Adventures by Disney is Heading to the Arctic in 2023

Ten months after announcing its plans to take guests to Antarctica, Adventures by Disney is adding the world’s other polar region to its offerings.

On Wednesday, Adventures by Disney announced a new Arctic expedition cruise for 2023, a 10-day itinerary that will sail twice in 2023, once in June and once in July. The sailings will both take place on a chartered Ponant ship, Le Boreal. 

The July sailing will include access to Joe Rohde, a former Walt Disney Imagineer who was the lead designer of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and one of the lead designers behind Disney’s Aulani property in Hawaii. Rohde retired from Walt Disney Imagineering in January and currently serves as the experience architect at Virgin Galactic.

Guests on the itineraries will start in Oslo with an overnight stay at the Grand Hotel Oslo and a welcome dinner. They will then fly to Svalbard to board Ponant’s Le Boreal, a 264 capacity ship specifically designed to sail the arctic regions.

From there, guests will get to explore locations around Svalbard, starting in Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost settlement in the archipelago. Each day, guests will get to join daily zodiac excursions and landings and take part in wildlife sightings of polar bears, reindeer, arctic foxes, puffins, and more.

Bookings open for the sailing on Nov. 9 for previous guests who have traveled on three or more Adventures by Disney itineraries and then on Nov. 10 for all previous guests. Vacation Club and Cruise Line loyalty members can then start booking on Nov. 11.

Bookings open for the general public on Nov. 12.

At the same time, Disney announced three new departures for those previous Antarctica itineraries that were announced in January. The new additions start in December 2022 and run through early 2023. Disney is also now offering a four-day pre-cruise excursion in Buenos Aires.