Travelers explain reasons for repeating expensive luxury holidays

There are more glamorous ways to board a cruise that costs about $21,000, but here I am, sloshing through ankle-deep water on Gantheaume Beach in Broome, crowded with 4WDs and camper vans, to climb into a tender bound for True North, a 36-passenger mono-hull adventure cruise ship with a six-passenger helicopter on the roof.

For the next seven days, this is my floating base as we follow the coastline of Western Australia’s Kimberley region, landing on remote beaches, flying above reefs, and standing under waterfalls that bigger ships can’t reach.

It’s an extraordinary way to see one of Australia’s most isolated landscapes. It’s also a substantial amount of money to spend on a seven-day holiday.

Which makes the repeat passengers more interesting to me than the region’s drastic tidal levels (although they’re pretty fascinating, too). Why spend $20,000 on the same holiday twice, let alone five times?

With only 36 passengers on board, you get to know people quickly. By dessert on the first night, I learn that Lyn McLeod is travelling with her two daughters and that this isn’t her first True North cruise. It’s her fifth – four through the Kimberley and one through West Papua.

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Her first was in 2010 with her late husband, Kevin. She returned to the Kimberley twice more with him, sailed West Papua, then brought her daughters to the Kimberley a year after his passing.

At 76, Lyn is retired and quick to point out that she isn’t wealthy.

“We just didn’t go anywhere else. We were completely happy to forgo holidays in between just to save up and get back on a True North ship,” she tells me.

Even on her fourth run through the Kimberley, which is when I meet her, she insists the experience never repeats itself. She’s watched waterfalls swell from trickle to torrent, explored inlets previously tide-bound, and sailed with different crews.

The Kimberley has the draw of Australia’s other great icons – the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru – but getting here is another matter. Unlike those more accessible sights, exploring the Kimberley requires logistics, time and a sizeable holiday budget.

During my first few days onboard, I tick off the big sights via tender and helicopter: Horizontal Falls, Montgomery Reef, and King George Falls, and of course, plenty of crocodiles. More than I’d like to ever see in my lifetime. The nearly 1:1 crew-to-guest ratio feels more like you’re on a hyper-nimble private charter with a group of strangers.

I catch my first fish, a gigantic golden trevally. We pull mud crabs from croc-crowded mangroves and eat them around a beach bonfire. One afternoon, every passenger is shuttled to Eagle Falls for a picnic. It’s the first time I’ve seen a helicopter land on top of a waterfall, let alone been in a helicopter that is balancing on the lip of one.

That night at dinner, Lyn, with tears swelling up in her eyes, thanks the crew for a surprise they had arranged for her family: a bottle of Chivas Regal and three glasses waiting at the top of Eagle Falls. It was Kevin’s preferred whisky and his favourite spot in the Kimberley. Years earlier, Lyn explains that he had stood on that exact cliff, waving as Lyn arrived by helicopter.

The crew held back the other guests, giving the McLeod women the falls to themselves, raising a glass to Kevin. “They filmed that for us and took photos, which I now have up here in my house,” Lyn tells me when we speak a few months after the trip. “I mean, who would do that? You know? That was even a surprise for me,” she says.

Tess Howson, our cruise director, says she had been thinking about how to make the trip special for Lyn before the grandmother from Victoria even stepped on board. “We wanted to make sure they were happy and comfortable and had some light-hearted moments,” she says. This included a private tender trip up Kings Cascade, away from the group, but the Eagle Falls picnic was a surprise.

“But look, it’s not necessarily all about the memories of my husband because I’ve done it five times,” Lyn says. “I could easily go back again.”

Lyn is in good company. According to True North marketing manager Oliver Oldroyd, one in four guests return, while 1800 have sailed four or more times. The most dedicated passenger has been on 62 True North cruises. He turns 90 next year.

A few months later, I catch up with Lyn by phone. She tells me she hasn’t ruled out another voyage. In fact, she’s already got a date in mind.

CRUISE True North has five seven-day Kimberley Snapshot departures in 2027, starting May 1, from $20,595 for an Ocean Class room, including transfers, meals and onboard activities. Helicopter flights and alcohol are extra. See truenorth.com.au

FLY Qantas and Virgin fly to Broome and Kununurra. See qantas.com; virginaustralia.com

The writer was a guest of True North.

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