The arrival of Aurora Expeditions’ newest ship Douglas Mawson in local waters has driven a significant spike in interest that the expedition cruise operator expects to translate into a surge in sales.
Speaking to LATTE aboard the vessel’s shakedown cruise from Sydney to Hobart, Director of Sales Asia Pacific Steve McLaughlin said the response to the new ship, its third purpose-built vessel, has been remarkable.
“The traffic’s gone through the roof,” he said. “The website has gone off.” Social channels, he added, lit up the moment the ship passed the Sydney Opera House. When quizzed if he expects to see a sales uptick as a result, he responded, “Absolutely”.
The response from competitors has been equally encouraging with the ship’s christening in the Harbour City great news for the sector as a whole, according to McLaughlin. “We’ve received messages from our competitors saying ‘Thank you Aurora for bringing expedition to Sydney Harbour… We wish you every success.’”
He hopes this high profile Australian voyage will help give Aurora, still modest in size, some of the spotlight usually reserved for mega-liners, particularly in light of Aurora’s Australian heritage.
This Australian identity is becoming a crucial point of difference in an increasingly crowded marketplace. “We are an Australian company… your money doesn’t leave Australia,” McLaughlin said. He described the brand as “a flea on an elephant’s bum” compared to big-ship operators, but one that consistently punches above its weight. “We fight for your attention, for column inches… we really are an Australian success story.”
For Aurora, the ship’s homecoming represents more than a mere publicity win. It symbolises a shift in how the company wants the world to see expedition cruising – and how it wants to drive it forwards. Where previous ships were rugged and raw, the current fleet, now at three with the addition of Douglas Mawson, is indisputably modern – sleek, stabilised and sustainability-forward.
“This is next level. Yeah, this is turbocharged. This is like a quantum leap,” McLaughlin said.
But he rejected any suggestion that technological advancement means losing the company’s wild streak. “Absolutely not,” he said, highlighting the company’s refusal to sanitise the expedition experience.
“We’re edgy. We push the boundaries,” he said. While stressing the company does not take unsafe risks, he argues it embraces spontaneity, often in weather conditions others may shy away from. “Most companies are very risk-averse… a bit rough, a bit choppy, and they might not land,” he said. But the combined expertise of Aurora’s expedition team means they understand when to proceed and when to hold back, according to McLaughlin.
The effect can often be transformative, with McLaughlin recalling guests who initially felt intimidated but left voyages feeling capable. “We allow people to be who they’re not normally,” he said. “People that would never have done anything like this get that sense of achievement.”
For McLaughlin, the new ship is a further sign of Aurora’s pioneering DNA. “We are a company of firsts,” he said, referencing innovations in activities, ship design and exploratory style.
