In this episode, Rodney is joined by Rachel Woodward, who brings her extensive expertise in luxury and expedition cruising. Together, they dive into some of the most sought-after travel destinations and experiences, from the upcoming solar eclipse in Iceland in 2026 to exploring the remote beauty of Greenland. Rachel also highlights the Galapagos as the perfect introduction to expedition travel, offering shorter voyages and unforgettable wildlife encounters. Tune in as they discuss how Lindblad’s exclusive expeditions are redefining travel, including exciting opportunities for multi-generational family vacations, all while navigating some of the world’s most pristine and awe-inspiring destinations. 

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [2:00] Rachel describes their ships and the places in the Arctic they travel
• [6:35] Discussion about the northern lights and seeing the solar eclipse in Iceland in August 2026
• [9:07] See the Galapagos, snorkel with the animals, and visit Antarctica.
• [12:55] Leave for Alaska from the States, not Vancouver, avoiding immigration
•  [17:05] Rachel talks about experiencing the ship from the helm and Greenland becoming a most popular destination
• [21:55] Book your multi-gen family vacations now with dedicated kids' programming

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

•  A unique opportunity for bucket-list travelers is the upcoming solar eclipse in Iceland on August 12, 2026, with exclusive trips aboard the National Geographic Explorer and Endurance. This rare event, combined with the limited number of operators offering such experiences, generates significant interest. 
• Next year, with two new vessels, the company will double its occupancy in the Galapagos, offering shorter, year-round voyages. This is an ideal entry point for expedition travel, especially for North American guests. Flexible trip durations (4, 5, or 7 nights) allow travelers to combine voyages with Machu Picchu land packages, including the iconic Hiram Bingham train, for a unique experience.
• Greenland offers untouched landscapes and rich cultural experiences, making it a unique destination for those who think they've seen it all. While an airport in Nuuk will increase land tourism, the best way to explore its remote beauty is via expedition cruises, with highlights like Ilulissat's icebergs and authentic Inuit community experiences.

RESOURCES:

Luxury Travelers - Podcast

Luxe Travel - Website

Luxe Travel - Facebook

Luxe Travel - Instagram

Lindblad Expedition - Website

Rachel Woodward - LinkedIn

GUEST BIOGRAPHY: 

Rachel Woodward has a strong background in luxury and expedition cruising that supports her role in helping to showcase Lindblad’s unique offerings and leadership within the expedition space to travel advisors. Woodward most recently served as senior director of expedition sales in North America at Silversea Cruises for 10 years and spent nearly eight years in various roles at Crystal Cruises. In her role, she will focus on sharing Lindblad’s pioneering heritage, modern and purpose-built fleet, and industry-leading expertise and field staff.

So buckle up and prepare for a journey into the lap of luxury now. Your host,

To make sure that all of our travel partners around the country and around the world needs and requests are [00:01:15] met. So Rachel, welcome to the show.

Rachel Woodward: Well, Rodney, thank you so much for having me, very excited to, uh, talk a bit about today about expedition segment and how this is a booming segment in travel right now.

Rachel Woodward: [00:02:00] Uh, yeah, it's, it's quite exciting just to see this growth, uh, particularly the past five years, um, there's well over, I think, 30 new expedition vessels. A lot of them primarily want to spend time in the polar regions, but what River cruising was 15 to [00:02:15] 20 years ago as the growth we're seeing with, um, expedition travel.

So what we're really trying to do is bring that Safari like experience of early morning game drives on Zodiacs. And this is where expedition travel started over 55 years ago. So we started with one [00:03:00] vessel. By next spring, we'll have 20 vessels in our fleet.

Rodney George: So how many of those are coming in the next two years, three years?

And then we're also launching a vessel in Egypt called the sun Ghanis. So three vessels by next year, 20 in our fleet by next spring.

Rachel Woodward: Uh, I strength at home. So it's. It's the highest class level you can have before an icebreaker.

They're 138 passenger [00:04:15] vessels and, uh, what this really allows, it's a smoother crossing across the Drake Passage. That's probably the number one question every operator gets, how rough is the Drake Passage? So these vessels, um, all have dynamic stabilizers. And then having that X VAL [00:04:30] allows the vessels to head Farther north up into the Arctic circle and then farther south in Antarctica.

Rodney George: Okay. So do you have any, uh, or any of your ships, uh, icebreakers?

Rodney George: In comparison to Arctic versus the North Pole, how close are you going to get to the true North Pole on a, an [00:05:15] Arctic trip? Uh, sailing with you guys.

Rachel Woodward: Oh, great question. We offer, um, you know, the Arctic is quite large. One of the questions we get a lot is, you know, my clients want to go to the Arctic. Where exactly do they want to visit?

