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L'Austral

Le Soleal

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Le Lyrial (Ponant)

Le Laperouse

Le Bougainville

Le Champlain

Le Dumont d'Urville

Le Commandant Charcot

Le Ponant

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Le Jacques Cartier

After a very disappointing cruise with Ponant to the Seychelles (See my comments Le Bougainville) we had been thoroughly enjoying this cruise to the sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia. It’s definitely one of the windiest and choppiest corners of our globe and weather related changes of the itinerary are more than common. The captain and the crew had been outstanding in every respect. Their professional handling of all situations and the talent of improvisation helped to make this a memorable expedition. The entire expedition team and the two representatives of National Geographic had been exceptional, as well. Excellent presentations on board! Thank you, Sandrine (the Expedition Manager) ! We also want to mention the cruise director who did an excellent job, too.

We are definitely looking forward to our next expedition with one of the Ponant ships! Finally it all depends on people! This time we had been lucky!

Great Expedition Team,  excellent crew, challenging adventure 

It is my second attempt to explore and visit the New Zealand subantarctic islands. 2 years ago, I was on the Spirit of Enderby which I am going to call "SoE". That trip was booked by a travel agent which I trusted. The result however was something I never do again. I can't handle SoE. Sharing a small room, small shower, toilet that isn't allowed to flush toilet paper etc etc.. well, you get the idea. I am 6'10" tall and diabetic and after just 1 day and actually nice weather: Seasickness, hypo's, bad pain in the back, not good. I was able to leave the SoE expedition.

If anyone is okay with that ship, that's fine. I find the ship something you can't relax on and that did it for me.

So here we go, Le Laperouse which took most of the destinations SoE offered on their voyage.

The Le Laperous expedition went way better. You have the room for yourself, no sharing with other travellers, a balcony which is actually great to do some birdwatching and photographing from.

In comparison with SoE though... yep, we obviously don't have 50 people on board but 150 on Le Laperouse.

That means that when you go on a shore excursion or zodiac cruise, you'll be split into groups. That unfortunately means, less time to actually be out of the ship. Nothing the crew could do about it, but something to think about when choosing a cruise. A ship with 50 people on board (SoE) may be too small for some (including me) but having more then 150 people probably means less excursion time.

Excursion time, actually "being out there" is the most important thing for me. I don't really care how diverse the menu is. I go on holiday to watch birds first, and other wildlife / landscape second. Everything else..., yeah it needs to be comfortable so I can:

Eat well

Sleep well

Work on my laptop to download, store and edit pictures which I have just taken.

Stay clean (shower and toilet)

Everything else, lectures, dancing classes, luxury dinners etc. etc. are a non priority for me.

On the cruise itself, yeah it was great that we were able to go to Sandy Bay on Macquarie Island, since the Australian Government shut down the entire island because of Corona virus but through some tough negotiations we were still able to go to Sandy Bay, not to the Adare Station. Unfortunate that we couldn't do zodiac tours around The Snares but being close to the Snares was still very nice.

We saw plenty of birds, seals as well as stunning landscape in the Fjords. The crew was excellent.

I am certainly looking forward to one's in a few years visit a remote place on a cruise and Ponant's Le Laperouse or the other Exploration vessels do come recommended for certain.

Very good exploration trip!

St. Thomas

Based on the price, we thought Ponant would be a really nice cruise, but we were disappointed in comparison to other top-notch cruise lines we've enjoyed.  Many incidents were individually small things that would have been easily overlooked IF the overall cruise or friendliness of the staff would have exceeded (or even MET) our expectations.  As our cruise progressed though, the tiny annoyances added up to a point where we felt disappointed overall.  Here are just a few examples:

