American Safari Cruises - cruise ship line in Alaska

Cruise Travel, June, 2001 by Dave G. Houser

Luxury yacht cruises from Alaska to Baja California

With its protected Inside Passage, glorious glacier-studded coastal scenery, and bountiful wildlife, Alaska is unquestionably one of the world's premier cruising grounds. Last year some three-dozen different ships representing 15 cruise lines carried 600,000 passengers to Alaska--nearly half of the state's visitor traffic. While the megaliners of Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and others account for the grizzly's share of Alaska's cruise visitors, small ships are attracting a growing number of intrepid cruisers who seek not only smaller groups but also more creative, offbeat itineraries offering close-up, active exploration.

It was Alaska, in fact, that gave rise and substance to the small-ship cruise movement, pioneered in the 1970s and early '80s by the likes of Chuck West (Alaska Sightseeing/ Cruise West), Bob Giersdorf (Exploration Cruise Lines), and Sven-Olaf Linblad (Special Expeditions). Utilizing spartan, shallow-draft, highly maneuverable vessels accommodating some 50 to 100 passengers, these bold entrepreneurs opened vast reaches of Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage to ordinary travelers.

Enter a new generation of Alaska cruise pioneers--American Safari Cruises. It was only a matter of time, perhaps, until a perceptive, well-bankrolled enterprise stepped in to take small-ship cruising in Alaska to the max. Not surprisingly, it was a Seattle-based trio of former Alaska Sightseeing/Cruise West executives who turned the trick. American Safari Cruises is the brainchild of David Chan who, following a seven-year stint as vice president and CFO at AS/CW, left the leader in Alaska small-ship cruising in 1995 with a dream of taking small-ship cruising even smaller--and much more upscale--utilizing motor yachts.

Chan didn't have to look far for partners, teaming up with Dean Weidner and Dan Blanchard. Weidner, a high-powered real estate developer, brought not only bucks to the enterprise but plenty of expertise. His earlier career spanned 20 years in the Alaska travel industry during which he served as a vice president for both Alaska Sightseeing and Alaska Airlines. Blanchard spent 12 years with AS/CW, beginning as a captain and rising through the ranks to be general manager of operations. His intimate knowledge of Alaska waters and the day-to-day operations of a small-ship cruise line made Blanchard a natural for the post of president/CEO at fledgling American Safari Cruises. Weidner would become chairman and Chan vice chairman as the company launched the 120-foot/21-passenger Safari Quest on her first season of cruising in 1997.

Looking back on ASC's whirlwind startup, Blanchard recalls how opportune David Chan's invitation to join the venture really was. Blanchard, who had taken a leave from AS/CW to do some extended sailing with his family, was only recently back from a South Pacific voyage when the offer came.

"Having just re-experienced the pleasures of private yachting, the whole idea that smaller would be better really hit home with me," said Blanchard. "I was in total agreement with David," he added, "that there was a niche in the market that wasn't being filled--for more elegant, intimate, and personalized cruising."

In 1999 ASC added a second yacht, the 105-foot/12-passenger Safari Spirit, and another Alaska itinerary. The company subsequently completed a major refitting and interior redesign on both yachts. These are custom-built, multi-million dollar vessels. The Safari Quest (formerly Obsession) was built in 1992 by Shear Yachts, Gulfport, MS, and was acquired from a Seattle charter operator. The Safari Spirit was purchased from a private owner as the Netanya II and hails from the Poole-Chaffey works in San Diego.

For most of its six-month (April-September) season in Alaska, ASC operates the Safari Quest on an eight-day/seven-night itinerary between Juneau and Sitka and the Safari Spirit on nine-day/eight-night voyages between Juneau and Prince Rupert, BC. Both vessels sail a series of longer 11-day/10-night voyages between Juneau and Vancouver in April and September. (These fringe-season "value cruises" are priced substantially less than the shorter summer-season departures.)

Two consecutive summers in Alaska at near 100 percent capacity provided ASC the incentive to move south for the 2000 fall season. Last September the Safari Quest embarked on a series of 13 three- and four-day "California Wine Country" cruises originating from San Francisco. In December, the Safari Quest will convene with the Safari Spirit in La Paz, Mexico, to kickoff ASC's inaugural season in the Sea of Cortez--a 17-week span that features a combined 29 eight-day/seven-night cruises. With negotiations underway for another 20-passenger yacht, Blanchard says he's planning to operate that vessel (beginning in 2002) in the Out Islands of the Bahamas.

Positive load factors and glowing press reviews seem to bear out ASC's bet that the market was ripe for a well-executed yacht-cruising program. Describing a Safari Quest voyage as "an exquisite way to see our Last Frontier," Forbes FYI also noted that "Good buddies Bill Gates and Warren Buffett chartered an ASC boat last year, so you know these aren't the usual cruisers." Other celebrities and business titans--TV and movie star Chuck Norris, poultry scion John Tyson, and tennis star/telecaster Pam Shriver among them--have been drawn to the privacy afforded by a full-yacht charter and further emphasized by itineraries that can be directed as far from the beaten path as a client may wish.