Former Cruise West Chairman Pitches New Cruise Concept

28 March 2011
Translate

Dick West, the chairman of the now defunct Cruise West, a family-owned Alaska cruise line which closed its doors after over four decades last September, has re-emerged publicly for the first time since his Travel Weekly interview in which he expressed shame and heartbreak over the brand's recession-fueled demise. The subject of USA Today article (excerpted below), West is now pitching a "new concept" for the cruise industry.

West said the company, called Explorer Cruises, would not own any ships, but would host cruises on chartered vessels and tailor them to the adventure travel market, and give them Cruise West's "up close and personal" style.

He explained that the cruises would operate the way Cruise West offered sailings in the Galapagos and the Danube River, where it chartered ships for short cruise seasons.


West plans to market the early concept to past Cruise West customers and through the Cruise West Facebook fan pages, and said that he will be looking at vessels in Europe and South America, where ships are already prepared for this type of operation, versus Alaska, which currently does not have the ships available for his plan.

Read the entire Johanna Jainchill article on USA Today.

Comments