The embarkation process was disorganized.  It seemed that all passengers were instructed to embark at the same time (4 pm) ... yet we all waited significantly past 4 pm in a very hot, stuffy terminal building - with no idea when we'd actually be able to board, or in what order.  Without understanding WHY a big group from Tauck Tours was led ahead of the rest of us who had been waiting longer, and even AFTER they all boarded, there was confusion as to when the rest of us could go.  When we finally got to our stateroom, one of our bags wasn't delivered until we went to ask for it, and when disembarking after the cruise, we were told we had to have our suitcases in the hallway at 7 am, but at 8 am when we went to breakfast, our bags hadn't even been picked up.  We had a car waiting for us at 8:30 -- we changed it to 8:45 am, but even then our suitcases weren't out on the dock yet, so our taxi had to wait.  Another example ... after suddenly learning that the "captain's gala" night would be the night after we boarded, we were dismayed to learn that any clothes we asked to have ironed could not be guaranteed back to us for up to 48 hours.  We made a simple request at the reception desk to please have brief access to an iron so our formal wear could be presentable (we'd been traveling for 3 days/nights so our dressier clothes were VERY wrinkled).  We were told "for safety reasons" we couldn't use an iron, whether in our room or ANYwhere on the ship in order to make our clothes presentable for the gala.  Viking and Crystal ocean cruises are very safe, yet they both have small rooms where guests could take a few moments to iron their clothes before a formal night -- with irons that automatically shut off if left unattended.  A few days into the cruise, Ponant left a questionnaire in our stateroom asking for suggestions to make the cruise better, and I took the time to explain how a 24-to-48-hour turnaround for clothes to be washed or pressed was not quickly enough -- given that the first formal evening was in LESS than 24 hours from the time we boarded the ship, AND that we had no access to an iron.  They never took the time to speak to us about our concerns -- instead they left what we felt was a rudely worded letter at our stateroom ... restating their "safety reason" argument.  Even worse .. their letter included wording along the lines of the fact that THEIR guests don't expect to iron their own clothes.  (Guess we weren't considered their guests)!  We would have gladly paid what they quoted for our clothes to be ironed IF we could have had them back in time for the gala.  Later during the cruise we overheard a guest at the reception desk pleading for her underwear to come back from the laundry because she was completely out - but the receptionist was just as aloof with her, curtly restating their 24-48 hour laundry return policy.  Compared to cruise lines where the focus is on accommodating requests from guests, some of the staff on Ponant seemed to have such an unfriendly attitude ... reception desk staff rarely even looked up from their computers, offered a smile, or even a "good morning".  Ponant never  bothered to address our concern over why the gala night was held so soon after boarding -- when we had no way to get wrinkles out of our clothes, so, I felt it futile to fill out their evaluation form at the end of the cruise.  The food was good for the most part, but not exceptional -- and on 3 separate occasions when we ordered a particular meal (i.e., their featured choice of a quinoa dinner) they just delivered a totally different meal (pasta with shrimp) without ANY explanation whatsoever.  They just plopped the pasta in front of me and quickly walked away.  Only in 1 instance did they offer an explanation (they had run out of one of the featured salmon choice my husband had made).  To be fair, some of the staff were VERY friendly and helpful, but more than a few were not, and we found that unusual for this price-range cruise.  For example, one evening when we went to the bar at the observation area, we asked the bartender to make us a cocktail with gin, fresh lime juice & a bit of sugar.  He told us he didn't have lime juice (we learned the next day that the downstairs bartender DID have lime juice and was happy to make that drink for us).  The observation deck bartender who told us he couldn't make anything with lime juice told us he might be able to get lime juice downstairs, BUT that we'd have to pay an extra $1 for it, and we felt that was outrageously petty.  Maybe Ponant's focus is to cater to all the Tauck guests, but not the rest of us.  We weren't the only people on board who felt this way -- others we met from various places around the world had similar feelings.  On several occasions, we were simply chatting with people at our table after "mealtime" (and we were NOT asking to be served anything else) ... but still, we were told we had to leave the table.  There aren't many places on Le Laperouse where people can gather and chat (or often the other areas are crowded with no seating available) so we felt it was unfriendly for them to "kick us out" of the dining room when it as obvious we were just talking, AND all our place-settings had already been cleared.  Not all the time, but more times than we could count, we had to flag someone down in the morning to bring coffee or in the evening to bring wine -- even after we'd been seated for at least 10 minutes.  Also, at bars, instead of the staff offering nuts or snacks with our cocktails, we had to specifically ask if they had a salty snack to have with our cocktails.  ONLY then would they reach beneath their counter to give us some nuts!  Additionally, we would have appreciated some educational sessions in the theatre each day, with informative information about our next port -- but we only learned a bit about our next port from the daily newsletter left on our beds at night.  I mention these examples just to give others an idea of times we didn't feel like appreciated guests.  Maybe if this had been our FIRST luxury cruise, we might have had lower expectations and would have nothing to compare it to -- but every other cruise we've been on has been superior with how organized, friendly, and helpful they were.  We're easygoing and usually happy with even slightly above average service (especially when it's obvious the staff is eager to go-the-extra-mile on simple requests) but unfortunately, for us, Ponant was disappointing in enough aspects to ever return, or recommend it to others.

