Despite the fact that our beautiful ship is at the historic dockyard Willemsoord in Den Helder for the next few months, our travel planners are not leaning back. It’s a totally different year for us not being in the Caribbean organizing luxury cruises in winter. We're undergoing a five-month refit period, we're flagship at Sail Amsterdam in The Netherlands and we have an upcoming world tour in 2020. This month I'd like to share with you how we make new travel plans and I'm revealing the short(er) trips we are planning for everyone who loves to come sailing with us after the refit.
A lot of parties and outside influences are involved in creating our sailing schedule. First of all we start with a meeting with our founding partners the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Randstad Holding Group to see what’s on their wish list for the year to come. Together we plan our new adventures one and a half year in advance. We’re building the route around weather systems like hurricane, typhoon and monsoon seasons. It’s always a pretty cool puzzle to find the ideal travel plan.
Once we know to which part of the world we will be heading, a more detailed plan and route will follow. With the captains we're checking proper and attractive docking options for our draft of 4,8 - 5 meters(the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of keel), but also national legislations and customs and immigrations are an important part of being able to visit certain places. Other things that we need to check together with our Hotel Managers are the options of making use of local food and beverage providers.
When we know where to go and we've fixed the dates for all business events around the world, we start planning our adventurous sailing trips and luxury cruises. This year and the next two years will be a different from the years we have behind us. This winter until April we’ll be in Den Helder undergoing a refit. After the refit we will conduct a northern European sailing scheme with Amsterdam around April/May, then up to the Baltic and back again for SAIL Amsterdam 2020 and the start of the SDG World Tour on the 16th of August.
So here’s the good news! In between the end of the refit and Sail Amsterdam, when we’re planning to go to the Baltic, we have planned a few amazing trips to create opportunities for sailing lovers and clipper fans to sail with us. In May we head to London again, followed by an amazing trip from London to Oslo (still available). After Oslo we head to Copenhagen, Kiel and Ostende!
The first two trips were published last week and the other trips will follow soon. If you want to be the first to know when the trips are open for bookings, you can subscribe to our newsletter.
After Sail Amsterdam we will be sailing around the world as sailing platform for the SDG World Tour. As we speak the organization of the SDG World Tour is finalizing the route and the acceleration programs that will be organized on board. Please check www.sdgworldtour.com for more information. As shipping company and crew of the Clipper we need to make sure she will be in mint condition to commence the exiting World Tour. You can follow the work on board via stories and posts our Instagram account.