This was our 14th cruise, the second on Ponant, and we sought it out because we are tired of the large ship cruises. Ponant offers expeditionary experiences, rather than the traditional "rest, relax and party" cruise, so we approached our time with that expectation.
We were incredibly impressed. The ship is graceful, beautiful and very comfortable. Appointments are sophisticated and of the ...
We are on this cruise now via a Tauck trip. Our room is spilled with sewer gas. We finally figured out that if we run the shower constantly over 24 hours, at a low rate, it keeps the trap from allowing sewer gas into the room. The concentration of sewer gas was really bad, only 2ppm can cause bronchial construction in people with asthma, 10-50ppm you get headaches. Higher concentrations you get ...
We wanted to see Maya sites and wanted to try Ponant. We have sailed on Cunard, Celebrity, Oceania, Windstar, Seabourn, Holland America and Viking - 20+ cruises in all, 6 on Seabourn.
I would say 80-90 percent of the passengers spoke French as their primary language. We enjoyed that.
The officers are French, the staff Indonesian or Filipino.
We were rather taken aback to see the captain ...
We had such hopes for this trip. The ship & itinerary fit our needs on paper but in reality we were disappointed with the execution of this cruise.
Not only did embarkation change from Puerto Morelos to Cozumel after booking our flights but the trip was advertised to include diving in Honduras. On boarded we learned Puerto Cortes was a dirty shipping port with no diving. The water was green ...
Hubby & I chose the cruise because we wanted a short cruise that included a Panama Canal crossing. This cruise was an expedition cruise focusing on national parks in Costa Rica & Panama. Started in Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica and ended I. Panama City, including a Pacific to Atlantic crossing of the Panamá Canal. We’re not naturalists but thought it may be an interesting experience. This review is ...
I was totally excited to be going on this trip with Ponant to Costa Rica. Afterall great destination, French wine and french food... what is there not to like. Well was I sorely disappointed. The wine was mediocre and limited variety. At dinner many nights there was only one red or one white. The food was good not great(except for the special nights) and some of the meals were downright poor.
I ...
Everyone has different likes and dislikes. I’m going to summarize what we look for in a cruise vacation which we felt Ponant came closest to an overall exceptional experience and why.
My sister n husband ( late 50s very active non drinkers) and my husband (70) and myself(62) - both drinkers and not super active wanted a Xmas holiday experience together. We didn’t want to travel too far from USA ...
Le Champlain is a lovely ship with only ninety-two cabins, 165 passengers and 115 crew members. We felt the on-board experience was excellent in almost every respect and were impressed that most crew members knew us by name, or at least by cabin number and preferences midway through the cruise.
Ponant has had difficulties with the local Mexican government and they have been unable to embark ...
we chose this cruise because it was an Expedition Cruise in an area we had not yet been to and we had had good experiences with both Ponant in general and Expedition Cruises in particular. Unfortunately Ponant were not up to scratch with this one.
Things started badly when we discovered that the cabin we had been allocated, ( the one for the physically disabled), was not the one we believed we ...
We chose Ponant for this trip because we were looking for a more intimate cruise experience. We have been on large cruise ships (3000+ passengers) and felt it was time for a more refined trip.
One of the best things about being on a smaller ship is that the embarkation and disemarkation process. All of the crew members were courteous and professional. Also, there was rarely ever a line. Once ...