Fifty-nine nights. Roughly 23,000 kilometers of ice, ocean and coastline that almost nobody sees: the Ross Ice Shelf, Mount Erebus, Marie Byrd Land, the Balleny Islands. When Ponant first put a full Antarctic circumnavigation on sale for January 2028, it reportedly sold out. So the French line has done the obvious thing and scheduled another.
The Ponant Antarctica season for 2028-29 is now on sale: 12 itineraries and nearly 30 departures from November 2028 to early 2029, sailed by Ponant Explorations on Le Commandant Charcot, Le Boréal, Le Lyrial and Le Soléal. The headline voyage is a second 59-night circumnavigation of Antarctica on Le Commandant Charcot, roundtrip from Ushuaia from January 11, 2029. Fares for the season start from $15,450 per person.
Ponant Antarctica 2028-29: Key Facts
- Operator: Ponant Explorations
- Season: November 2028 to early 2029
- Ships: Le Commandant Charcot, Le Boréal, Le Lyrial, Le Soléal
- Program: 12 itineraries, nearly 30 departures, from 10 to 59 nights
- Headline voyage: 59-night Antarctic circumnavigation on Le Commandant Charcot, from Ushuaia on January 11, 2029, with a night in Hobart on February 9
- Partnerships: a Weddell Sea voyage with The Explorers Club and a departure with Smithsonian Journeys
- Fares from: $15,450 per person (reported October 2026)
The Circumnavigation, Take Two
Ponant says Le Commandant Charcot is the only passenger ship with a PC2 polar rating, which is why Ponant can attempt a full loop of the continent at all. The 2029 voyage sails two segments of the Southern Ocean, split by one night in Hobart, Tasmania. Each half can be booked separately.
The route reaches places that standard Peninsula voyages never touch: the Ross Ice Shelf, the South Magnetic Pole area, the Drygalski Glacier, Mount Erebus, Charcot Island, Marie Byrd Land, the Balleny Islands and Macquarie Island. The first edition, which leaves Ushuaia on January 11, 2028, is reported sold out, so 2029 is the second chance, not the first.
Weddell Sea, Ross Sea and the Rest of the Season
Le Commandant Charcot opens the season on November 6, 2028 with a 12-night Weddell Sea voyage in alliance with The Explorers Club, carrying a Club lecturer and a science grantee. She returns to the Weddell Sea and Larsen Ice Shelf on a 12-night departure on December 16, 2028, then sails a 14-night voyage beyond the Antarctic Circle in the wake of Jean-Baptiste Charcot from December 28.
On the classic Peninsula, Le Boréal and Le Lyrial run 13 departures of the 10-night Emblematic Antarctica itinerary, including a Christmas sailing on December 19 and a New Year sailing on December 29, 2028. Those voyages include a hotel night in Buenos Aires and the flights to Ushuaia. Le Lyrial also sails a 10-night Smithsonian Journeys departure on January 28, 2029, and an 18-night Falklands, South Georgia and Valdés Peninsula voyage from February 27.
From New Zealand, Le Soléal offers two 14-night Subantarctic Islands voyages and two 21-night Ross Sea expeditions in the footsteps of Scott and Shackleton.
If you want Christmas or New Year in Antarctica, book the December 19 or December 29 Emblematic Antarctica departures early. Holiday dates on small polar ships are always the first to go.
Why It Matters
Few luxury lines offer such a spread of Antarctic voyages, from a 10-night Peninsula voyage to a two-month circumnavigation, and Le Commandant Charcot is the reason. A PC2 icebreaker can reach the Weddell Sea and the Ross Sea in seasons and places where ordinary expedition ships turn back.
The Explorers Club and Smithsonian alliances add substance, but the real story is the second circumnavigation. Ponant sold out the first one at prices reported from $147,360 per person. Demand at that level tells you how many travelers are now looking past the Peninsula for the remote coast of East Antarctica.
Who it is not for: first-timers on a budget, or anyone who suffers at sea. Even the 10-night voyages cross the Drake Passage twice, and the circumnavigation spends weeks in the Southern Ocean.
Prices and How to Book
Trade reports in October 2026 put fares for the 2028-29 season from $15,450 per person. Ponant had not published a fare for the 2029 circumnavigation in any source I could reach. For scale, the January 2028 edition started from $147,360 per person for the full voyage, or $74,470 and $83,520 for each half. Ponant’s polar fares usually include meals, an open bar, Wi-Fi, gratuities, Zodiac outings and landings, and a parka to keep. Le Commandant Charcot sailings have also included a hotel night in Santiago and the charter flight to Ushuaia. The 2028-29 season is bookable through Ponant and polar specialists.
If you want to go sooner, Heritage Expeditions’ Heritage Discoverer, the former Silver Explorer, sails a 21-day Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica preview from Ushuaia on November 19, 2026; I cover it in my Heritage Discoverer story.
The Lens I’m Reading This Through
I have sailed with Ponant twice, though never to the ice. I gave Le Bougainville 4.5/5 for a very stable ship, excellent food and cheese, and an all-inclusive bar, and Le Ponant 4/5, with one hour lost at check-in and a price about double her sister ships. Ponant’s service is French, polished and warm, but its embarkation can be slow.
My Antarctic benchmark is a nine-night voyage on Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Voyager, which I rated 5/5, with orcas, humpbacks and a leopard seal in the Lemaire Channel. Nine nights already felt full. Fifty-nine nights on Le Commandant Charcot is a different scale of commitment, and the guiding and lectures would have to carry it.
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This preview is based on official announcements — I haven’t sailed aboard Le Commandant Charcot yet. Read more about how I review or visit my Work With Me page.
