Hapag-Lloyd is the gold standard in expedition cruising and one of the few lines where the luxury product genuinely earns its five-star rating. The Europa has held the top Berlitz ranking for over two decades for a reason — the service is meticulous, the cuisine is outstanding, and the itineraries go places most luxury lines won't touch. The Hanseatic expedition ships carry real scientists and have the highest passenger-ship ice class for polar waters. It's not cheap, but nothing at this level is.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises operates one of the most exclusive and highest-rated fleets in the world, split between two distinct product lines: the luxury cruise ships MS Europa and MS Europa 2, and the three Hanseatic-class expedition vessels. The fleet totals just five ships carrying a combined maximum of around 1,700 guests — a deliberate constraint that allows the company to maintain standards that have earned it the top ranking in the Berlitz Cruise Guide for over two consecutive decades.
MS Europa, the 408-guest flagship, is consistently rated as one of the finest cruise ships afloat. Four onboard restaurants serve cuisine that rivals top shore-side establishments, and the Ocean Spa, fitness loft, and 38-course golf simulator reflect a ship designed for guests who expect the best without ostentation. MS Europa 2, her younger sister launched in 2013, takes a more modern, cosmopolitan approach — six restaurants, a more relaxed dress code, and bilingual German-English operations that make her the fleet’s primary offering for international travellers. Both ships hold the Berlitz 5-stars-plus designation, a distinction shared by almost no other vessels.
The Hanseatic expedition fleet — Hanseatic Nature, Hanseatic Inspiration, and Hanseatic Spirit — represents a fundamentally different proposition. These 230-guest ships hold PC6 ice class certification, the highest rating for passenger vessels, enabling safe navigation through Arctic and Antarctic pack ice. Each carries a fleet of Zodiacs, a water-sports marina, and a team of scientists, naturalists, and expedition leaders who deliver lectures and guide shore landings in some of the planet’s most remote environments. Itineraries reach from Svalbard and the Northwest Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula, the Amazon, and remote Pacific island chains. Hanseatic Inspiration operates bilingually for international guests, while Nature and Spirit sail in German only.
The trade-off for this level of quality is price — Hapag-Lloyd sits at the very top of the market, and a polar expedition can easily exceed the cost of two comparable sailings on other luxury lines. Soft drinks and bottled water are not automatically included in restaurants, a notable omission at this tier. But for travellers who measure a cruise by the calibre of its guides, the quality of its cuisine, and the ambition of its itineraries rather than the size of its pool deck, Hapag-Lloyd occupies a category of one. The 2025-2026 season deploys the fleet across 124 routes spanning the Mediterranean, Africa, the Americas, both polar regions, and the Pacific — a remarkable range for five small ships.
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