The Explorers Club to Join PONANT on Exclusive Sailings

The spirit of exploration. The advancement of scientific knowledge. PONANT has embraced these values for as long as our luxury expedition ships have been traversing the world’s vast oceans and pristine coastlines. Now, we’re thrilled to announce our collaboration with The Explorers Club. An alliance that will complement and enhance our mission: To awaken guests’ curiosity by offering voyages that will transform them. While protecting the ecosystems that we hold dear. 

What do Neil Armstrong, Sir Edmund Hillary, Jane Goodall, and – soon – you, have in common? Certainly, the desire to understand our world, and the universe. 

But there’s something else that will connect you to these icons of discovery and adventure. Their names have long been on the membership rolls of The Explorers Club, the internationally renowned society that celebrates scientific discoveries in the natural world. PONANT has announced a new and thrilling collaboration with the group, an alliance that will put you one degree closer to some of the most lauded names in history.

More than this, when you cruise with PONANT and The Explorers Club on one of our special departures, Club members – archaeologists, geoscientists, and others – will regale you with tales from the field and the latest discoveries in their areas of expertise, as well as provide unique hands-on experience, further immersing travelers into the destination and the local culture.

After much preparation and planning, we’re proud to share details of this exciting new relationship.

The Illustrious and Storied Past of The Explorers Club

The Explorers Club was informally founded in New York City in 1904. Born when prominent journalist, historian, and explorer in his own right, Henry Collins Walsh, gathered a group of adventurers in the name of fellowship. The Club was officially incorporated about a year later and today, there are 32 chapters around the world. Each of them dedicated to the advancement of scientific discovery through field research in all disciplines.

The New York City flagship office is a remarkable tribute to 20th- and early 21st-century exploration. Its collection includes 14,000 volumes, 550 linear feet of archives and manuscripts, and thousands of artifacts and maps. Among its most prized possessions are the Inuit-crafted mittens worn by Matthew Henson during his North Pole expedition with Robert Peary in 1909; and, under a protective sheet of glass lies The Explorers Club membership application submitted by Theodore Roosevelt in 1915, in which he casually indicates that one of the positions he held previously was “President of the United States.”

Since its founding, The Explorers Club has welcomed into its fold many of the foremost luminaries of discovery – those who have navigated the deepest trenches in the world’s oceans and those who have flown to the moon and stars.

When we say you’ll be in good company, this is what we mean.

The Explorers Club to Join PONANT: An Alliance of Inquiry

Over the next three years, PONANT and The Explorers Club will collaborate on 12 expeditions to all corners of the world. From the Arctic to Antarctica and from the Pacific to the Indian oceans. On several PONANT ships, we will be honored to host distinguished guest speakers. These speakers present talks on research and exploration and, what’s more, they will go beyond storytelling. Club members will lead hands-on activities: citizen science workshops, music or dance performances, and more. And of course, they’ll also share fascinating insights and fantastic tales from their own expeditions. A benefit to you from their many years of experience, as well as accompany guests during select excursions.

On our luxury cruise ship and floating research center Le Commandant Charcot – the world’s only luxury icebreaker to usher guests deep into the polar regions – we will welcome five to ten Explorer Club scientists per year so they can conduct an environmental inquiry in these fragile ecosystems. Our onboard laboratory provides the ideal space for them to continue their research, and they’ll share their findings with PONANT guests in their fields of glaciology, oceanography, and geology.

Continuing a Legacy of Exploration

Since our founding, PONANT has been dedicated to responsible tourism, sustainable travel, and keeping the oceans clean. With The Explorers Club’s commitment to respectfully observe this magnificent planet and share its observations in the name of preservation and conservation, we have found the ideal ally.

We are proud to continue the long tradition of exploration and inquiry that’s inspired us for 35 years. And we’re thrilled to have The Explorers Club on board.

We hope you’ll join us on one of these exclusive Explorers Club sailings. And stay tuned – there are more to come!

Join PONANT + The Explorers Club for curated travel programs driving discovery and scientific enrichment.