USA Today Best Cruise for Families

Friends, I have exciting news to share and a small favour to ask!

For seven straight years, Adventure Canada has been recognized by USA Today as one of the world’s Best Adventure Cruise Lines. A result of public voting, we have been thrilled at the nomination and overwhelmed by your generous voting support each and every year.

This year, USA Today has nominated us in a second category—Best Cruise Line for Families! We are thrilled!

Over the past thirty-six years we have been overjoyed to host many intergenerational travel groups. Travel can be a marvelous way to reunite with folks near and dear, to relive shared experiences, and to make new memories together. You can imagine our delight at this latest nomination. And you can anticipate the small favour I’m asking: please vote for us in this new category! (If you want to skip straight to the voting page, here’s the link!)

I like to think we’ve been nominated as Best Cruise Line for Families both because of the inspirational places we go and because of how we do it. We have family cabins, incentives for guests under thirty, and a casual, fun environment that welcomes all ages. We make every voyage available to families with kids and grandkids under eight, which is very rare in the expedition cruise world. Aboard the ship, kids are a part of the program, are invited to share their reflections and experiences, can participate in workshops, and can even go behind the scenes with the chef, expedition leader, and Captain! We’ve even been known to run kids-only pirate Zodiac cruises! Perhaps most importantly, we make sure that families have the time and space—both aboard and ashore—to enjoy each other; to forge memories.

Travel for a young person can be influential at a critical time. I speak from my own experience: I did my first expedition to the Arctic with my father, Matthew Swan, when I was just fourteen. From that very moment, I knew what I wanted to do with my life—cultivate community. I’ve been blessed to do that with the Adventure Canada family; with you. Sure, we offer fabulous travel experiences designed to open hearts and minds. But for me, Adventure Canada is about what we create by coming together and connecting through care of the places we go and for the people we take with us. Many of you have seen the third generation of our own Swan family on board ships, learning the ropes, taking in the joys and lessons of travel, and in—Charlotte and Islay’s cases—connecting with their Inuit heritage.

Since that first trip at fourteen, I’ve seen many families aboard our ships. Some are reconnecting with places that are personally meaningful—the hamlet where Grandpa started his career, for example. Some are celebrating family milestones; Gramma’s retirement, maybe. Some are deeply emotional intergenerational gifts: “I want to be there when my grandchild first glimpses the Arctic.” All of them are there to bond through an experience they’ll cherish for the rest of their lives. I am always moved when I see young people taking home personally significant and motivating emotional souvenirs: climate awareness, for example, or global citizenship, a newfound passion for marine biology, or a fresh appreciation of Inuit or other cultural perspectives and stories. Travel is never a wasted opportunity for kids in the company of the people they know and admire most.

I know that only a few of you have taken your family on an Adventure Canada expedition cruise, but wouldn’t it be great if more families could join us? Think of the impact on the future! I ask that you take up the call and support us in this new category of excellence—Best Cruise Line for Families. This recognition is won through public voting only. I hope that you’ll show your love for Adventure Canada as you have the past seven years by voting daily.

Travel can be a life-altering experience, especially shared across generations. It's been our privilege to contribute to these transformative moments and perhaps have helped set the course for the next generation. If we succeed in this new and exciting category, many more intergenerational travel groups may look to Adventure Canada. You and I will have done our parts to encourage more intergenerational experiences, and more life-changing and motivational adventures for the next generations.

Thank you, friends. Remember to vote, and vote often (here, again, is the link!)

Note: Voting closes on Monday, February 5 at 11:59 a.m. EST

— Cedar Swan