The boutique luxury river cruise line, Aqua Expeditions, is planning to enter the coastal cruise market in the fall of this year, after operating as a Mekong and Amazon River cruise line for the past 12 years.
Scheduled to start full operations in November, an explorer class riverboat will serve 3 new destinations featuring year-round departures. The full announcement on the ship's name and itineraries will be released on May 8.
A month ago, the Aqua Expeditions company finalized the purchase of a long-range 200 ft (61 m) explorer yacht originally built for the British Royal Navy. The vessel is currently undergoing a complete drydock refurbishment to be transformed into an ultra-modern luxury expedition ship catering to affluent travelers.
The announcement on May 8 will also reveal a new, state-of-the-art river cruise ship to consolidate the position of Aqua Expeditions as one of the river cruise market's leaders. Once the vessel and the recently-purchased expedition ship are in operation, the cruise line will have doubled its fleet from 2 to 4 ships by mid-2020.
The river cruise company Aqua Expeditions (established in 2008) emphases on luxury cruising to remote destinations. Currently, it operates on Peruvian Amazon River (with Aria Amazon) and on Mekong River in in Vietnam and Cambodia (with Aqua Mekong). Signature brand elements include gourmet cuisine by celebrity chefs and 1:1 passenger to staff ratio.