John and I were delighted to discover this one-off food- and wine-centric itinerary on the L’Austral. We enjoy the French ambiance, excellent food, and great wine onboard Ponant’s ships. This cruise promised more of the same by including a Michelin-starred guest chef, guest experts on wine and cheese, and special wine and gastronomic events. The Ponant Corporate Chef was also onboard this ...
Launched in 2021, Le Commandant Charcot is a Polar Class 2 rated icebreaker. It is a 245-passenger, 31,300-ton cruising vessel with high quality interiors. It is French, chic, the service is smooth, and passengers are well-heeled, experienced and predominantly elder travellers.
As of 2022, Le Commandant Charcot is the only PC2 rated ship in service. Note that the strongest Canadian Coastguard ...
Incredible ship from top to bottom. I have done Silversea and Regent and this is ABSOLUTELY my favorite and the most comfortable ship I have ever been on. Entertainment mostly consisted of lectures and they had an absolutely fabulous crew of lecturers. In addition, there was a couple who did opera who were superb and the best violinist I have evere seen play. The food was, by far, the best I ...
The ship has been given a makeover and looks great! The team on board is very attentive. We were able to travel in serenity in a bubble of comfort. The food is of high quality and varied. We enjoyed ourselves from breakfast to dinner.
The expedition team accompanied us very well, the guides were all very interesting. They made us discover a multitude of marine species, fabulous birds... ...
Negative was the english lectures which were poor and limited. As this is a french ship, there was separate lectures for the french-speaking. All announcements were in dual languages. French passengers were friendly but we did not socialize together because of our large group.
Staff was friendly. I would go again on this cruise line just because of the food. The pastry chef was outstanding. The ...
Ponant cruise lines chartered the Le Dumont D'Urville to Thomas P Gohagan & Co. who then marketed the Baltic Sea cruise primarily through college/university alumni offices, Smithsonian Journeys, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Philadelphia Council on World Affairs, etc. So the cruise passengers were members of the various alumni groups and marketing organizations and each of the ...
In August, 2018, we first cruised along the coast of Croatia on Le Lyrial. It was fabulous-great weather, beautiful scenery with clear bright skies and turquoise waters. Our choice to do the Laperouse cruise was in part due to coordinating it with the end of the Croatian cruise on Le Lyrial. We had a wonderful week in between the two cruises in Portugal before embarking on Le Laperouse. The ...
We wanted a grand experience to celebrate our 50th wedding annivesary. Ponant certainly delivered on our wishes. Le Laperouse is a gorgeous ship, the crew and staff were professional while also warm and welcoming and the food was outstanding.
We had a deluxe suite stateroom which was very comfortable with a walk in closet/dressingroom, lots of storage and all the amenities of a 5 star hotel. ...
My cruise with Ponant was definitely a memorable experience! We were in the Reykjavik to Bergen cruise onboard Le Laperouse, the newest ship in the fleet. The ship was modern and luxurious - perhaps not to everyone’s taste, but I really liked it! However, the two things that stood out the most for me were the staff’s excellent and friendly service and the sumptuous food. The restaurant staff knew ...
My friend actually chose this Ponant cruise because of its interesting title: "In the Wake of the Vikings", and because of historical interest and curiosity about lands I had never before visited I decided it was a grand idea to see parts of Iceland and Scotland and finish in Norway where great adventurers had set out from to explore initially unknown lands.
This cruise did not disappoint - the ...