Disappointed with Ponant

Our recent cruise on Ponant's Le Laperouse around New Zealand went way beyond our expectations. We hadn't sailed with Ponant before, but are avid cruisers, having enjoyed several with Seabourn, Silversea, Regent and Viking, all of which have been wonderful, but we would have to say that our experience on Le Laperouse has most definitely been the best to date.

The ship is stylish, comfortable, and well sized (with only 180 passengers), making it possible to call into every port on our itinerary without the need for tenders.

Our beautiful suite was spotlessly clean, spacious, well equipped and extremely comfortable (as were all areas throughout the ship). The service in the restaurant and bar was impeccable, with highly professional and friendly staff and the food was delicious, varied and beautifully presented.

One of the highlights of the ship is a unique 'Blue Eye Lounge' in the hull of Le Laperouse, offering a multi sensory underwater viewing experience in a beautiful space-age style bar. Well worth a visit.

We also very much enjoyed the entertainment, attending several impressive shows with talented dancers, singers and musicians. Talks on board were offered in both French and English and there were several opportunities during the cruise to participate in quizzes and dance lessons etc.

The itinerary was superb, with Le Laperouse journeying us through several of the sounds of the South Island, including the idyllic Milford Sound, Our zodiac adventure into this fjord was just amazing and made very easy with the ability to board the zodiacs directly from the back deck. Our stops at various ports as we journeyed from Dunedin to Auckland included some interesting excursions, with our favourite being a visit to Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony.

We should also mention that our Captain, Fabien Roche, and his crew,  did a wonderful job ensuring the passengers enjoyed comfortable sailing throughout the trip and keeping us well informed of the ships whereabouts, schedules, and local conditions. Our original itinerary was to include White Island, but due to the tragic volcanic incident  just a few weeks earlier the schedule was changed. But a further issue with high seas in the aftermath of cyclone Tino meant the replacement stop (Gisborne) was also not a possibility. The captain managed the situation perfectly, keeping us all comfortable. We did, as it turned out,  sail by White Island, whilst the captain made a fitting tribute, with one minutes silence , for those who had lost their lives in the spirit of adventure there. It was an emotional experience well handled in a surreal landscape.

Needless to say, we highly recommended Ponant, if you are considering a cruise.

Fabulous New Zealand Cruise on Ponant's Le Laperouse

Mykonos

Rarely have I been so disappointed by a cruise.

I booked, what was promised to be an "Expedition" cruise through the Indonesian archipelago, from Singapore to Darwin.

The supposed highlight of this cruise (and the main reason why I booked it) was the exclusive visit to an Orang-utan rehabilitation project in the Tanjung Puting National Park on Borneo. 

Whilst for most other passengers on the cruise, this highlight became true, unfortunately for me and nine other passengers, the visit to the National Park turned out to be a nightmare. 

Not only started the incompetent expedition guide the Zodiac from the main ship by 90 degrees at inclement weather for one hour into the wrong direction, but also the most simple safety rules for such an outing where totally ignored and the passengers' life put at risk. To mention but a few: No safety rip-cord around the wrist of the guide of the Zodiac; GPS was not pre-set (or even calibrated) for an ocean crossing of 4.5 kilometers in a thunderstorm, nor was the coordinates-sheet laminated or a least in a plastic folder to protect it from splashing water, etc.

Needless to say that we never got to see the Orang-utans, because we did not even reach the place, where they were. Excuse or offer of compensation? Not from Ponant.. (see below)   

This was the only program item which would have qualified as an expedition feature of the entire cruise - everything else was run-of-the-mill, just like any ordinary cruise. If I would have wanted such a programm, I would have chosen the similar Seabourn cruise instead, notably at half the price.

