Cell/WhatsApp: +91 98300 53005 / +91 98740 59646    


Luxury Expedition
Le Commandant Charcot - 270 Guests
The Geographic North Pole & Scoresby Sound
Reykjavik - Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen

Push the boundaries of navigation and set sail for 90 degrees North! During this exceptional polar exploration, you will go in search of the mythical Geographic North Pole. Head slowly up through the desert landscapes of the constantly changing ice floe. Your odyssey will continue as you travel down along Greenland, amidst the ice of the Transpolar Drift. Between majestic fjords and encounters with the Inuit culture, the region of Ittoqqortoormiit is rich in rare treasures holding inestimable value. This region near the auroral circle could offer you a choice position in a period that is ideal for observing the Northern Lights. Another Arctic marvel.

Aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the only cruise ship able to rise to this challenge, you will make your way towards the North Pole, which is inaccessible to traditional ships. Following in the wake of Frederick Cook, Robert Edwin Peary or Roald Amundsen, who were among the many to fight to achieve this elusive goal, you will be part of the few chosen ones to dare the adventure, 700 km (435 miles) from any land. And in their footsteps, you will attempt to reach the Holy Grail of all polar explorers: the North Pole!

Sailing back down from the Pole, your odyssey will follow the ice floes along Greenland. You will reach the region of Ittoqqortoormiit, on the East coast. There, if solar activity and the weather conditions are favourable, Le Commandant Charcot will offer you the optimal conditions for observing the Northern Lights, these luminous curtains of colours dancing in the black night.

During the last part of your cruise, Le Commandant Charcot will take you along the Blosseville Coast, named after the French captain who saw it for the first time in 1833. Here, the ice sheet meets the sea.

Amidst these extreme and isolated panoramas, the polar adventure reserves unsuspected emotions for the humble and patient explorer, one who is conscious of their privilege.



 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

  • With featured guest Cindy Miller Hopkins, American Photo Ambassador.
  • The eye and the advice of our photo ambassador, a privileged opportunity to immortalise your trip with, in the programme: workshops, conferences and personalized advice to improve your photographic skills.
  • Be among the few people in the world to go in search of the Geographic North Pole and explore Ittoqqortoormiit region and the Scoresby Sound!
  • Enjoy the unique experience of sailing through the heart of the ice floe and discover the endless variety of forms and states of the ice.
  • Exploring the region of Ittoqqortoormiit, where the last hunters of the polar region live, at the entrance to Scoresby Sound, the world’s largest network of fjords.
  • At this time of the year and depending on the opportunities provided by the weather conditions, the possibility of observing the phenomenon of the Northern Lights.
  • The landscapes: patches of ice floe drifting from the North Pole, hummocks, striped mountains, fjords, glaciers, icebergs. In Spitsbergen, jagged mountains, steep-sided valleys, sheer cliffs.
  • The wildlife: blue and humpback whales, polar bears, narvals, seals, muskoxen, Arctic foxes, orcas, Northern fulmars, ivory gulls.

DATES / RATES

Rates are listed per person in USD
Start DateEnd DatePrestige Stateroom-IPrestige Stateroom-II Prestige Stateroom-IIIDeluxe Suite-IDeluxe Suite-IIDeluxe Suite-IIIPrestige Suite-IPrestige Suite-IIGrand Prestige SuitePrivilege Suite Duplex SuiteOwner's Suite
Jul 26, 2024Aug 11, 2024N/AN/A51,100N/A54,870N/AN/AN/AN/A82,210N/AN/A
Sep 26, 2024Oct 12, 202449,21050,15051,10052,52054,87056,75072,79075,14077,500N/AN/AN/A
Rates are listed per person in USD
Start DateEnd Date(Starting from)
Prestige Stateroom-I
(Mid-range)
Prestige Suite-I
(High-end)
Owner's Suite
Jul 26, 2024Aug 11, 2024N/AN/AN/A
Sep 26, 2024Oct 12, 202449,21072,790N/A


ITINERARY

Day 1 : LONGYEARBYEN, SPITSBERGEN

Longyearbyen is the capital of the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago, located on Svalbard’s main island, and is the northernmost territorial capital on the planet. With winter temperatures dropping to below 40°C, the landscapes of this mining town are simply breathtaking. The glaciers, the mountains stretching as far as the eye can see and the untouched nature, make you feel like you’re in completely unexplored territory.

