The Young Explorers programme combines microscopes, Zodiac outings and expert-led shore experiences on selected expedition voyages, with 19 school-holiday departures available through 2028.
Children and young people experience nature up close with the Young Explorers programme on selected Hapag-Lloyd Cruises expedition voyages. — Credit: Benjamin Schröter
- Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Young Explorers programme gives travelers aged 10 to 17 a dedicated learning programme on selected expedition voyages during school holidays.
- Activities can include examining plankton in the Ocean Academy, Zodiac excursions, guided landings and behind-the-scenes exploration of the expedition ships.
- Hapag-Lloyd Cruises currently lists 19 Young Explorers voyages through the end of 2028, covering destinations from Svalbard and Norway to Newfoundland, the St Lawrence River and the Azores.
- A 10-day HANSEATIC nature Svalbard expedition from Tromso to Longyearbyen departs on 12 July 2027, with the route dependent on weather, ice conditions and official approvals.
(NEWS) HAMBURG, Germany, 2026-Aug-31 — /Travel PR News/ — For families who want more from a polar voyage than wildlife sightings and scenic cruising, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is putting structured discovery at the center of selected expedition departures. Its Young Explorers programme gives travelers aged 10 to 17 their own expert-led activities, turning glaciers, plankton, wildlife and the mechanics of expedition travel into part of the learning experience.
The format is currently being used on Arctic voyages involving Iceland, Svalbard and Greenland, where the ship’s route can change with weather, ice conditions and official permits. Rather than following a fixed classroom-style curriculum, the programme is built around what the expedition environment makes possible on a particular day.
Learning follows the expedition
On board, young guests may examine plankton under a microscope in the Ocean Academy, join exploration tours ashore, travel by Zodiac or look behind the scenes of the expedition ship. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises says the programme runs when at least five young guests are taking part and complements the broader expert-led educational content offered to adults.
One of the expedition specialists involved is Benjamin Schröter, a glaciologist who works with young guests on subjects including oceans, glaciers and polar regions. The emphasis, according to the company’s 25 August programme update, is on first-hand observation rather than abstract theory.
That approach can mean discussing why glaciers behave as they do after seeing one from the ship, or talking about habitat protection following a wildlife encounter. Isolde Susset, managing director of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, summed up the philosophy in the announcement with the observation that “the core of every expedition is curiosity.”
A family programme built into expedition cruising
Young Explorers is not a newly created concept. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises was already promoting dedicated expedition programmes for travelers aged 10 to 17 in its 2021/22 expedition catalogue, including Zodiac rides and field activities designed around a younger audience. The current programme extends that model across a wider forward schedule.
The company says 19 Young Explorers voyages are presently available during school-holiday periods through the end of 2028. The list ranges from Northern Lights itineraries in Norway and expeditions around Svalbard to voyages involving Newfoundland, the St Lawrence River and the Azores, giving families both cold- and warmer-climate options.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises identifies the HANSEATIC nature, HANSEATIC inspiration and HANSEATIC spirit in its latest programme announcement. On qualifying voyages, the educational component sits alongside the ships’ standard expedition infrastructure, including expert lectures, landings and Zodiac operations where local conditions and permits allow.
Svalbard puts the concept into practice
A representative departure is the HANSEATIC nature expedition from Tromso to Longyearbyen, scheduled for 12 to 22 July 2027. The 10-day voyage is designed around a possible circumnavigation of Svalbard, but Hapag-Lloyd Cruises explicitly notes that weather and ice will determine the actual route and that the circumnavigation is not guaranteed.
The published itinerary includes Zodiac operations, glacier landscapes, fjords and potential observations of walruses, seals, whales and other Arctic wildlife. Experts also provide interpretation on subjects ranging from geology to climate and polar research, creating the kind of setting in which the Young Explorers programme can connect shipboard learning with what participants see outside.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises prices the sample voyage in its August announcement from €32,240 in the PLATINUM fare for two adults and one Young Explorer, including charter flights and an early-booking discount valid through 31 October 2026. The operator’s current booking page separately lists the voyage from €9,770 per person with the same early-booking deadline.
Adventure travel with an educational layer
For parents, the appeal is less about turning a holiday into formal schooling and more about giving younger travelers their own reason to engage with an expedition. Because daily activities depend on the natural environment, the programme also reflects one of the defining characteristics of small-ship expedition cruising: the itinerary itself remains responsive to conditions rather than being entirely predetermined.
That makes the Arctic especially suited to the format. A changing ice edge, a wildlife sighting or a landing opportunity can become the starting point for questions that would be difficult to reproduce in a conventional classroom. For Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Young Explorers adds a family-focused educational layer to an expedition model already built around expert interpretation and close observation of remote destinations.
