The river cruise company Aqua Expeditions announced it was set to increase the size of its fleet by 150% and expand into new geographic destinations over the next 2 years following an USD 28 million capital investment by Bison Capital (US-based private equity firm). Details on the new riverboats and routes are due to be announced later this month.
Aqua Expeditions CEO Galli Zugaro revealed in a written statement that the investment would allow the cruise line to expand its footprint in coastal cruising as well as additional soft adventure destinations.
The Aqua Expeditions company was established in 2008 with an emphasis on luxury river cruising in remote areas. Currently, it sails on both Amazon River (with Aria Amazon) in Peru and Mekong River (with Aqua Mekong) in Vietnam and Cambodia. Signature brand elements include gourmet cuisine by celebrity chefs and 1:1 passenger to staff ratio.
Recently, the river cruise line launched a new travel agent portal allowing agents to check cruise availability, reserve multiple staterooms at the same time and make courtesy hold for up to 7 days. The portal includes online check-in system for both customers and travel agents.
Prior to that, the company inked new partnership with Passport Online in order to become part of the electronic marketing opportunities of Passport for travel agents and their clients. The new agreement brought information on Aqua Expeditions’ itineraries to agent websites that are hosted by Passport Online.
Update: In April 2019 were officially announced both ship's names - Aqua Blu (2019) and Aqua Nera (2020).