By James Shillinglaw, Feb 16, 2022
City Experiences, a unit of Hornblower Group, which also owns American Queen Voyages, has launched Venture Ashore, what it calls the largest independent cruise excursions provider in the world, delivering uniquely curated amazing experiences for cruise travelers led by professional guides in hundreds of ports worldwide. Venture Ashore cruising excursions are offered in 111 countries and counting with departures from more than 500 ports of call worldwide featuring over 5,000 individual tours.
Venture Ashore is the newest addition to the City Experiences portfolio of brands, and backed by Hornblower Group, supporting the company’s overall business strategy in becoming a global transportation and experiences leader.
“We are thrilled to launch Venture Ashore and share with travelers our collection of tour offerings that will fully immerse you in the sights, sounds, tastes, passions and cultures in cruise destinations around the globe by creating personal connections and one-of-a-kind encounters,” said Rinat Glinert, chief operating officer for Venture Ashore. “We are all about building a community of like-minded travelers through developing unparalleled guest experiences that will create lifetime memories. Whether you’re looking for a family-friendly adventure, a bespoke private tour, or a fun way to explore a port of call with new friends, Venture Ashore has something for everyone.”
Venture Ashore offers a wide range of tour offerings to satisfy a variety of groups, interests and budgets. Parties of 12 or more can take advantage of a dedicated groups service, with a team of personal specialists to support a seamless experience from start to finish for a unique and tailor-made itinerary.
Venture Ashore also offers extensive private tours and features small group tours, varying by destination and demand, accommodating up to 25 people or as few as six. Venture Ashore will provide guests with a worry-free travel experience with more flexibility and generous policies such as full refunds provided up to 24 hours prior to the excursion, 24/7 customer service and a “back-to-ship” guarantee.
Venture Ashore also includes a newly created “Essential Collection,” a curated set of global tours designed to deliver an unique guest experience ranging from innovative culinary encounters to walking experiences. It offers a collection of the most important things to experience in each destination to maximize guests’ time ashore at a great value.
Venture Ashore delivers a global collection of extraordinary travel experiences for its guests fueled by innovative technology to deliver a frictionless journey for travelers, travel advisors and independent tour providers. The newly formed company will leverage City Experiences’ in-house developed, intuitive and feature rich operating system, Anchor, to deliver end-to-end experiences featuring new trip planner tools for guests as well as a portal for enhanced functionality, including group tools, access to reports, new marketing tools and the ability to secure U.S. bookings with a deposit for travel advisors looking to support their clients.
City Experiences features a diverse portfolio of water- and land-based experiences in major travel destinations worldwide, providing locals and tourists alike a broad range of global experiences. Hornblower Group includes a portfolio of brands spanning a rich 100-year history of creating extraordinary and memorable guest experiences. The company’s footprint spans 111 countries and territories, and 125 U.S. cities, with more than 18 million guests served annually across offerings including water and land-based experiences, overnight cruise experiences, and ferry and transportation services. For more information visit www.ventureashore.com.
