1 8 6 PL ANNER PERSPECTI VE Headquartered in Guilford, Connecticut, river cruise operator American Cruise Lines (ACL) carries mostly North American passengers, which has been advantageous in recent years. “We’ve seen an increased share of Americans travelling domestically on our ships, largely because there’s been a general reluctance to travel abroad because of Covid and the geopolitical situation,” says Charles B. Robertson, president and CEO. However, the US Government’s relaxation of travel requirements for inbound passengers in June 2022 has altered that landscape, both for North Americans and foreign travellers. Prior to the pandemic the latter accounted for less than 20 per cent of ACL’s source market but pent-up demand means Robertson is “excited about the prospect of having more foreign travellers than ever on our American ships.” ACL’s success lies in the fact it serves the drive-to, roundtrip market and has multiple itineraries that do not require passengers to fly or bring a passport. This is beneficial for both domestic and foreign visitors. “Even those flying into the country find it pretty easy [once here] as they reap all the benefits of domestic travel,” says Robertson. “They are never really far from shore, always in sight of land, and they can easily get back to a safe port of call without having to immigrate. We can get people back to where we started very quickly.” These days the company is doing more itinerary planning than ever before. Robertson explains that there are two reasons for this. The first is a desire arising from the pandemic for ships to be closer to home and to visit smaller ports and more intimate destinations. “This means we are opening up new towns, which we haven’t been able to consider before.” The second reason is due to ACL’s new class of ships, Project Blue, which begin sailing in summer 2023. “They have a broader operating range than any ship we have built before,” explains Robertson. “Plus, they have a smaller, more stable and shallower draught so we can go into places [further up the Hudson] that no cruise ship has been before.” Although new itineraries have yet to be announced, they will include New York to Boston and Long Island Sound, says Robertson. “We’ll also have a deeper exploration of Maine, starting in Bangor, which has not really been visited by cruise ships for more than a decade.” In addition, to ACL, Robertson and his family own Pearl Sea Cruises, an affiliated, small-ship cruise line operating foreign-flag ships on the Greak Lakes, sailing around Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia and the Saint Lawrence region. “One of our most popular trips is from Portland to Toronto where guests can call at destinations like Prince Edward Island, Baie-Comeau, Quebec City and Clayton or, alternatively, roundtrips from Portland with a Canadian port of call [to satisfy cabotage requirements],” says Robertson. Discussing itinerary planning challenges, Robertson says he is excited to hear about CruiseMaine’s initiative to Charles Robertson tells Susan Parker why American Cruise Lines’ US-based itineraries have enabled it to remain successful despite the pandemic Capitalising on a unique position American Constitution calling at Portland, Maine Photo: Susan Parker
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