I had the most expensive cabin on the ship (except for suites) and was for three days without air condition, with temperatures of more than 25 degrees at night and even higher during the day. The engineer admitted that this was a common problem on this ship near the equator and started procedures. These resulted in having to sleep with noise, measured at 60 decibels (the noise of a lawnmower 10 meters away). Excuse or compensation offer? Not from Ponant... (see below) 

In the almost three months since I have come back from the cruise, Ponant disgracefully did not reply to any of my messages: Neither, the president of Ponant, nor the corporate head of communications, nor the customer relations department even acknowledged my complaints. I regard this conduct of Ponant as not only bad, but dishonourable. Having been so substantially defrauded by them, I will not use them again and will advise everybody to steer well clear from them.

Not an Expedition cruise - A disappointment 

I chose this so called ‘expedition’ cruise mainly for the Orangutan encounter in Tanjung Puting in Kalimantan. Well, because of the total incompetence of the ‘Expedition Team’ we never got there. The expedition guide totally miscalculated the bearings and took us for one and a half hour, over a very bumpy sea, in totally the wrong direction. How this happened is an enigma to me, as he has already been there the same morning with another group. He also had GPS coordinates for the entrance point to the river, but didn’t use them. In fact he didn’t even turn the GPS on until he realised that he was totally lost, one and a half hours later. Now if that’s not incompetence, what is! We eventually found the river’s entrance but it was by now getting dark and we were very far from the ship, we had to turn back. Very, very disappointing and all this could have been avoided if the expedition guide was better trained.

The other “expedition” excursions were very run of the mill i.e what any cheap tour operators offer. When we complained about this to the Ponant Group after our return, we were ignored completely, not only by the public relations department and the Customer care department, but also by the Managing Director himself! 

The food on board is not bad, however the choices are very limited. The expedition personnel should to my mind give preference to the paying customers, but this was not the case, several times I had to make an alternative choice at the buffet, because the expedition staff swept the serving dishes bare. The service in the restaurants are excellent as is the housekeeping staff. The bar staff are friendly and always ready to assist.The Cruise Director, Simone, was outstanding. He could defuse several heated situations on this particular cruise.

This company has certainly seen me and I suggest that anyone thinking about booking a cruise with the Ponant Group, think again and look carefully what the opposition offers, i.e Seaborne.

What a ripoff!!

We were expecting the best ever cruise and our personal experience is as follows:

The good things:

- The ship is beautiful, fairly new and nicely appointed.

- The dining and room staff are great and will do anything for you.

- The itinerary of our 17 day cruise from Bali to Hong Kong was well thought out and perfect for us.

- The whole ship is clean and tidy.

- The rooms are well sound proofed.

- the bathroom and seperate toilet are small but adequate.

- The Blue Lagoon bar is an unusual and nice experience.

- The captain is great, very available/approachable and down to earth.

- The cruise director is great.

- The singers and dancers are great although lacked live music support.

- The bridge is accessible for most of the time which is a nice experience.

- The number of passengers, max of about 180, means you get to know a lot of people.

- Free style dining is good in two dining areas.

- A good variety of shore excursions.

- The included drinks are acceptable.

The not so good things:

- gratuities are not including which is a surprise given the cost of the cruise.

- Whilst the Blue lagoon bar is a good experience, don’t expect to see sea life through the windows as this seems highly unlikely.

- Our stateroom was a bit on the small size.

- Our dress mirror was held on by duct tape, fixed 2 days later.

- Poor information about dress code.

- Poor shore excursion information.

- Prize for winning the quizzes, a free bottle of champagne, the same as is freely available to everyone at the bar so not a prize at all.

- The food choice is limited and is definitely hit and miss.  Much of the French cuisine really didn’t suit us.  The bacon was hard and absolutely dreadful.  I still have sore gums from chewing it.

- Nylon brush bristles in mushroom soup one evening, our table and the adjacent table and another diner who ate the bristles thinking it was celery - no apology or offer of an alternative.

- The shore excursion Ponant staff that accompany the trips seem oblivious to their inaptitude and need some serious training in hospitality.  Some examples:

       -  a single long bench seat with shade at a view point fully occupied by Ponant staff and elderly guests left to stand out in the sun.

