Conscious Yachting and Cruising: Promise or Paradox?
Can travel at sea ever be responsible?
Last week, we gathered for a Conscious Conversation exploring one of the travel industry’s most complex and often contradictory questions: Can cruising, private charter and expedition travel ever be truly responsible? Below are the key insights from the session for anyone booking, designing or advising on travel at sea.
We were fortunate to be joined by an exceptional panel who each brought a completely different vantage point:
Akvile Marozaite, co founder of the Expedition Cruise Network, has spent her entire career at the intersection of expedition travel, trade education and industry advocacy. Her work gives her a rare, sector wide overview of where the expedition cruise world currently stands and how it is evolving.
Michele d’Agostino, co founder of Secret Atlas (a member of The Conscious Travel Foundation), has decades of on the water experience and is one of the most thoughtful voices in small scale expedition travel. His company operates some of the smallest vessels in the Arctic and Antarctica and his perspective is shaped by lived experience in fragile environments.
Georgina Menheneott, Partner at Burgess, leads sustainability across one of the world’s most influential superyacht companies. Her work sits at the challenging but exciting frontier of innovation, owner engagement, regulatory change and the realities of operating large private vessels.
And guiding the conversation was The Conscious Travel Foundation Mentor Portia Hart, whose long history in both yachting and conscious travel created space for a genuinely open and constructive discussion.
1. The demand for sustainable cruising is still low but the industry is moving anyway
Akvile opened by sharing findings from Expedition Cruise Network’s recent sustainability survey. Many travel businesses still do not measure sustainability in any structured way and most travellers rarely ask about it. Even so, the expedition cruise sector is progressing faster than consumer demand would suggest.
Operators are voluntarily cutting emissions, removing single use plastics and waste, investing in hybrid technologies and supporting scientific research. Companies like HX Expeditions and Ponant are already demonstrating what meaningful change looks like through measurable emissions reductions and ambitious long term commitments.
2. Small-scale expeditions can be surprisingly low-impact by design
Michele spoke from the perspective of micro expedition cruising, where guest numbers are intentionally capped and operations take place in highly regulated regions. Because AECO and IAATO rules are strict and extensive, many practices that might elsewhere be labelled sustainability initiatives are simply non negotiable basics.
Silent Zodiac cruises, slow speeds, beach cleans, strict wildlife distance rules and biosecurity protocols are standard. Vessels are often upcycled research or pilot ships rather than new builds, and local hiring is prioritised despite the complexity of operating in remote areas.
He also highlighted how provisioning becomes an unexpectedly meaningful lever. Rather than flying in luxury goods, Secret Atlas sources locally whenever possible and works with ship owners who operate their own bio farms to shorten supply chains further.
So in many ways, micro expedition travel is already engineered to minimise impact, not through marketing language but through necessity.
3. Yachting has an emissions problem but it also has a unique opportunity
Georgina brought a clear and candid perspective from the superyacht world, where the existing fleet accounts for a significant share of marine emissions. She also highlighted the encouraging signs of progress already underway.
One example came from a superyacht in the Burgess charter fleet, Lammouche, whose owners chose to run on HVO biofuel (hydrotreated vegetable oil) so the family could spend time on board in a way that aligned more closely with their values. When charter guests are offered the same option, around 90 percent choose it. Shipyards such as Feadship now also deliver yachts with full HVO tanks and use biofuel in all refits.
Georgina noted that uptake of conservation contributions is growing every quarter, and that the sector is well placed to test new approaches that can later influence wider maritime practices.
4. Citizen science is transforming marine research
One of the most tangible threads was the role both expedition vessels and yachts can play in facilitating scientific research. Michele shared the story of a recent discovery made during one of Secret Atlas’ voyages, where researchers identified a species of squid previously unknown at that latitude.
Georgina offered examples from the yachting world, including collaborations with Yachts for Science and Rev Ocean, where owners host scientists on board so they can access remote areas that would otherwise be unreachable.
5. Regulation is coming and it will reshape the sector
Across all sectors, legislation will be the force that ultimately standardises responsible practice. We discussed everything from Polar Code requirements to Galápagos caps to the forthcoming IMO framework, which combines emissions limits with greenhouse gas pricing for an entire industry for the first time.
These shifts will increasingly determine which vessels can enter which waters and under what conditions. Preparing early is not only the responsible choice, it is the strategic one.
6. What agents and designers can do today
Portia closed the session with a reminder that agents and travel designers hold significant influence, regardless of whether clients explicitly raise the sustainability question.
You can ask operators what they measure, choose suppliers who communicate transparently, question fuel use, speed of travel, provisioning (including RO tanks for water) and crew practices, and build values-based language into preference sheets and client conversations.
Most travellers respond well when responsible practice is woven into the experience in a way that feels natural and relevant.
A huge thank you to Akvile, Michele, Georgina and Portia for sharing their insight, experience and honesty throughout the session, and to everyone who joined us live.
Watch the replay
A few times a year, we open up our learning programme to the wider industry. This session was open to both members and non-members and the replay is now available here.
If you’re not yet a member, you’re more than welcome (and encouraged!) to watch the full conversation, and if you’d like to access our broader programme of sessions, learning and community, you can enquire about membership here.