Ponant Names Speakers for 2027 Explorers Club Voyages

Ponant Explorations Group has named the guest speakers for 12 voyages in its 2027 collaboration with The Explorers Club, extending the program into a fourth year and adding Paul Gauguin to the lineup for the first time. The collection spans sailings from January through November 2027 across the Seychelles, Central America, the Arctic, Antarctica, Australia’s Kimberley region, Melanesia and French Polynesia.

The addition places the New York-based Explorers Club, founded in 1904, aboard Ponant’s Paul Gauguin for two 11-night Papeete roundtrips. The broader program pairs named specialists, scientists, photographers and writers with individual itineraries across the operator’s 2027 deployment.

“From Greenland to The Kimberleys to French Polynesia, our guests engage with exceptional voices and individuals who bring destinations to life,” said Samuel Chamberlain, CEO Americas of Ponant Explorations Group. He said the partnership gives guests “deeper insight into the cultures, environments, histories, and stories” behind each destination.

Paul Gauguin added with two Papeete sailings

Paul Gauguin will host two Explorers Club departures in 2027. The May 29 Society Islands & Tuamotus voyage will sail roundtrip from Papeete with Jad Davenport, a National Geographic photographer whose work has focused on remote cultures and wild places. The Nov. 6 Cook Islands & Society Islands sailing, also roundtrip from Papeete, will feature Emma Camp, a coral biologist whose research centers on coral resilience and reef conservation.

Polar voyages carry several of the named speakers

Le Commandant Charcot is listed on four of the 12 voyages. The ship is scheduled for the 12-night Beyond the Inhabited World voyage from Nuuk on April 16 with Nicolas Dubreuil, an explorer and adventurer with more than two decades of High Arctic experience, particularly in Northern Greenland.

The ship will also sail the 16-night In the Ice of the Arctic, from Svalbard to Greenland itinerary from Longyearbyen to Reykjavik on June 24 with Sunniva Sorby, a polar explorer who has crossed the Greenland ice cap and overwintered at 78 degrees north. Peter Hillary, mountaineer, writer and son of Sir Edmund Hillary, is assigned to the 17-night Geographic North Pole and East Coast of Greenland itinerary from Reykjavik to Longyearbyen on July 10. Marine biologist and penguin specialist Annette Scheffer will join the 12-night Emperor Penguins of the Weddell Sea voyage from Ushuaia on Oct. 27.

The Antarctic program also includes the 21-night Scott & Shackleton’s Antarctic Ross Sea Expedition, sailing roundtrip from Dunedin on Jan. 25 aboard Le Soleal with Cassandra Brooks, a marine scientist whose work covers Antarctic marine ecosystems and ocean conservation policy.

Other 2027 sailings span Central America, Iceland, Kimberley and Melanesia

The Essential Seychelles will open the collection on Jan. 15, with Le Dumont d’Urville sailing an eight-night Mahe roundtrip hosted by John Heminway, an Emmy Award-winning documentarian and conservationist. Le Bellot is scheduled for two speaker voyages: the 10-night Secrets of Central America itinerary from Puntarenas to Colon on March 29 with Dimitri Deheyn, a marine biologist and bioluminescence researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the seven-night Icelandic Mosaic roundtrip from Reykjavik on July 22 with underwater photographer and ocean advocate Karim Iliya.

Le Jacques Cartier will operate two of the program’s Australia and Pacific-region departures. Wade Davis, an anthropologist and writer whose work draws on global travel and culture, will join the 10-night Australia’s Iconic Kimberley itinerary from Darwin to Broome on June 16. Pier Nirandara, an underwater photographer and writer with experience in Indo-Pacific cultures and waters, is assigned to the 16-night An Escapade in the Heart of Melanesia sailing from Darwin to Lautoka on Sept. 4.