Latest news with #BoatInternational
Forbes
03-08-2025
- Forbes
Why The Northwest Passage Is A Once-In-A-Lifetime Adventure
The Northwest Passage is a route brimming with history, intrigue, and challenge. Spanning 900 miles from Baffin Island all the way to the Beaufort Sea, it weaves through an archipelago of some 36,000 islands and shifting sea ice above the Arctic Circle. It's so remote and difficult to navigate that the Passage wasn't fully crossed until 1906, when Roald Amundsen first established it. Since then, reports Boat International, more people have stood on the summit of Everest than have traversed the Northwest Passage by sea. The full passage is only free enough from sea ice to sail for a four-to-six-week window starting in mid-August. And even in that window, ice and weather can be unpredictable. Accurate sea and ocean floor charts still don't exist in some of the remote spots up here. The Canadian Arctic is home to polar bears, the biggest land-based predator in existence. And thirty to forty different permits—for each passenger—are required between the different communal, regional, and federal departments with jurisdiction along the route. All of this is what makes an expedition through the Northwest Passage a once-in-lifetime adventure. It's also why taking that journey with an experienced expedition cruise ship operator is almost the only way to do it—so much so that people who normally wouldn't vacation aboard a traditional cruise ship will take an expedition cruise to see the Northwest Passage. Still on the fence? Here's are a few reasons to take an expedition cruise through this remote and dramatic part of the world. Rich Culture — Experienced Sensitively This reason is specific to Adventure Canada, and what makes this company a standout among the expedition operators in the region. Most expedition cruises through the Northwest Passage will launch from the west coast of Greenland to head through the Canadian Arctic. Both regions are home to communities of Greenlandic and Canadian Inuit. And where most operators tend to employ one Inuit cultural educator per Greenland and Canada permit requirements, says Wayne Broomfield, a cultural educator with Adventure Canada from Labrador, Adventure Canada's expedition crew often includes more than a dozen. Backlash against cruise ship tourism in hotspot destinations has dominated recent headlines. The descending of tourists en masse in a few-hour blitz often feels voyeuristic and transactional on both the parts of community members and passengers, and often many sectors of those over-visited communities don't see much financial benefit from it. Inuit towns in the Arctic (logistically difficult to travel to unless you're on a cruise ship) are no exception. From the beginning of a voyage, before even landing in a community, Adventure Canada cultural educators help passengers prepare for and process community visits, both the harmful and good aspects. They give presentations ranging from mythology and art to how to harvest marine mammals for subsistence, lead hikes while telling stories, and sit down with any passengers who want to talk. It's essentially a floating version of spending the quality time at a destination that usually results in more rewarding cultural immersion—and a welcome model in an era where the need for more sustainable cultural interactions is increasingly entering the travel discourse. History For over four hundred years, European and American explorers tried to find a commercially viable Northwest or Northeast Passage through the Arctic to East Asia. Many failed, with sea ice blocking ships' progress or freezing them in place. Few are more infamous than the 1845 British Expedition of Sir John Franklin. After the crew's last letters were sent home from the coast of Greenland, Franklin's two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, were last sighted by whalers off Baffin Island. And then both ships just vanished, along with all one hundred and twenty souls aboard. Lady Jane Franklin pressured the British Admiralty to send several expeditions to search for them. They turned up only three lonely graves on Beechey Island and then, some years later, an ominous note in a pile of rocks that several men had died, including Franklin himself, and the rest were heading south. They were never found. By 1854, Britain declared all men from the expedition to be deceased. A Northwest Passage trip, weather and sea ice permitting, often includes a stop on Beechey Island, where the graves and their markers still remain. Adventure An expedition-style cruise is far different from a traditional cruise. Volatile weather and changing sea ice means that no itineraries are set in stone. Expedition crews are often leading Zodiac cruises or landing for hiking excursions in places none of them have ever been before, giving an exceptionally adventurous feel to outings. And because this is polar bear territory, advance crews of bear guards armed with flares and rifles scout the area first, and serve as advance watches on hikes. Polar bear tracks show up in the sand on beaches, sometimes closely followed by Arctic fox tracks. And it's not just tracks to be viewed. A Northwest Passage trip is likely to offer up at least one polar bear sighting (although it can range from zero sightings to a dozen or more). There's little that compares with the opportunity to watch the most massive predator on land amble across a slope, sit on the sea ice poised to dive for a seal hunt, or hop from ice floe to ice floe. The Takeaway For travelers looking for a once-in-a-lifetime expedition full of adventure, history, and culture, a Northwest Passage trip should be high on the list. Even for those who don't consider themselves 'cruise ship' travelers.
