3 6 The difficulties faced by the global cruise industry over the course of the pandemic have in many cases revealed great depths of solidarity and mutual support. “The river and coastal communities we visit are like family to us,” says Bullock. “And as family does, we all stuck together and supported one another while riding out this unprecedented storm. Throughout the highs and lows, our common mantra was the same: we are in this together. For months on end, we shared stories and communicated regularly with all our shore partners across the country, becoming even closer as a result of having weathered the storm together.’” Schäfer agrees, saying: “I am thankful for the support of our guests and of our business partners. They trusted us; they understood our situation. For a small cruise line like Sea Cloud Cruises these values have the same importance as any monetary value. In addition, please don’t forget our crews on ship and on land. They really had a hard time – but none of them left us, even not when times seem to be very rough. That is just great.” Galli Zugaro remarks: “The global tourism industry has certainly experienced a huge hit, but I was always positive that we would come out of this stronger. Since founding Aqua Expeditions, it has been my mission to create intimate, small-ship expeditions in distant parts of the world. Now, more than ever, our company demonstrates the advantages our small explorer vessels offer families and friends travelling to remote parts of the world, with a focus on nature, wildlife and culture. I would like to thank all our valued guests and trade partners who have accompanied us in this journey.” As a business-to-business-only operator, Albatros is particularly reliant on good links across the communities it works with. “We have to say a huge thank you to all our travel advisors, our operators and other partners around the world,” says Lagerweij. “We have been extremely successful together in rebooking guests, and despite the challenging situation we managed to attract many new partners, due to our excellent reputation and fast refund policy. This was truly a superior joint effort of maintaining guests, providing excellent customer service and even attracting new guests.” Metropolitan Touring’s Fielsch believes that spreading factual and accurate news about the operations of vessels has been critical to inform the public. “Thousands of travellers have been visiting the Galapagos onboard expedition vessels since August 2020 in a flawless operation. The Ecuadorian Government has vaccinated all adults in the Galapagos and all crew members of the small Galapagos fleet have also been vaccinated since the second half of 2021. It is now one of the safest places to spend a nature-oriented vacation.” While cruise ships were unable to set sail during the pandemic, operators were working hard behind the scenes, preparing exciting new itineraries for Sea Cloud Cruises offers guests a perfect combination of traditional windjammer sailing experiences and memorable shore excursions FEATURE
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