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National Geographic Explorer debuts on June 11, 2008 in the grand city of St. Petersburg, Russia, most appropriately during the celebrated “White Nights.”

First we’ll explore St. Petersburg’s imperial luxuries and artistic bounty, staying three nights at the five-star Grand Hotel Europe. Then from our dock right near The Hermitage, we’ll pop the corks on the champagne, christen the ship and begin our inaugural voyage sailing down the Neva River! On this mid-summer journey, we’ll sail through eight countries united by the Baltic Sea. We’ll explore the Scandinavian capitals of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki, visit the historic shipyards of Gdansk, explore the charming old towns of Lubeck, Tallinn and Riga, and make peaceful island stops in between for reflective nature walks.

All along the way, we’ll be accompanied by our fascinating guests as well as some very special staff and guest speakers. To start, Sven Lindblad will join the beginning of the voyage to help us celebrate this momentous occasion. And we’ve asked our legendary Expedition Leader, Tom Ritchie, to lead this inaugural voyage. Tom’s a most fitting person to have along, not only for his incredible wealth of knowledge, wit and good company, but also because he has been with the Lindblad family for decades—since before Sven even started this company—so he’ll have good stories to tell about extraordinary events, such as inaugural voyages.

In addition, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Poland, Lech Walesa, will join our group for the afternoon and evening in the port of Gdansk, the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which he led.

We believe this voyage will fill very quickly, so please be in touch soon if you’d like to reserve your place. Our entire line-up of new summer voyages for National Geographic Explorer has just been mailed, and next week we’ll post them all here online, too. So check back to see where, exactly, the National Geographic Explorer heads after the Inaugural Voyage.

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