Australia cruising holiday, Darwin to Broome
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
small ship – featuring the latest German designed environmental management technology. This purpose built design extends from the energy efficient engine, to the collecting of air conditioning condensation and recycling of grey water onboard. A ship designed to be fully self contained for up to 22 days at sea. A ship with environmental credentials designed to meet the strictest requirements for marine management established by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators. Credentials that set the standard for best practice in all environments we operate in.
There is no ballast water treatment for our entire Kimberley season as we do not need to exchange water on a regular basis for stability, unlike say cargo ships.
The nature of an expedition is to educate our guests on all aspects of the areas visited. This is viewed as fundamental to the experience and an ongoing commitment. The Expedition Team hold lectures on specific topics such as wildlife, indigenous rock art and the history of the area throughout the expeditions.
Community
Community partnership is the basis for all expedition itinerary design. We start first with an approach to the traditional owners, chiefs or heads of the communities, tribes or villages we hope to visit. We start a dialogue about their lives, their needs, and the opportunity of shared experience. A key ingredient in this discussion is authenticity. In most instances we are working with communities without tourism experience and it is important to us that our interaction with them is positive in ways that the communities feel are fair and beneficial to their needs and interests. They see the potential benefit to their people, but need investment, commitment and support to see this through. Our role is to nurture the partnership, ensuring both parties work together to protect their natural resources, sustain their well being and support cultural heritage.
In addition to the fees paid to the Traditional Owners for our guests to visit their community, we also engage the services of local guides for interpretation.
Direct partnerships with the tourism operations in remote areas then create jobs and cash flow into remote communities. In numerous areas in the Northern Territory we have spent time and money assisting the communities to set up a tour operation to provide services to our guests which would never happen if we hadn’t helped them set up the operation.
Our specialist Expedition Team ensure our guests are informed and have an understanding of the values and culture of these communities and the significance of our visit before we arrive. The benefits to these communities equate to tangible income.
Our Expedition Team also lead all shoreside expeditions, providing explanations and facts on what is being seen by guests. In particular, when visiting various Aboriginal rock art sites, we have a number of experts onboard who present the history, interpretation and cultural significance of the sites to guests.
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