Day 2 : AT SEA ALONG SPITSBERGEN

The largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, its name meaning “pointed mountains” in German, Spitsbergen is the last piece of land before the Arctic ice floe. Aboard your ship, you will sail along the extremely spectacular coastline of this icy land. Between millennial glaciers and rugged mountains, you will discover a jagged coastline, hollowed-out by fjords. A unique setting, the refuge of a particularly rich avifauna, offering you the possibility of taking fabulous photographs from the deck of your ship.

Day 3-7 : NAVIGATING THROUGH THE SEA ICE


Enjoy the absolutely unique experience of sailing to the heart of the ice floe, this vast expanse of virgin, immaculate ice. The landscapes are constantly changing, shifting from a smooth, flat wilderness to a chaos of ice, then to channels of open water. Your ship will sail along these naturally open channels and through the areas where the frozen layer is thinnest, offering you the chance to experience magic maritime moments in the midst of drifting sea ice. It will also often be an opportunity to see a particular kind of fauna, totally dependent on the ice floe.

Day 8 : GEOGRAPHIC NORTH POLE


Defined by a 90° North latitude, the Geographic North Pole lies on the Earth’s rotational axis, at the intersection of all meridians. Plunged into darkness for six months of the year, then lit by the sun for the following six months, this mythical site, permanently covered in ice and remote from any land, has fascinated generations of explorers. So far, only a very few people have ever reached it: an exploit which is now accessible to you aboard Le Commandant Charcot.

Day 9-10 : NAVIGATING THROUGH THE SEA ICE

Enjoy the absolutely unique experience of sailing to the heart of the ice floe, this vast expanse of virgin, immaculate ice. The landscapes are constantly changing, shifting from a smooth, flat wilderness to a chaos of ice, then to channels of open water. Your ship will sail along these naturally open channels and through the areas where the frozen layer is thinnest, offering you the chance to experience magic maritime moments in the midst of drifting sea ice. It will also often be an opportunity to see a particular kind of fauna, totally dependent on the ice floe.

Day 11-12 : AT SEA ABOARD LE COMMANDANT CHARCOT

Spend exceptional moments sailing aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s first luxury polar exploration vessel and the first PC2-class polar cruise ship capable of sailing into the very heart of the ice, on seas and oceans which the frozen conditions render inaccessible to ordinary ships. Le Commandant Charcot is fitted with oceanographic and scientific equipment selected by a committee of experts. Take advantage of the on-board lectures and opportunities for discussion with these specialists to learn more about the poles. Participate in furthering scientific research with PONANT and let us discover together what these fascinating destinations have yet to reveal to us.

Day 13-14 : EXPLORATION OF ITTOQQORTOORMIIT REGION

On the East coast of Greenland, in the Ittoqqortoormiit region that is covered with snow and ice for nine months of the year, you will have the rare opportunity of immersing yourself in the heart of an isolated territory and exploring the beauty of its infinite polar whiteness. The high alpine mountains punctuate the sky and gradually reveal their dark rock edges beneath a coat of snow. Located at the entrance to the longest system of fjords in the world, sits the village of Ittoqqortoormiit, one of the northernmost inhabited places on the East coast. Its name means ‘great house’ in Greenlandic and it is home to the last hunters of the polar region, whose ancestral way of life you will encounter. As soon as the thickness of the ice floe allows it, the hunters set out on the trail of walruses, seals, narwhals, musk oxen and polar bears, travelling by traditional dog sleds. On these expanses of immaculate snow, the silence is broken only by the sounds of the dogs, the grating of a sled coming back from a run or of footsteps on the ice. You will discover Inuit traditions through privileged and festive moments on the ice floe and in the village.

