Lindblad 2028 Bookings Open With New Alaska Loop

National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions opened its 2028 to 2029 season on August 10, 2026, and the Alaska decision is no longer a later-year problem. The company added a new Greg Mortimer round trip from Vancouver, lengthened National Geographic Quest and National Geographic Venture weeks in Southeast Alaska, and put French Polynesia and polar holiday inventory on the same booking clock.

That mix matters if you already know you want a small-ship Alaska expedition two summers out, or if you have been waiting for a Pacific or polar departure that was not on the current brochure. The official August 10 release is the primary record. Cruise Industry News independently recapped the same named ships, homeports, and rare-island access the next day.

The new Vancouver to Alaska loop

The headline Alaska product is a new round-trip voyage from Vancouver aboard Greg Mortimer.

That homeport change is the first filter. A traveler flying into British Columbia is not making the same air, hotel, and embarkation plan as someone joining a Seattle-based or Southeast Alaska week. Deep Arrival’s Vancouver cruise port guide is the right next read if the new loop is the trip you actually want, because Canada Place logistics, luggage, and same-day flight risk sit on a different clock than a Juneau or Sitka join.

Lindblad already lists Greg Mortimer among its Alaska ships, so this is not a mystery vessel appearing from nowhere. The 2028 news is the itinerary: a Vancouver start and finish designed, the company says, to maximize wildlife time rather than a one-way reposition.

The same release pairs that loop with longer Southeast Alaska voyages on Quest and Venture. Those two 100-guest sisters are the ships most U.S. travelers already picture when they search Lindblad Alaska. The traveler choice is now explicit. Take the newer Vancouver circuit on the larger Greg Mortimer, or stay on the purpose-built American-coast ships for a longer week inside the islands.

Do not treat those as interchangeable cabins on the same map. Homeport, ship size, and the number of days in wilderness change the air ticket, the packing list, and the kind of day you will actually have.

Why Inian landings change the Alaska choice

The release’s most concrete Alaska access claim is not another glacier name. Guests on the longer Quest and Venture weeks land on the Inian Islands, where the company says most operators can only watch from offshore. They also explore the Tongass by foot and kayak.

That is the mechanism, not the brochure poetry. An Inian landing is a Zodiac-to-shore operation in a tight, current-rich passage west of Glacier Bay. A ship that only slows for a scenic pass gives you binoculars. A ship that puts you on the rocks consumes more of the day’s weather window, so the extra 2028 length is what gives the captain a second chance if swell kills the first attempt.

Select Alaska voyages will also carry Alaska Whale Foundation researchers, so guests can contribute to field science rather than only hear a recap. That perk is selective. If researcher access is your reason to book, verify the specific departure instead of assuming every 2028 Alaska week includes it.

Compare this inventory against a conventional Inside Passage cruise before you pay a deposit. Deep Arrival’s Alaska cruise hub still explains the mass-market port pattern: Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and a glacier day. Lindblad is selling fewer towns and more time in the channels. If you want evening theater and a balcony over a downtown pier, this open is the wrong product.

French Polynesia is a separate booking, not an Alaska add-on

The same August 10 slate brings French Polynesia back with new seven-day and 14-day itineraries. Lindblad calls the longer routing the only continuous voyage connecting Easter Island, Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, Makatea, and the Tuamotus.

Makatea is the rare-access hook: the only uplifted coral atoll in French Polynesia, with sea cliffs, limestone caves, and a stalactite grotto guests can swim into. Pitcairn is the cultural hook, home to descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers. Select departures sail with Tua Pittman, described as one of fewer than ten living Pwo navigators, on itineraries co-developed with Sven Lindblad.

None of that belongs on an Alaska deposit.

If the Pacific islands are the trip you can already name, open that inventory as its own hold. Cabin categories on a 2028 Polynesia departure will not wait because you are still deciding between Vancouver and Sitka. The release gives no fares, so the only honest comparison is itinerary length, the island list, and whether a Pwo navigator departure is actually assigned to your date.

Polar holidays and the Iceland loop

Travelers who were waiting on Antarctica or the Arctic get a parallel open, not a footnote. New holiday departures let guests spend the season in Antarctica, with expanded cruise-and-fly options. A Southern Ocean Odyssey stitches Patagonia, the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica into one voyage. Longer polar itineraries, the company says, regularly cross the Antarctic Circle.

The Arctic side adds more departures and longer routes, including voyages that spend more than five days on Baffin Island and a new 10-night peak-season circumnavigation of Iceland. Greenland, Svalbard, the Northwest Passage, and a Maritimes thread remain in the set.

European river voyages sit on the same slate, with after-hours visits to Melk Abbey and Clam Castle plus Danube Christmas-market sailings. They do not change an Alaska air plan.

The useful question is which 2028 season you are actually buying. An Antarctica holiday, an Iceland loop, and a Vancouver Alaska circuit are three different deposits, three different medical and clothing lists, and three different cancellation calendars.

How to book without over-holding

The release sends travelers to Lindblad’s Alaska expedition page and to expedition specialists at (855) 734-3271. The live site still also shows current-season Alaska itineraries and a 2026 to 2027 brochure, so do not paste those starting fares onto a 2028 cabin. Ask the specialist or the booking path to show the 2028 to 2029 departure, ship, and cancellation terms before you pay.

Imagine a couple in Portland who can take 12 days in July 2028 and already know they want Zodiac landings, not a balcony over Juneau. Their first check is whether the new Greg Mortimer Vancouver loop fits that window. Their second check is whether a longer Quest or Venture week still includes the Inian landing they came for. Their third check is the air: a same-day flight into Vancouver is a different risk than a buffer night in Seattle. If none of those three answers is clean, they should leave the deposit alone.

Name the ship before money moves.

Book the 2028 itinerary you can already describe. If you cannot name the ship, the homeport, and the landing or island that justifies the deposit, wait.