AussieBoyTX

Now that we’ve completed our first Ponant Smithsonian Journeys cruise, we can share our thoughts on the Smithsonian Journeys experience: The tl;dr is that the experience is very good and probably worth the premium price if you are excited about the speakers, like to be around Americans, or want some hand-holding for your first Ponant cruise. Otherwise, Ponant usually offers a similar cruise without the Smithsonian experience for a lower price. The Ponant Smithsonian Journeys cruises are a partnership (not a charter like e.g. Tauck, A&K, Backroads, et al) that offers cruises targeted towards an English-speaking audience and differentiating itself through experiences that provide a deeper understanding of the places explored. As of now, those differentiated experiences are mostly through the Smithsonian Journeys speakers. The excursions offered on this Smithsonian cruise appear to be the same as those offered on regular Ponant cruises on a similar itinerary. Our Reaction to the Differences in the Smithsonian Journeys Experience: Transfers to / from ship — because of the missed / cancelled flight risk, we never arrive on the day of the cruise and will not use this benefit. All Excursions Included — I suppose they are worth $100-150 each ($600-$900 per week). We took an excursion each day more-or-less because we felt they were paid for. Generally, we would take one or two of the excursions offered by the ship and would organize something on our own for the other days. This remains our preference and on the Smithsonian Journeys cruise we did, we would have purchased only one, maybe two of the six days. As on a regular Ponant cruise, the excursions would benefit from a more detailed presentation with some intelligence on why or why not one would want to select any specific excursion. The Smithsonian Journeys speakers — the speakers are renowned, have experience in the area visited and are very interesting. You also have the possibility of joining each of them at a small table over dinner, or at pre-dinner cocktails. If you’re a particular fan of one of the speakers, this is an opportunity to get tremendous access. To be honest, we were very pleased with the expedition leader and naturalists on the one Expedition cruise we’ve done and don’t need better / more speakers on Expedition cruises. On regular Ponant cruises, where the speakers are great in French, but “also speak English,” we’d enjoy an upgrade but don’t require the full Smithsonian experience. The Tour Director — our Tour Director described herself as a “fixer” and offered to serve as liaison between passengers and crew in the event of any need. She did quite a bit more than that, was very visible, very helpful and appeared to have resolved some passenger issues. She was a native English speaker and likely was more approachable for someone uncomfortable dealing directly with the French crew. We’ve never had an issue that the Cruise Director or Hotel Manager couldn’t resolve for us, but we certainly agree that the Tour Director added value. The Ponant Experience — at least as far as dining, shipboard activities and entertainment go, the Smithsonian experience was very similar to the regular Ponant experience (we were concerned these would be modified and were very pleased they were not). All announcements and presentations are in English and almost all passengers are Americans, changing the shipboard community part of the experience substantially. Aside from the Americans on our cruise, there were two or three German couples, a Spanish family with a cute 14 month-old and inexplicably a French couple. As far as pricing goes, from a brief survey, as of August 2022, the Smithsonian cruises appear to have a slight price premium over regular cruises: Here are two on Le Lyrial with 12 days & 10 nights including transfers from Buenos Aires: Regular cruise w/ 15% Ponant Discount starts at $11,910 (un-discounted is $13,610) Smithsonian cruise w/ 10% Ponant Discount starts at $13,270 And here’s another Caribbean cruise on Le Dumont-d’Urville with 8 nights in Feb/Mar 2023 (both cruises are also offering No Single Supplement): Regular cruise w/ 25% Ponant Discount starts at $3,840 Smithsonian cruise w/ 20% Ponant Discount starts at $5,160 (excursions are offered on six days and are included) In summary, this is a low-risk way for English-speakers to experience Ponant, in the company of other (mostly) Americans, and with the Tour Director to ensure things go smoothly. As for us, it’s not that we won’t go on another Smithsonian Journeys cruise — and it’s not about the money — but we aren’t ones that get really excited about the celebrity speakers and included excursions. And, you know, we miss the French guests.

I think an important distinction is the Smithsonian Journeys cruises are a partnership between Ponant and Smithsonian Institution -- they're not a charter like A&K, Tauck and others who offer sailings on Ponant and don't appear to command the premium pricing those charters have. Looking at one itinerary I'm familiar with (Emblematic Antarctica), the pricing isn't that far apart: Both are on Le Lyrial with 12 days & 10 nights including transfers from Buenos Aires: Regular cruise w/ 15% Ponant Discount starts at $11,910 (un-discounted is $13,610) Smithsonian cruise w/ 10% Ponant Discount starts at $13,270 That's not a much of a price difference at all and you get Michelle Thaller who is an excellent science communicator -- it's likely most of us have seen her on various shows on the Discovery Channel. And there's another Smithsonian speaker plus the tour director. That feels like good value, setting aside not being able to share the experience with French and non-French passengers.

That’s a whole lot more, isn’t it? I need to consult with @AussieGirlTX for a full debrief, but my initial thought is this is a low-risk way for an English-speaker to experience Ponant. The all-English communication plus the added native English-Speaking “Tour Director” removes a lot of risk. And you get excellent speakers. This sounds ideal for a week in Europe. Especially if you like the speakers, as on a normal European cruse, they are great in French and “also speak English.” But on an expedition… we have only done the one in Seychelles, the naturalists / expedition guides all spoke English and were accomplished in their fields. I don’t know that celebrity speakers would have improved it significantly. While I enjoyed the energy Americans brought to every event, I also missed the French (and non-French) from the other cruises.