Day 14 : SCORESBY SOUND

Covering an area of 13,700 km2 (5,290 mi2), Scoresby Sound is the largest and deepest fjord system in the world. Named after the explorer and whale hunter William Scoresby, who mapped the region in 1822, it opens onto the Greenland Sea to the north of the Blosseville Coast. This wild and desert region offers untouched panoramas of infinite beauty, with high snow-capped peaks rising tall alongside icebergs immersed in clear, blue-tinged waters. Discovering these stunning places in the wake of great explorers like Captain Charcot, who was deeply attached to the land of the Inuit, inspires a profound reverence.

Day 15 : EXPLORING THE BLOSSEVILLE COAST

Aboard your ship, follow in the footsteps of Jules Poret de Blosseville, a French explorer and sailor. In 1833, he set off to discover this isolated and unexplored part of eastern Greenland aboard La Lilloise, an adventure with a fatal outcome. The uninhabited territory that bears his name lies to the south of Scoresby Sound. Surrounded by ice, icebergs and pack ice - thin or thick, flat or pronounced - as far as the eye can see, Blosseville Coast is a wild and distant place to which very few people have access. Exploring it means a slow immersion into the heart of a frozen, almost unreal desert, where the variations in light transform one’s perception of the landscape. In the kingdom of the polar bears, Le Commandant Charcot, a silent ship open to the exterior, will offer exceptional moments observing Arctic wildlife, through a series of encounters.

Day 16 : AT SEA ABOARD LE COMMANDANT CHARCOT

Spend exceptional moments sailing aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s first luxury polar exploration vessel and the first PC2-class polar cruise ship capable of sailing into the very heart of the ice, on seas and oceans which the frozen conditions render inaccessible to ordinary ships. Le Commandant Charcot is fitted with oceanographic and scientific equipment selected by a committee of experts. Take advantage of the on-board lectures and opportunities for discussion with these specialists to learn more about the poles. Participate in furthering scientific research with PONANT and let us discover together what these fascinating destinations have yet to reveal to us.

Day 17 : REYKJAVÍK


Iceland’s capital stretches along the edge of a vast bay in the west of the country. Perlan, the “Pearl of Reykjavík”, a museum located on ’Oskjuhlið hill, offers a panoramic view of the lush, green landscapes. A little further, one can easily spot the signpost showing the way to the evangelical Hallgrímskirkja church, and to the historical centre where one can stroll along the Skólavördustígur and the Laugavegur, two lively streets with charming small shops. For some relaxation just outside of the city, visitors have the opportunity to visit the Reykjanes peninsula and its famous thermal lagoons of the Blue Lagoon.

Le Commandant Charcot (Luxury Expedition, 270-guests)

Le Commandant-Charcot welcomes you to an intimate and refined atmosphere. Equipped with just 135 staterooms including 31 suites with balconies and outside views, the ship offers outstanding gastronomy in its two restaurants, relaxation in the indoor pool surrounded by its winter garden, relaxation in the well-being area with sauna and Snow Room... Like on a private yacht, each of our guests is unique.

(Click image to view Ship details)

WHAT'S INCLUDED

  • Flight Longyearbyen/Paris selected by PONANT in economy class.
  • Transfer as mentioned in the programme.
  • English-speaking assistance.
Excluded from this voyage:
  • Personal expenses.
  • Any other service not mentioned in the programme.

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES

Adventure Options :
  • kayaking
  • hiking or snowshoeing
  • polar plunge

 
Expedition Voyages - the leader in polar expeditions
More than 5,000 happy customers served. We will find you the right trip, and provide exclusive discounts!
Required fields *












*



*

*







  Sign up for exclusive Epic Polar promotions



 
DISCLAIMER: Rates are per person and subject to change.