Second year bigger than the first for Makivik cruise company

Already well into marketing its second cruise season, Cruise North Expeditions, the Makivik Corporation-owned Arctic cruise company, is drawing on last summer’s experiences to make 2006 more successful and profitable.

Dugald Wells, executive director of Cruise North, said many changes are in store for Cruise North, including its use of a new ship, the Lyubov Orlova, a 100-metre vessel that fits 122 passengers.

Wells said the standard of accommodation and public spaces on the Orlova is much better than on the 66-passenger Ushuaia, leased by Cruise North in 2005.

The Orlova’s cabins all have two lower beds, private washrooms and outside views, while the Ushuaia had a mix of more standard accommodations, which included bunkbeds and shared bathrooms. The Ushuaia, Wells said, was “a little rough around the edges.”

“These sorts of things are important,” Wells said. That’s because the cruise clientele is generally middle-aged or older.

The larger capacity of the Orlova is also a bonus: “We do hope for growth, and wholesalers want to make sure they can meet the demand.”

The home harbour of the Orlova is located closer to Nunavik as well. While the Ushuaia was brought from Argentina, the Orlova only needs to travel from the Canary Islands before starting the season, a difference in travel time that will provide “significant savings” to the cruise company.

Prices for the various Cruise North tours offered this year range from a low of $2,895 U.S. to $5,795, an increase over last year’s rates, which started at $2,490 for the company’s seven-night air, land and sea packages.

“We priced pretty aggressively last year on purpose, but there were two very important things, which I don’t think anyone predicted,” Wells said. “The price of fuel jumped almost 50 per cent, and the other one was the strengthening of the Canadian dollar.”

Fuel is the largest cost item for Cruise North — and at the same time, the stronger Canadian dollar against American currency means U.S. sales now bring Cruise North less profit.

For 2006, Wells said sales are already “very strong” for a selection of four cruises which run from late June to early September — a “Labrador” cruise from St. John’s, Newfoundland, up the Labrador coast, as well as cruises titled the “Arctic Explorer”, “Baffin Adventure” and the “High Arctic.”

Stops to Nunavut communities are to be more numerous in 2006, as the cruise will visit Cape Dorset, Kimmirut, Iqaluit, Pangnirtung, Qikiqtarjuaq, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay and Resolute Bay.

The extra stops in Nunavut are a “response to popular demand” from clients who want to see Baffin Island and the High Arctic. Wells said the High Arctic cruises are already the best sellers.

“They want to go as far north as possible,” he said.

Kangirsuk, Quaqtaq and Kangiqsujuaq are the only Nunavik communities scheduled for cruise stopovers in 2006, although all cruises, with the exception of the “Baffin Adventure,” start and end in Kuujjuaq.

In 2006, the cruises won’t follow any set day-by-day schedule, as was the case in 2005. Instead, tour descriptions in the new Cruise North brochure now list places the ship “may visit.”

“It reflects our experience, and it reflects what we are all about,” Wells said. “If we see whales off the starboard, we’re going off to starboard. You want to be able to do that, and not be setting expectations that aren’t practical.”

One experience, which Cruise North doesn’t intend to repeat this summer, is the stranding on a sandbar in Kuujjuaq’s Koksoak River. To avoid a repeat mishap, the Orlova will dock a little further out on the river, Wells said.

Experiences from 2005 also point to the need to build up infrastructure, and to create activities and interest in communities visited by the cruises.

The cruises, Wells said, are self-sufficient, carrying their own experts and guides, but cruise passengers were most keen about the communities that developed their own plans and ideas for what to do when the ship anchored.

Inukjuak organized craft sales and cultural activities when the cruise was in the community.

“They really knocked themselves out. The mayor was down on the beach to greet us,” Wells said.

Wells said he’s eager to promote Inukjuak’s enthusiasm and organization for Cruise North Expeditions as a model for getting the most economic benefit from the cruises in the communities.

For more information on this year’s cruises, consult the web site at www.cruisenorthexpeditions.com