Rodney George: cold do you want to be?

Most operators are visiting towards the end of June and into July.

Rodney George: In the summer

But, you know, being on a [00:06:15] PC5 allows for as much exploration as we can have to have an opportunity to hopefully see polar bears.

Rodney George: Emphasis on hopefully, I guess, but still that going that early, you're a lot more likely to see them than you are in the summer months, I would guess.

There's no guarantee for that. You know, we're, we're visiting a very remote area of the world. Um, polar bears are out in the wild. So I [00:06:45] always say never. Promise, guarantee that, but there's a good chance that clients, um, will see that on a trip. So

Rodney George: speaking of the Northern Lights, because that's a, that's a big deal for some people.

Rachel Woodward: Yeah, it, it varies sometimes too. Um, might be able to see them on a Arctic trip in September. Uh, but [00:07:30] usually it's later in the season. There's some other operators that are operating in the winter months. That's probably the best time, but there have been a couple of seasons where, um, first, second week of September, well, we have the vessels there.

Rodney George: was bizarre what we had in the U. S. this year for those that, that were fortunate enough to be in a, one of the places where you could, uh, you could actually [00:08:00] sit because it was totally unexpected, I guess.

We have two vessels, um, that will be positioned around Iceland. Uh, on the National Geographic Explorer and the National [00:08:30] Geographic, um, Endurance. So those, um, August 9th trip, August 7th of 2026, um, they're selling really, really well because there's only a couple of operators that will be there. But, um, another bucket list trip just for [00:08:45] guests to consider.

Rodney George: Well, you guys are huge in the, uh, as huge as huge could possibly be in the Galapagos, right?

I think Galapagos is the best entry to expedition. The trips are shorter. And it's closer to home for North American guests. We're year round and the nice thing too with our voyages, choice and [00:09:45] flexibility. We offer a four night trip, a five night trip, a seven night trip, and you can combine these voyages with Machu Picchu land packages.

Rachel Woodward: Yes. Yes, yes, we are. Yeah. And it's, uh, these trips sell quite well for us, our land components with, um, the voyages itself. But for guests that are looking to check off [00:10:15] these two remarkable destinations, I highly recommend, um, booking the cruise portion with Limblad and then also combining that on the land side.

Rodney George: Yeah, it's crazy to go to, uh, to that. Part of the world and not do both

January, [00:10:45] April, summer, or the, uh, fall time. It's a great destination. Snorkeling is phenomenal. You can do up to five different activities a day. Everything is included too, which is really nice.

Rachel Woodward: And that's exactly right.

They swim right up to you and the wildlife there has no fear of humans. Um, so. Once [00:11:30] you go on your first expedition, you become hooked on it more than likely, I say your next voyage will probably be to Antarctica or the Arctic. Um, but we're seeing a lot of interest with clients that like river cruising.

Rodney George: Yeah, those are small vessels and that is an advantage because, you know, because of all the different things that you're doing and the [00:12:00] equipment changes and all that.

You couldn't do that on a ship of, multiple thousands of people.

So [00:12:30] that's just something to consider. Every operator is a little different there, but something that Lemblad believes in, um, will never go above 150 passengers. So, you know, that's a big thing with, for us.

Rachel Woodward: Our Alaska product, um, it's just remarkable this past summer. We were sold out of [00:13:00] every Alaska voyage. So we are in Alaska from May through September. We have four vessels in Alaska, two, uh, 48 passenger. Ships and, uh, 296 passenger ships. What makes us unique in Alaska? [00:13:15] All four vessels are registered in the U.

S. So we do not have to begin our end out of Vancouver, Canada. Um, most operators do. So

Rachel Woodward: That is true. That is true. Um, and you know, with summer too. Going through customs, immigration, Vancouver.

The other, um, big selling point too for Alaska, if your ships are not registered in the U. S., you cannot host your own excursions on a Zodiac. And as you know, Alaska excursions are really expensive. [00:14:15] So, um, With our ships being registered in the U. S., our expedition team, um, we partner with National Geographic, so we have scientists that travel with us, historians, botanists, geologists, they're hosting all the excursions.

Rodney George: Well, I haven't experienced, uh, Alaska with you guys, but when you say, uh, you can be in the water in 10 minutes, how difficult or how easy is it for people who [00:15:00] maybe have some mobility issues to get onto those Zodiacs off your ships?

They use the sailor grip. So it's pretty easy to get in and out of the Zodiac, [00:15:30] but it's more about, I would say, going ashore. The train can be a bit, um, rocky. So guests just need to be able to walk themselves. You know, if they're using, uh, a cane or a wheelchair, if they need assistance walking, it might not be the best product for [00:15:45] them, but we have guests that have knee hip problems.

