Australia & New Zealand L'Austral Australia & New Zealand Cruise Reviews

We wanted to visit the Kimberley region from the sea and experience rock art and geographic features. We were not particularly interested in the birdlife but found it fascinating nevertheless. The hotels before and after were all we expected - very pleasant stays. The ship was impressive with plenty to keep us occupied on board. Service was very good. The excursions and explanatory talks ...

We chose the cruise because while we have travelled to many other parts of the world we really need to see more of our own land. We combined the cruise with self drive land content before and after and were overwhelmed by the beauty of the north of Australia. There was a bit of a mess embarking as the papers were late arriving and the meeting point had changed but the Visitors' Centre in Broome ...

We went to the Kimberleys, having embarked in Broome. We spent a few days in Broome and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The Cabin was well appointed but somewhat small, however not really a problem The naturalists and experts on the cruise were really fantastic. They were knowledgeable and friendly, and always willing to speak to passengers about their specialities The excursions ...

We had previously sailed on Ponant cruises to Alaska and Antarctica and had fantastic exoeriences with them so we decided to cruise with Ponant again in our own country Australia from Darwin to Broome to see the Kimberley Region, The ships are very comfortable in classic French chique style and only take approximately 200 passengers rather than other massive cruise ships, We find this size of ...

We chose this cruise line and ship for it's supposed 5 star rating and it's small number of passengers. We had previously been on two cruises on the Paul Gauguin out of Tahiti which were fantastic so we expected a similar experience as the two ships are of similar size and capacity. We booked to travel from Noumea to New Zealand over 14 days spending Christmas and New Year on board expecting ...

This was our second cruise with Ponant we have completed a cruise to Antarctica (La Boreal and the Kimberley's - L'Austral) and have already booked on L'Austral to travel to the New Zealand antipodes. We found the ship to be perfect for our form of travel - passenger numbers not too big nor too small.. Service either in the Dining Room (Deck 2) or the BBQ area (Deck 6) was excellent.On our ...

this cruise chosen for itinerary and chance to visit very remote islands south of new Zealand the cruise was poor, accommodation, small and basic, food either good or bad, service mediocre. I have read salty1000 report and think he must be an employee because this was not what happened on the ship. This ship charges top 5 star prices and gives 3 star value at best Expedition staff were ...

We took a Tauck tour "Cruising Down Under." This was a new tour for Tauck and they chose L'Austral starting in Auckland, New Zealand and ending in Melbourne, Australia for 12 days. Let me say that we have traveled twice on the Regent Seven Seas through the Panama Canal and Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, twice on the Paul Gauguin in the South Seas, once on the Silver Seas - Silver Cloud from ...

Embarked on Ponant’s L’Austral in Cairns for a 1 week NYE cruise, sailing to Sydney. This was not an ‘expedition’ cruise (as with many of the itineraries with Ponant) but rather a more standard cruise type. Over half of the 260 passengers were French speaking, but many had great English, and all announcements etc. were in English as well as French. There were 14 nationalities on board, and it was ...