       -  on a boat tour to a beach, the tour operator asks us to swim ashore or use a canoe because there were other boats filling the available beach space.  The boat was full of elderly people but the Ponant staff member said and did nothing.  I refused several times on behalf of the passengers and eventually got them to move another boat on shore to make way for us.  15 mins out of our 45 mins stop wasted.

      -  another boat’s passengers were told that the canoes at a stop had to be paid for and the Ponant staff didn’t know that they were included.  That boat voted to go somewhere else and they missed out on a visit by canoe to the most beautiful hidden lagoon.

      -  on two occasions we had to wait for the Ponant staff at the end of a tour stop as they were too busy chatting to their friends.  Everyone was there but the Ponant staff.  

There was much talk about the poor performance of these staff amongst a number of the passengers.

- we heard various stories of rude bar staff and experienced directly one occasion where the staff were outside at the handrail on entry to Hong Kong and my wife asked them to make a little space for her and she was rudely told this area was not for guests.  In fact it was usually not for guests but opened up for guests during the harbour entry and was full of guests.  Eventually they went off in a huff.

-  Where was the piano player?  A beautiful grand piano with no one playing it.  Not good and was really needed to support the singers.

- We were rudely awoken with room service breakfast ordered by another cabin. The passenger had mistakenly written our cabin number on their order but their correct name.  Surely the hospitality staff should cross check names. Not good.

Out of 14 cruises and 8 cruise companies this was close to being our worst experience.  That’s not to say we didn’t have a good time, we did, but it should have been so much better.

Sorry to say, 5 out of 10.

Not as expected!

We chose these cruises for the expeditions and ability of the vessel to get into small ports and also to change course to find unexpected delights. We also love French food!

The expedition leaders were wonderful as were their lectures each evening on the following day's adventures. All the crew went out of their way to make sure those of us who were less able-bodied were included in as many excursions as physically possible. There was always help with getting in and out of the Zodiacs, etc. 

We would certainly go on another of these expedition cruises and look forward to the National Geographic connection with Ponant.

It was delightful for us to be able to practice our foreign language skills again on this multi-lingual vessel.

Captain Fabien Roche was a brilliant commander - very easy to engage with.

We made many new friends on both of our back-to-back cruises and hope to see them again on future cruises.

Amazing expedition to the Kimberley Coast and on to Bali

Having sailed twice before with Ponant on expedition cruises the choice for our cruise to the Kimberley was easy to make as we knew first hand the type of cruise that we would be joining. Ponant are a little expensive compared to some other operators in the Kimberley area, however the quality with Ponant is always the same and they spare nothing to allow each person to enjoy the most out of the adventure. In Wyndham you have the choice of 3 excursions (included in the cruise price),a cruise undertaking the remarkable Ord river wildlife, a scenic flight over the east Kimberley including the Bungle Bungle Range or a day exploring El Questro station including Emma George and Zebedee Springs. We chose the Ord river which is supplied by a Ponant contractor and is a fantastic day seeing all the wild life and the water system of the river. Each day we enjoyed 2 different Zodiacs trips offered by the very experienced Expedition team which allowed us to get up close to some of the most amazing sights on earth. We will never forget the King George River, Vansittart Bay, Hunter River , Mitchell Falls, Collier Bay ( Horizontal Waterfalls), Talbot Bay (Montgomery Reef),Lacepede Islands or the amazing day trips to view and learn about the first nations people and the cave art work and way of life.

MUST DO TRIP WITH PONANT

Miami

Did this cruise two years ago on L'Austral. It was so good we re-booked and took our adult children on with us this time on Le Laperouse. This trip was even better! The new ship is beautiful. Love the cabins and public areas. The new Zodiac landing arm is amazing. When not in use for this purpose we had a champagne cocktail party on it as well as a concert by an opera singer as the sun was setting over the Indian Ocean. Magical. The expedition team were fantastic. Very knowledgeable and likable. Wonderful Captain and crew on board and sensational food. An incredible itinerary in such a beautiful remote area. We felt very privileged to be able to hike to some of the Aboriginal rock art sites. We are quite well traveled and cruise a lot and hands down this was the best trip we have ever done. Could not fault a thing. If you haven't been to the Kimberley be sea, I would highly recommend it with Ponant.

Exceptional Expedition Cruise

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