Soaring demand has led One
Ocean Expeditions to expand its
polar purchase, with Akademik
Sergey Vavilov to join its fleet
next year.
THE sistership to One Ocean Expeditions’
(OOE) Akademik Ioffe, which the company
acquired last year, Vavilov will commence
expeditions in Antarctica in November 2012,
followed by a 2013 Arctic season.
Speaking to Cruise Weekly this week, Richard
Mole of Active Travel, the Australian
representative for OOE, said the acquisition
was necessary as the 2011/12 season is almost
completely sold out.
“We’re screaming for berths in Sydney,” he
said, adding that Active Travel’s office is
constantly trying to secure more berths for
Australian passengers who seemingly can’t get
enough of OOE’s polar voyages.
According to Mole, between 20-50% of every
OOE Antarctic voyage is occupied by
Australians, a trend that does not seem to be
slowing.
“Part of our popularity with Australians is
that One Ocean employs a lot of ex-pat experts
to accompany voyages, such as Melbourne
born historian Ray McMahon,” he said.
“Ultimately the company understands what
Australians want,” he added.
In terms of vessel selection Mole said that
because of Ioffe’s standing as “one of the best
small expedition ships” OOE was very keen to
secure her sistership and the company “simply
kept badgering the Russians to get her”.
“When you have one Michelangelo in your
collection and you know there is another one
out there, you just have to have it,” he said.
Built in the 1980’s for the Russian Academy
of Science as a research vessel, Vavilov is almost
identical to Ioffe, and features capacity for 105
passengers, however OOE will cap this at 92.
Prior to her inaugural OOE season, the icestrengthened
Vavilov will undergo an extensive
refurbishment which will include a makeover of
her cabins (with new soft furnishings, linen etc).
Changes to her cabin layout will mean that
around 90% of cabins won’t have shared toilet
facilities.
The tasteful refurbishment will also include
facelifts to the ship’s public areas, and the
addition of a wellness centre.
According to Mole, the company will
however retain some of the vessel’s research
vessel charm.
“Part of the appeal (of Vavilov) is that she is a
research vessel built to spend her life in polar
regions,” he said.
“She will still give passengers the feeling of
being on a research vessel, but with a lot more
comfort,” he added.
Whilst initially Vavilov will simply double
capacity on existent Ioffe itineraries, Mole
hinted that given OOE’s track record for
innovation, in time it is likely that the vessel will
branch out with more of her own new itineraries.
