Australian touring family APT has chosen its 100th birthday to announce its biggest-ever investment: a purpose-built ocean ship named Travelmarvel Capricorn. The name, unveiled by family principal Lou Tandy at Berowra Waters Inn near Sydney, honours her late father Geoff McGeary, whose own expedition vessel was called Beyond Capricorn. There's a cheeky family backstory too: Capricorn was his wife's star sign, and since she was afraid of boats, he knew he'd usually be sailing without her.
The new vessel is due in early 2029 and is an ice-class small ship with 99 all-suite accommodation, five restaurants and roughly 200 passengers. That size is the point: it can slip into Mediterranean ports the mega-ships can't touch. From the 2029/30 season it switches to Antarctic expedition duty under a ten-year charter with Quark Expeditions, one of the biggest names in polar sailing.
The ship is the centrepiece of a wider push. APT is targeting a $1 billion business by 2030, off the back of a record 2025 and its strongest-ever fortnight of sales in October 2026. It has just launched in New York to take its brands to the American market, bought UK solo-travel specialist One Traveller, and added Murray River Paddlesteamers at home.
River and expedition cruising are expanding fast as well. APT Alara joins the European fleet in 2028, with a second Douro River ship planned for 2028/29. Travelmarvel Rigel is already sailing the Rhine, Main and Danube, the 38-guest PS Australian Star has become Australia's first five-star overnight river vessel out of Echuca, and a refurbished Travelmarvel Sirius is back on the Nile with up to 124 guests. A Ponant partnership puts Le Jacques Cartier on the Kimberley coast from 2028, while the company's Mitchell Falls wilderness lodge is getting 24 ensuite tented cabins plus solar and battery upgrades.
The centenary mood is hard-won. During the pandemic APT's revenue collapsed and a cyberattack hit while Melbourne was in lockdown; the family sold assets to keep the business intact and, as Tandy puts it, came out 100 per cent family owned. Four generations on from great-grandfather Alfred Owen McGeary hauling freight around Melbourne, and a century after grandfather Bill started carrying passengers during the 1924 tram strike, the fourth generation is now at the helm.
For travellers, this matters because APT is doubling down on small-ship and expedition cruising, exactly the style of travel where ship size shapes the experience. Expect more suite-only small ships in the Med, more river boats in Europe and Portugal, and a serious new option for Antarctic and Kimberley expeditions in the late 2020s. Bookings for new vessels typically open well ahead of launch, so anyone eyeing the Capricorn's Antarctica seasons should watch for early-bird openings.
