Company founder Sven
Lindblad is keen to keep
Australians cruising on the
enhanced expedition ship,
National Geographic Orion.
The renamed Orion, recently acquired by USbased
Lindblad Expeditions, has no intention
of lowering its standards in service, food
or accommodation, according to the line’s
president and founder, Sven Lindblad.
Speaking to Cruise Weekly from his New York
office, he said the plan to focus on diving and
snorkelling would not detract from the existing
onboard luxuries.
“We have had a huge respect for the Orion
enterprise and ship for many years so we don’t
want to take anything away from it – we want
to add to it,” he said.
“There will be more activities and more
expedition staff to give people with different
interests as many options as possible, but it
won’t be at the expense of other things.”
Lindblad emphasised his desire to “keep
Australians happy” so they continue to
maintain their loyalty to the ship.
“We’re not coming down from the United
States to slash and burn,” he said.
“It would be stupid for us to alienate the
people who have enjoyed Orion.”
He said Lindblad Expeditions was committed
to maintaining the company and infrastructure
of Orion Expedition Cruises, including the
Sydney sales office.
Australians would also have greater access
to Lindblad’s other 10 vessels: the National
Geographic fleet (Explorer, Endeavour,
Islander, Sea Bird and Sea Lion) as well as
Delfin II, Jahan, Lord of the Glens, Oceanic
Discoverer and Sea Cloud.
“We already have a lot of Australians
travelling with us but I’d like to see more,
because they’re such great travellers, so we’ll
be making a big effort over the next year,”
Lindblad said.
“I think it will be successful because all of
the areas that Orion is currently going to, we
pioneered in the 60s and 70s, so we know
them very well.
“I do believe we do expeditions better than
anyone else.”
His father, Lars-Eric Lindblad, was the first
travel company owner to take travellers to
Antarctica and Galápagos, in 1966 and 1967,
respectively.
See www.expeditions.com for further details.
