AE Expeditions has opened bookings for its Northern Hemisphere 2028 season, a 29-departure programme that for the first time sends the small-ship operator beyond polar ice and into Europe’s harbour towns, medinas and fjord capitals.
Sailing aboard the purpose-built Douglas Mawson and Sylvia Earle, the 2028 season calls at 161 ports across 20 countries and territories, split across 16 Polar Expeditions, six Discovery Expeditions and seven entirely new Cultural Expeditions, built around history and local culture rather than wildlife and ice.
The move extends AE Expeditions‘ 35-year expedition heritage into new territory. The Cultural Expeditions trace the British Isles, Ireland, the Mediterranean and Europe’s Atlantic coast, pairing landmark stops with harder-to-reach communities, including Sark, Tangier’s medina, and the isles of Scilly, Skye and Rathlin Island. The season also sees a cruise down the Kiel Canal through Berlin, as well as visits to Copenhagen and Oslo.
The polar programme adds two new routes for 2028, including the 11-day Norwegian Fjords & Svalbard Explorer (departing 8 June) and the nine-day Wild Greenland: An Active Arctic Expedition (departing 23 August), alongside returning voyages, including the 15-day Northwest Passage.
For travellers from Asia, the season’s late-spring and summer window lines up neatly with an escape from the region’s monsoon months, and the addition of UK and European embarkation points — London, Amsterdam, Lisbon — gives one-stop routing via major European hubs rather than requiring a positioning flight to South America or the high Arctic.
Small-cabin capacity on both ships means early booking matters more than usual for a season this size.
