she likened to working like “a knife through butter.”
“As a result it’s less turbulent, which means smoother rides for the customer, but it also means less fuel consumption,” she added. “We want to lead the industry and we want the industry to come with us. The bow is just an example. We’re the first expedition company in the world to get micro-plastic filters on our washing machines so we don’t have micro-plastics going out to the ocean.”
While there’s no way of predicting whether clients get the Drake Lake or the Drake Shake, the dreaded high-wave conditions often encountered when crossing the Drake Passage, she said things like stabilizers and the X-bow help.
Interestingly, the company also uses AI to sail with instead of against the currents, which helps guide fuel-efficient routes.
To mark its 35th anniversary, Aurora will be showcasing 35 faces of Aurora over the course of the year.
“In cruise you hear about the sea of sameness, where everyone is a variation of one another, so we’re looking at how we humanize who Aurora is. Starting with Greg Mortimer, and his wife Margaret because they were both founders together,” she shared. “It’s a mix of past passengers, expedition leaders, people that were in the office 35 years ago, telling their stories. It’ll be a journey over the coming months to bring out the beautiful stories that shape who Aurora is.”
As for trends, she said the number of Canadians going to Antarctica is increasing.
While Arctic and Antarctica bookings are popular, it’s important to note that there are a wide variety of itineraries across all seven continents and 26 countries on offer, including sailings to the Mediterranean, British Isles, Atlantic Coast, and beyond.
“Because they’re small ships, we can get into small ports that bigger ships can’t get into and have these amazing immersive cultural experiences,” she shared. “If your customer is wanting more time off ship, Aurora on most days has two, sometimes three landings in Antarctica.”
For clients who like to keep busy, she said Aurora has a diverse activity program from kayaking to skiing to scuba diving.
“It’s interesting because we are a cruise company, but first and foremost, we’re an expedition company. We don’t use the word guests, we use the word expeditioners, we use the word passengers. It’s a very different way of looking at our customer,” she said.
While the ships are designed to be able to take more passengers, Aurora caps its cruises to maximize landings in Antarctica.
“The average cruise ship size going to Antartica is probably 200-500. And Antarctica has rules that only 100 people can get off at any one time. We cap it at 130 so we can have 100 people land and 30 doing a zodiac tour or a photography cruise on a zodiac. If you’ve got 500 people, only 100 of those can land,” she noted.
For clients who are interested in going their own way, Aurora offers dedicated, single-occupancy cabins for solo travellers which feature no single supplement. Currently, the expedition cruise line has a 20% repeat rate but Malone anticipates that the figure will continue to grow.
Aurora also has specialists onboard to educate guests on various topics from geology or science to insights on wildlife and species like whales. For any budding photographers, Aurora provides a very high ratio of professional photographers on specialized photography-themed voyages.
“It’s people with a born to explore mentality,” she said. “Our customers are hungry. They want to know about the world. They don’t want to just sit back and watch it go by. They want to really understand it.”
