Last year Turner told TTG how he planned to shake up the two-ship line’s educational programme to ensure agents got the “true expedition experience”. 

Now, speaking ahead of the two ship visits on 18 May in Troon and 29 May in Aberdeen, Turner has revealed exactly how the line has changed the programme. 

“I’ve been in the role for a year so we now want to do our ship visits a little differently," he said.  

The agents coming on board will get the same “experience that a customer would get if they were sailing on  Greg Mortimer”, confirmed Turner. “They will have lunch, listen to our expedition team give lectures, and explore the ship just as they would if they were having a sea day on board. 

“They will get two and a half hours to explore the ship. The evening is very relaxed and informal. It’s all about trying to give them a taste what an expedition would be like except the ship stays in port. That’s what we’re doing in a nutshell.” 

Turner said previously agents would only spend a few hours on AE Expeditions ship before getting off again. 

“The ship visits did not really give agents an idea of what we are trying to do,” he explained. “There was nothing expedition about it so I wanted to educate agents a bit more.

“The big thing now is about educating the right agents, rather than every agent. That is our strategy." 

Turner hopes to see agents who join one of the two ship visits booking AE Expeditions afterwards. 

“The costs involved are quite staggering,” he said, adding: “It will cost $80,000 (around £61,000) for both ship visits this year. It’s a big investment for a company of this size.” 

Turner believes the need to educate agents becomes more important as more ships coming into the expedition market.

’We’ll do more in 2026’ 

In 2026, the line’s yet-to-launch Douglas Mawson ship is expected to spend up to a month in UK and Irish waters. 

“We will probably do even more ship visits next year,” he added. “But we will see how it goes this year first. 

“Douglas Mawson is potentially floating around UK waters for around a month, so there will be opportunities to host agents in Portsmouth, Dublin, Troon and Aberdeen.” 

Agents, do you have views that you want to share about ship visits and how much time you actually spend on board each vessel? Let us know! Email cruise editor Harry Kemble – hkemble@ttgmedia.com