Crystal Cruises joins with ORCA to offer conservation adventures

The cruise line has joined forces with ORCA, an organisation dedicated to the protection of whales, dolphins and porpoises, to offer passengers the opportunity to get more involved in the environment, wildlife and the protection these animals.

ORCA will be placing wildlife experts onboard Crystal Symphony to train the ship’s crew in collecting scientific data, as well as lead guests through Q&A sessions, wildlife ‘deck watches’, interactive data collection, and guided excursions ashore.

In return, the data collected by passengers during the cruises will be passed back to ORCA for its conservation research.

More about the ORCA sailings

ORCA’s experts will sail aboard two 2019 Crystal Symphony cruises through Alaska between Anchorage and Vancouver. During the voyages - sailing 20th and 27th August - the ship will visit Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway (as well as Sitka on the 20th August voyage), and will cruise through the Inside Passage and Hubbard Glacier – areas known to be rich in remarkable sea life.

Onboard will be Lucy Babey, ORCA’s head of science and conservation, and John Young who is an expert in birding and natural history and an award-winning wildlife photographer.

John Stoll, Crystal’s vice president of land programmes, commented: “We are honoured to join ORCA in its admirable work to monitor and protect the animals and the oceans we sail. The passion of the expert Cruise Conservationists on their team is truly contagious and will certainly enlighten and inspire our guests.

“Crystal guests are inquisitive travellers who want to experience the world, rather than just see it, and understanding the wildlife and environments of destinations is key to that purpose.”

“We are honoured to join ORCA in its admirable work to monitor and protect the animals and the oceans we sail.” 

According to Sally Hamilton, director of Orca: “People who live and work at sea are the most passionate about protecting it, and having Crystal take part in Orca OceanWatch this year is a fantastic opportunity to get their crew directly involved in protecting whales and dolphins. Having the chance to showcase these incredible animals to guests aboard Crystal Symphony is an added bonus that will allow us to spread our marine conservation programme to a whole new audience.”

Crystal Cruises is hoping to expand the Orca OceanWatch programme to the rest of its ocean fleet in the future so GTOs looking to book a cruise in 2020 should keep watch.