Ponant is one of the few cruise lines that offers multiple cruises without a single supplement. For almost the same price as a Caribbean cruise on a premium cruise line (double for solos), I was able to book a mid-ship balcony cabin on an ultra-luxury Ponant cruise. Le Dumont d'Urville is a beautiful mega-yacht with a modern, minimalist design. Food, drinks, service, cabins, lectures and so forth ...
The expedition experience that Viking is selling with this ship is definitely different from the typical ocean cruise experience. There are about two dozen staff members who are assigned to bring the expedition experience to life. The ship shares many of the design elements of the ocean ships. The cabins are nice and feature a floor to ceiling window instead of a balcony. The room darkening shade ...
Viking Octantis is a new ship with a purpose: interactive fun for the guests. It's built to cruise in Arctic/Antarctic waters, but it size allows it to go to other waters, such as the US Great Lakes and cruise where much larger ships do not.
For starters, as an 'expedition' ship, the Octantis has significant gear aboard that enables its guests to experience their ports up close and personally. ...
My expectations for this ship turned out to be quite a bit off!
All I knew when I first heard about this ship is that it is smaller and carried less passengers than Viking's other ocean ships. I interpreted that to mean that it was going to be a scaled-back version of their other ships... that it would be somehow inferior.
But after a 10-day cruise on Viking Octantis, I'm here to tell you ...
Brand new ship launched in January of 2022. A much more academic ride than we are used to. Much of the entertainment had to do with the sea. Books on the Antarctic and the Great Lakes were everywhere.
The room was outstanding. Very comfortable and the opening window was excellent. It was like they added the room from the veranda into the room. Extra heated closet for the Artic gear was great ...
Through much online Viking cruise (positive) search reviews, the small size of the ship, adults only and Octantis being an expedition ship Viking met what we were looking for in a cruise without the party time atmosphere of most other lines. With that being said, we decided to give her a try and we are certainly glad that we did as we were NOT disappointed. As a matter-of-fact Viking exceeded our ...
We chose this expedition because of previous experiences with Viking River Cruises.
The expedition was outstanding in all respects: service, accomodations, dining and landings on the zodiacs.
The staff, in all areas, was attentive and accomodating. Kudos to all from the Captain and Department Heads to to the Wait Staff, Cabin Attendents, and expedition and landing crews.
This expedition ...
We wanted to experience the new expedition ship, Viking Octantis. We chose this trip as it had several stops in the Caribbean before heading to NYC. We had a wonderful trip and enjoyed all that Octantis had to offer. While the entertainment was fine, it was not the same as one would find on a larger ship. We knew this from the start so were not disappointed, but that's why I rated the ...
Our 2022 Ponant cruise, along with our 2020 Ponant cruise - same ship- was the thrill of a lifetime because the smaller ships can get into ports the large ships can't visit. I also was thrilled to take two ecotours on this ship - one right before Covid lockdown in 2020, and then again, this winter in 2022. The ship captain was kind enough to ALWAYS translate for us, though we were the only two ...
Ponant Cruise Line – The Cruise Line from Hell
In October my wife and I boarded Ponant Le Champlain at Boston USA for a 2 week cruise to Mexico. My description “the cruise line from hell” relates to the “campylobacter” food poisoning I suffered. Food poisoning/upset stomachs is not necessarily unusual but in this case I became seriously ill.
The food poisoning in my case can easily be ...