“Cruise lines need to have a gentle hand”: Lindblad’s Lesa Bain

Recently, there has been a growing trend of cruiseliners sailing to into the expedition space. But how are the larger cruises adapting to this different type of exploring? And what challenges do they face?

Travel Weekly sat down with Lindblad Expeditions Vice President of Sales Lesa Bain to get her opinion on the topic.

“Tourism and sustainability go hand in hand you shouldn’t do one without the other. If you’re going to go into these places you need to do it with a gentle hand,” Bain said.

“Sustainability has always been at the core of what were doing, protecting and conserving,” she added.

As a company that prides itself on entering untouched paradises with care and good “stewardship”, Bain said it is incredibly important to ensure new entrants into the market follow tourism procedures “to the letter”.

“As the industry is changing and people are becoming more interested in experience, cruise companies are going ‘wow this is a great opportunity for us’.”

“As more ships go into Antarctica, you have to ensure every regulation is taken to the letter.”

“I think many of them are coming into expedition and they want to do the right thing, but they are coming from a different space there’s a lot they have to learn and understand and they don’t have that history like we do,” Bain said.

As well as caring for the environment, Bain also explained the need to have a back-up plan, as so often in expedition cruising, itineraries will be completely disregarded as bad weather or other unforeseen circumstances force you off course.

“This is not an itinerary on expedition that’s guaranteed. We have to come up with plan Bs, Cs and Fs in expedition.”

“All I can say is they’re definitely going to be learning on the run.”

This year, there has been plenty discussion about how cruise liners are impacting the environment they travel through.

Conversation hitting fever pitch in July when a report out of the UK suggested the world’s cruise liners have air pollution that’s as bad as some of the world’s most polluted cities.

Per the report, the exhaust fumes that flood out of the ship when out at sea are not covered by regulations on land that limit emissions, and the fuel oil used to power cruise ships is allowed to carry 3,500 times more sulphur than road fuel.

Following this, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) shared its own take on the issue, when Joel Katz, Managing Director, CLIA Australasia, spoke to Travel Weekly and assured us the environment is paramount for the industry.

“Environmental sustainability is at the heart of the cruise lines’ economic model,” said Katz at the time.

Making up less than one per cent of the global maritime community, cruise lines are, according to Katz, leaders in “developing responsible environmental practices and innovative technologies that lead the world’s shipping sector in reducing emissions and waste”.

“At CLIA, we take our environmental commitment very seriously and will continue to focus on improvement in this area as a priority across the sector,” he added.

Looking to the future of cruise line and expedition travel, Bain pleads that the industry takes the time to read and understand guidelines.

“We just hope other cruise lines tread carefully and understand the impact they can have.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

antarctica clia cruises emissions lindblad sustainability