Ponant Is Bringing Explorers, Scientists, and Storytellers Aboard Its 2027 Voyages
The cruise line’s expanded 2027 Explorers Club partnership will bring scientists, polar experts, and National Geographic photographers aboard voyages from Antarctica to French Polynesia.
Photo: Courtesy of Ponant
Ponant is expanding its alliance with the Explorers Club for 2027, rolling out a slate of 12 expedition voyages across its Ponant and Paul Gauguin Cruises brands that will pair guests with scientists, anthropologists, conservationists, and explorers in some of the world’s most remote destinations.
Now entering its fourth year, the partnership is designed to deepen the onboard experience through lectures, informal conversations, and real-time scientific engagement. The 2027 collection includes sailings in Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, the Kimberley, French Polynesia, and the Seychelles, with voyages hosted aboard ships including Le Commandant Charcot and, for the first time, the m/s Paul Gauguin.
Among the featured speakers joining select departures are mountaineer and author Peter Hillary, anthropologist Wade Davis, marine scientist Cassandra Brooks, and coral biologist Emma Camp. Other specialists include underwater photographers, penguin researchers, and polar explorers whose work ranges from Arctic climate systems to Indo-Pacific conservation.
“The Explorers Club partnership reflects the spirit of exploration that defines our voyages,” said Samuel Chamberlain, CEO of the Americas for Ponant. “From Greenland to The Kimberleys to French Polynesia, our guests engage with exceptional voices and individuals who bring destinations to life through their knowledge, perspective, and lived experience.”
One of the most notable elements of the program continues to center on Le Commandant Charcot, billed by the company as the world’s only luxury icebreaker. Through the partnership, The Explorers Club Science Grantees will again join select sailings to conduct live research using the ship’s onboard laboratories, giving guests direct access to scientists working in polar regions in real time.
Highlights from the 2027 lineup include a 21-night Antarctic Ross Sea expedition with marine scientist Cassandra Brooks; a Geographic North Pole sailing featuring Peter Hillary; an Iceland itinerary with underwater photographer Karim Iliya; and two French Polynesia voyages aboard the m/s Paul Gauguin hosted by National Geographic photographer Jad Davenport and coral researcher Emma Camp.
“For more than 120 years, The Explorers Club has held that exploration is not an end in itself, but a path to understanding,” said Barbara Doran, president of The Explorers Club. “Whether at 90° North or among the reefs of French Polynesia, guests don’t just visit these places, they begin to understand them and their importance.”
The collection continues Ponant’s push toward increasingly education-driven expedition travel, particularly among luxury travelers seeking more immersive access to destinations and the people studying them.
