Le Champlain Review

Great Ship; Great Crew; Poor Corporate Communication; Meh Itinerary

Review for South America Cruise on Le Champlain
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AussieBoyTX
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2019
Traveled with children
Deluxe Suite 302
Kids' play area on Deck 6 (Playstation not visible)
Main outdoor area on Deck 3. Pool, lounge chairs and informal dining room (
Captain Simon wishes us well as we leave from the marine deck for our trip
Livingston
The most beautiful sauna ever!
Silky shark at Lighthouse Reef Atoll

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 from Puerto Morelos. We were notified only a few days in advance that the embarkation had been moved to Cozumel -- too late to change our hotel reservations (and of course of flights). Had we known just a week in advance, we could have booked a hotel in Cozumel and perhaps even flown there, saving us lots of time.

On the good side, Le Champlain's crew handled this as well as I would have expected. Ponant had arranged for us to meet at the Playa del Carmen Hyatt and chartered a private ferry to Cozumel. It was clear that the crew members were working hard to make sure this unexpected transfer went well. the ferry let us off at Le Champlain, so we had only a short walk to board. We were adjacent to an RCL ship and that highlighted exactly how small Le Champlain is. On board, Mexican emigration formalities took more than an hour -- but we were plied with Champaign and canapés, so there was little complaining from us.

Cabin Review

This would be an awesome cabin for two people with a large bathroom, walk-in closet and sofa. It was fine for three of us and we had enough room for all of our stuff and a nice balcony.

Port Reviews

Santo Tomas de Castilla

SWe took the excursion to the Las Escobas Nature Trail (where some of us swam around the waterfalls), followed by a visit to a local community, where we made tortillas and ate our own tacos). Everyone on the bus was English speaking and it was not full. There were two busses of French passengers on the same tour and it looked as though their busses were more full. Our guide was local, endearing and gave us all small gifts from Guatemala.

Atthough we didn't go into town, it was only a short walk from the port and looked interesting.

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