| APT enters the ocean cruising game

Australian-owned travel
company APT has stretched its
wings beyond land touring and
river cruising, and entered the
ocean cruising market, buying a
stake in Noble Caledonia.
BASED in the UK, Noble Caledonia has been
in operation for 21 years and offers a selection
of river cruising, expedition cruising, small ship
cruising and land touring options across 15
world regions, including the Arctic Circle,
Alaska, PNG, Greenland, Canadia Maritime,
Cuba, the White Sea and Asia Pacific, marketed
across the northern hemisphere.
The company’s stable contains seven small ship
vessels which have capacity for between 50 to
160 passengers, two of which it owns and the
remainder secured under long-term charters.
Announcing the purchase at an industry
lunch this week to celebrate the company’s
85th anniversary next year, APT owner, Geoff
McGeary said that Noble Caledonia “fitted
perfectly” with APT’s business platform
“providing high quality, high comfort, small
group, fully inclusive pricing and professionally
escorted travel experiences, primarily for the
discerning 50-plus market”.
“APT has grown through strategic
partnerships with operators who share similar
values and are experts in their field,” he said.
“We’ve done this successfully with Aboriginal
communities for our Australian 4WD
wilderness adventures and wilderness lodges,
with river cruising in Europe and Vietnam,
train travel across Russia and now with a cruise
company that takes us into ocean waters,” he
added.
APT did not disclose the price it paid for the
stake, nor did McGeary reveal how big a chunk
of Noble Caledonia APT now owns, but he did
tell Cruise Weekly that whilst the shareholding
was less than 50% it was nonetheless a
“significant” amount.
Speaking to media and trade guests McGeary
also said that Noble Caledonia’s ocean product
was a rival for SeaDream and Orion Expedition
Cruises.
APT has already incorporated Noble
Caledonia vessels in its 2013 Botanica garden
tours, European river cruise program and its
most recent Canada-Alaska brochure.
The purchase follows APT’s acquisition of a
majority stake taken in Golden Eagle Luxury
Trains in 2009, with the company also a
co-owner of the European river cruise
operator AmaWaterways, a partnership which
according to the company has seen APT
become the largest supplier of European river
cruises in the Australian and NZ market.
MEANWHILE coinciding with APT’s
stakeholding purchase, Noble Caledonia has
just welcomed its newest expedition ship, MS
Caledonian Sky into the fold.
Formally Hebridean Spirit, the 116-guest
Caledonian Sky joined her sistership MS Island
Sky in the Noble Caledonia fleet following an
extensive refurbishment and will now sail
around Britain, before heading to the Arctic,
then South America, Australasia and the
Pacific Rim.
APT has said that it has a number of exclusive
sailings onboard Caledonian Sky, including its
85th anniversary cruise, hosted by McGeary
departing 18 Aug next year from the
Philippines to Darwin.