Looking at opportunities to grow its cold weather and holiday season offerings, Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) is adding six new itineraries to its portfolio.
During a recent webinar, Marett Taylor, chief sales officer for A&K Travel Group, and Stefanie Schmudde, senior vice president of global product strategy, noted that the new tours are in response to trends in multigenerational group travel and “coolcations," among others.
Taylor indicated that travelers are looking for more immersive winter experiences, with those in Antarctica and Egypt gaining the most traction recently. The timing is particularly good in these regions — and others — for opportunities ranging from hunting the northern lights to seeing the molting phase of King penguin chicks.
A&K’s six new trips, and the exclusive tours therein, are ideal for clients traveling during late November and into the traditional winter holiday season. According to Schmudde, more parents and grandparents are gifting experiences instead of physical presents under the tree.
Additionally, launching the products now allows A&K to take advantage of the growing number of travelers booking holiday travel early.
“A Nile Cruise for the Holiday Season” takes passengers on a 10-day Egyptian adventure.
Credit: 2025 Abercrombie & KentNew Itineraries to Know From Abercrombie & Kent
The first new trip is the seven-day “Iceland Winter Adventure,” and it is limited to only 18 guests with sailing dates set for November 4-10 and December 2-8, 2025. Showcasing the western part of Iceland, the family-friendly experience will include activities such as a snow mobile trek over a glacier and a lava cave tour. A two-night portion of the journey will even include a retreat in huts with adjacent hot tubs made of stone.
Then, the 24-guest, eight-day “Cruise the Rhine to Europe’s Christmas Markets” route from Strasbourg to Cologne will be partially chartered Amadeus River Cruises and will take place December 1-8, 2025. A relaxed and easy-going pace will be ideal for an older demographic looking for experiences such as visiting Alsace wine villages (which are not usually available to larger groups) on three separate occasions.
The eight-day “Christmas in Lapland” includes sleigh riding with reindeer, dogsledding, an overnight in a treehouse and more.
Credit: 2025 Abercrombie & KentThe eight-day, 18-guest “Christmas in Lapland” itinerary will depart three times this December and travel from Helsinki to Stockholm. Schmudde said that this trip targets families specifically, as young kids and teens alike will love inclusions such as snowmobiling, polar plunging, ice fishing, snowshoeing, sleigh riding with reindeer and dogsledding. Santa Claus might even make an appearance during a local family home visit, and three nights will be spent in the Arctic TreeHouse Hotel (which is also not typically available to groups).
Clients can also consider A&K’s full charter of the Sanctuary Sun Boat III in Egypt. The 10-day sailing, “A Nile Cruise for the Holiday Season,” is set for December 20-29, 2025, with just 34 guests. Schmudde describes this as “one of the best and most exclusive ways to experience Egypt.” The itinerary includes chartered plane flights from Cairo to Abu Simbel and Aswan, as well as private viewings of Queen Nefertiti’s tomb and the Sphinx.
Onboard Ponant’s Le Lyrial will be the singular 19-day “Antarctica, South Georgia & Falklands: Holiday Voyage” voyage. Touring from December 21, 2025, to January 8, 2026, the 199-guest trip coincides with traditional winter break for many schools. Children on the sailing will have the chance to observe scientific subjects through microscopes and learn about driving zodiacs from an expedition team of about twenty experts.
Finally, “A New Year’s Eve Cruise on the Danube” will partially charter with Amadeus for an A&K group of 24 people. The nine-day sailing takes place December 28, 2025, to January 5, 2026. The new annum will be wrung in while visiting Budapest and still-open Christmas markets along the way, and guests will also enjoy exclusive palace openings during the trip.
During the same webinar, Taylor and Schmudde shared further insights for agents, based on booking trends observed by A&K. Mainly, the company’s average adult age ranges from 49 to 66, but Antarctica has a greater share of young travelers (at 13%). While Christmas market itineraries appeal more to older guests (with an average age of 66), the opposite is true for Egypt itineraries, which have an average age of 49. What’s more, among first-time guests, 71% visit Antarctica and 33% visit Lapland.