We're able to accommodate that.

Rachel Woodward: Um, it, it varies by, by vessel. Um, a couple of our Alaska ships, um, as they're much smaller, um, they don't have elevators.

Okay, I guess

Rodney George: that should, that should have been my question. Exactly, exactly.

We have a lounge area, board games, um, something really unique to our product, we have an open bridge pause. And not many expedition operators offer this. So, [00:16:45] um, the bridge is open for guests. They can interact with a captain. The expedition team searching for wildlife being out on the bow of the ship. So you can actually, because the ships are so small, and we're able to get so close to these destinations in Alaska, the [00:17:00] ports and glaciers, you can stay on board and see a lot of wildlife.

applications they have so that they can avoid. We were on a ship earlier this year and [00:17:30] we avoided a major low pressure system coming through at night. Okay. Most people don't know what low pressure does, but if you were, we were on the edge of it and the ship was quite rocky, if we had been in it, it would have been intolerable.

Rachel Woodward: Yeah. And I'll, I'll share a little, um, example. Uh, this past summer I visited Greenland on National Geographic [00:18:00] resolution. Um, Greenland is remarkable. I think over the next five years, it's, it's going to be one of the most popular destinations.

It's a UNESCO world heritage site. After dinner, so there's these huge [00:18:30] icebergs everywhere. After dinner, you know, it's daylight almost 24 hours a day. I went up to the bridge about 9 p. m. I was up there with a captain, just him and I, as he's navigating past these icebergs. I almost had to pinch myself to say, where [00:18:45] Can I ever get an experience like this, where it's just me and the captain.

Rachel Woodward: Yeah, no, it's. It is very true, you know, going back to when you, you have people that say, I've been everywhere in the world, more than likely they haven't been to Greenland.

So, um, you know, some of these destinations that we visit, they're not explored off the beaten path. We even chartered a new fjord that's [00:19:45] never been explored before with Limblad. So, um, It's, it's quite unique way. There's always new places that we're looking to discover. One of them being, um, I'm sure you've heard a bit more about Antarctica with the fly cruise.

So we're operating the fly cruise next season. Um, but again, choice, flexibility, eight to 10 day voyages, clients can. Fly around trips. So they'll operate from Puerto [00:20:30] Natalias, Chile. We offer a charter flight to King George Island. They board the ship in their expedition gear, walking through snow, boarding a Zodiac in Antarctica, or, um, they can fly one way, sail across the Drake the other way.

Rachel Woodward: That's, that's true. There are some contingencies with it. Um, that's, that's one thing that [00:21:00] I would always say, check, check the terms and conditions because everything is weather permitting.

Um, but you know, there are some guests that are looking at different ways to travel. So we try to give that flexibility for them. Well,

But what a way to live your life safe in the corner. [00:21:30] I don't want to live my life that way. And I don't think most people do. So just be aware that the Drake passage can be rough. But the airport at King George Island can be closed. So

I'm up for that adventure. But you know, there's sometimes families traveling together that are looking for that. Um, and another thing I want to touch upon, we're seeing a lot of interest with is a multi gen families traveling [00:22:00] and It's a new term called skip gen, where grandparents are bringing their grandkids on these trips.

So we have this program called a global explorers and there's no minimum age for kids to sail.

Rachel Woodward: Yeah. So we're the only expedition operator that has a dedicated kids program.

They'll come back on board with a scientist. [00:22:45] They might be studying allergy with them. They'll even learn how to drive the Zodiac. So we see a lot of this, particularly for Galapagos in the springtime, in the summer, and Alaska in the summer. Um, but yeah, we, we do a great job catering to multi gen families.[00:23:00]

The Naples, uh, daily news did a feature article on our agency a couple of years ago about multi gen and, uh, they, they, they came out and they interviewed us [00:23:30] and took a lot of pictures and wrote this beautiful article and on the, it was on the cover of the business section and the headline was, uh, Take the kids and pick up the tab.

Rodney George: And I'll tell you, I'll tell you something, folks. Uh, there's nothing better. Absolutely nothing [00:24:00] that I've experienced in my 72 years on the planet better than creating memories with your children and your grandchildren.

I go, okay, this guy may [00:24:30] know a lot about running a beverage company, but he knows nothing about the importance of memories, and that's what this is. Travel like this is often about is creating memories with people that you love.

Rachel Woodward: Couldn't agree more.

I want to, I want to know more about. What Lindblad and National Geographic are doing in all these hard to get to, but must see [00:25:00] destinations around the world. So thank you for coming on the show. And as I always remind our clients, listeners, watchers, whatever, uh, enjoy yourself. It's actually later than you [00:25:15] think.

Rachel Woodward: Thank you so much.

Rodney George: Thank you, Rachel.