BBC News
02-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Why the world's superyachts are getting bigger and bigger
Business is booming in the luxury world of superyachts, with the super-rich wanting ever bigger floating Trifirò knows a thing or two about superyachts – she and her husband have owned more than a dozen over the Italian couple, who have made their fortune in law, and continue to run a global legal firm, like to sail around the world in the height of Trifirò describes their boats, which can be more than 50m (164ft) long, as being like floating five-star hotels. And she likes to get involved in the design criteria she insists upon is that the crew have ample kitchen space, so they can cook gourmet meals for up to 15 Trifirò explains her reasoning: "If you are used to eating well, not everywhere [in the world] are there restaurants good enough."She also says that the large size of the vessels is reassuring. "Whether it's sailing alongside humpback whales, or receiving greetings by fishermen on the Fiji islands, my boats allow me to sail… with strength and safety." But what exactly is a superyacht? While there is no official global classification, industry website and magazine Boat International describes one as "a luxury, privately-owned yacht that measures 24 metres or more in length, and is professionally crewed".The magazine says that global sales boomed after Covid. With the super rich suddenly unable to go to luxury hotels, as they were all closed during the pandemic, many switched to superyachts a result, 1,024 new superyachts were built or on order around the world in 2022, a 25% jump from 2021, and a then all-time high, according to Boat International's figures. This then increased to 1,203 in 2023, another new record."After the pandemic people considered their super yachts as safe islands both for themselves and their relatives," says Barbara Armerio who co-owns Italian family-run superyacht builder adds that billionaires cherished their personal space and independence even more. "They asked for bigger windows, more space outside, and to be able to touch the seawater more easily". While the overall number of superyachts being built or ordered is expected to fall slightly this year to 1,138, they are getting bigger on average, Boat International's data also shows. So far this year, 61 boats of 76m or more in length are being made, up from 55 in in the 46m to 60m grouping, numbers have increased to 175 from 159. Meanwhile, sales of the smallest superyachts, between 24m and 27m are down to 286 from 321."It's clear that some of those new clients the industry found in the Covid-19 years are trading up," says Ms International's editor in chief Stewart Campbell says that whatever size superyacht people buy "designers and naval architects are getting very clever at packing ever more volume into hulls, giving owners lots more space on board".As a result, today's superyacht's increasingly have everything from helipads to cinemas, gyms, beauty salons, and saunas. As you'd imagine, prices are extremely high. You can pay €36m ($41m; £30m) for a new smaller boat, up to €295m for a 105m-long vessel with all the optional of all superyachts continue to be built in Italy, with its yards currently working on a combined length of 22,195m, or approximately 22km (13 miles), of boats. Turkey is in second place, followed by the Netherlands, the UK, Taiwan, Germany, the US and in 2023, Italian shipbuilders earned €8.3bn from making superyachts, a record Armerio says her shipyard "produces only a few high-grade" superyachts per year, "masterpieces with unique details".She adds that Italian yacht-makers like hers are supported by a solid network of local artisans. "In Italy we find everything we need."Ms Armerio points to being able to drive to Tuscany's stone quarries from her company's base on the coast of Liguria if she needs to order marble. Regarding the billionaires and multimillionaires who buy superyachts, Boat International says that most are from the US. Yet it points to more coming from Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico as those countries' economies sales to Russian buyers have fallen to due to the sanctions against the country and its elites as a result of Russia's invasion of the appeal of a superyacht wasn't immediately obvious, Ms Trifirò says they enable her to see the world and fulfil her wanderlust. And she likes to be at the controls of the boat."My curiosity to explore new places pushes me to cruise the oceans while in the driver's seat," she Trifirò adds that her crew is paid double what they'd likely earn on land "as it is very important to keep them happy. Our captain has worked for us for 22 years."
