Dogsledding in Greenland
PONANT EXPLORATIONS
Cultural Enrichment as a Way of Travel
For PONANT EXPLORATIONS, cultural enrichment is the essence of travel itself. Voyages are designed as an evolving dialogue where science meets history and imagination breathes life. Through an alliance with The Explorers Club, PONANT transforms exploration into something intellectual, participatory and deeply personal. These alliances ensure that each curated voyage brings not just landscapes but perspectives— stories told by those who have devoted their lives to understanding the world in its rawest, most intricate forms.
Founded in New York City in 1904, The Explorers Club remains one of the most respected institutions in scientific discovery. Its members include the first people to reach the North and South
Poles, the summit of Mount Everest, the deepest point in the ocean and the surface of the moon. Names such as Neil Armstrong, Jane Goodall, Edmund Hillary and Roald Amundsen mark its history. With more than 3,750 members across the globe, the Club continues to support field research, conservation and education across land, sea, air and space.
Through its collaboration with PONANT EXPLORATIONS, this century-old legacy meets the intimacy of expedition travel. Selected voyages host The Explorers Club speakers and science grantees on board, offering travelers the chance to share space and dialogue with modern explorers who continue that lineage of firsts. It’ s not uncommon to find a marine biologist explaining climate data over breakfast or a polar researcher unpacking the mechanics of sea-ice formation as the ship glides past icebergs.
Aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the world’ s first and only luxury icebreaker, the alliance with The Explorers Club takes its most tangible form. Designed from the keel up to serve both exploration and science, the vessel includes over 100 square meters dedicated to research, equipped with two onboard laboratories that welcome scientists working on active projects in marine biology, oceanography and environmental chemistry. Many of these missions fall under the PONANT Science program supporting fieldwork in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Through PONANT science, researchers from around the world sail aboard to study the ocean— Earth’ s
28 · NAUTICUS 2026