Ah and here we are on our final full day -- in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was a warm and party cloudy day and the excursions left at a reasonably civilized time, right before nine. Most of us went on the city tour plus Volvo Museum. For me, the drive through the city was meh, and was used to burn time while we waited for the museum to open at 10. The museum itself was awesome and had more than a hundred Volvo cars, trucks & exhibits. We immediately separated ourselves from the group and went to see the cars we didn't want to miss (including the Volvo 145 station wagon that took me to elementary school for several years) while the guided tour proceeded at their own pace. Nonetheless, we got to the end at the same time -- I could have easily spent another hour, but I would have been alone, even with my own entourage, who had had enough. Our next stop was at the city center, where we were offered coffee and a traditional Swedish cinnamon roll before having a few minutes to explore the town. With the beautiful weather, we decided to walk back to the ship, which was at the same time, lovely and somewhat gritty. It was only 30 minutes and we arrived in time for our final lunch. After lunch, we adjourned for a very short rest before joining our friends on their deck to watch the sailing out of Gothenburg. It was fun to watch all the activity in this busy port. My favorite was the massive Stena Line ferries, with their passengers waving to us as they left us in their wake. It took more than an hour to get into open water and then we returned to our cabin to begin the "arduous" packing process and to rest up for the night ahead... To be honest, I think there's too much going on the final night -- I get that it makes sense, but my preference is to have the crew introductions and final gala dinner the second to last night -- like we did on Le Lyrial the night before Corinth Canal. Anyway, the final night began with Terje Leiren giving a final presentation on Norway and World War 2. I missed it, due to other obligations (sleep). Normally, that's a lecture I would have looked forward to. We had a final Champagne and our captain thanked us for coming on Le Dumont-d'Urville. We learned that there were 139 passengers and 115 crew. And then we had the crew introductions -- and I was reminded that Americans are really good at recognizing good work with loud applause, cheers and whoops for certain favorite crew members. Really quite a bit beyond what I've heard before. Then straight to the gala dinner, where we were joined by Robin Wright. We spoke about Pandas, Antarctica, Africa, Ponant and maybe a little bit about war. As usual, the gala took two hours and if the entire ship hadn't been in the dining room, we would have missed the final show starting at 9:15. Indeed at 9:30, the dancers invited us to join them as soon as we were done for their show. We arrived in the lounge at 9:45 and the show started right after. It was short and fun. the dancers and some senior officers and the doctor stayed for dancing, bu the needed to finish packing and go to bed -- after all, it was quite close to eleven! And the final morning -- went pretty much as usual. Plenty of "au revoir" and "à bientôt" with our favorite crew members as we lallygagged through breakfast and enjoyed a final coffee in the lounge as we got closer to nine. we knew it was time to go when the "Smithsonian Journeys" sign on the screens went away and was replaced by the group who had chartered the ship for the next week. Our butler lugged the last of our bags down the gangway and Captain Daumesnil was at the foot to thank us for cruising on "your ship" Le Dumont-d'Urville and looking forward to hosting us on our next cruise on Le Dumont-d'Urville. We are also looking forward to that cruise, hosted by Captain Daumesnil in the not distant future.

That level of connectivity won't be a problem. Ponant doesn't block my home or work VPN and even at the very slowest can maintain a VPN connection and sometimes a voice-only Zoom call.

The overnight transit to Arendal was slightly rough as we left the fjords and sailed into the open sea. It was certainly not enough to make sailing unpleasant, though. When I woke, it was overcast & raining hard. Our morning was fairly leisurely -- first Robin Wright gave her second lecture entitled, "A Changing World Order: Europe, Russia & NATO," which was followed by a short break to visit the Boutique for the final time and then Terje Leiren's lecture, "The Vikings Were People, Too." Dr. Leiren's lecture ended right after we docked at Arendal's small pier. Arendal is only visited by small ships and it seems that one visits every three or four days. We were greeted by local "children" singing a medley of songs from "Frozen." It was cute and we had a perfect view from our starboard cabin. The excursions didn't leave until after 1:30 and wouldn't be back until well after five, meaning everyone on excursion was going to miss the Tea Time Crêpes. One member of our party was devastated -- it is her favorite tea time. Enough that she considered skipping the excursion. She asked if a crêpe could be saved for her -- she was assured some would be saved for our tour's return -- but they weren't. She was disappointed and received apologies from all the people involved. We did get the caviar tasting, though, which I appreciated. We took the tour of the quaint town of Tvedestrand and the Naes Ironworks Museum. The town was lovely, but we only had a few minutes there. The Ironworks museum was interesting and the museum's guide not only spoke English fluently, but he knew everything there was to know about ironworking. This excursion was a huge hit with everyone in our party -- except for me. It was educational and interesting for sure, but I think I would have rather explored Arendal, which was only a few feet from the ship. One thing that had happened during the day was that the weather cleared up, leaving us glorious weather for our departure, which we enjoyed from our friends' deck. The departure through the narrow channel was spectacular and we made quite a scene -- sail and motor boats followed us, people waved from their houses and sidewalks and lots of ships, including ours, sounded their horns. By the time we cleared the channel, it was almost eight and time for dinner, which we ate outside downstairs, for the first time this cruise. Even so, we absolutely did not miss the Bordier cheese buffet upstairs. The restaurant manager and sommelier knew I had been looking forward to this and both had suggestions on what I had to try. Ultimately, I just asked the restaurant manager if he would choose his favorites for me and he was happy to do so. Wonderful! And what's this? We had a brand new show in the theatre: "Frida," inspired by Frida Kahlo. It was very good and the dance pieces were also very athletic. Extremely impressive and I look forward to seeing it again. 😉 Tomorrow, Gothenburg, Sweden

Today we visited Sandnes (Stavanger). Sandnes is a small residential & industrial suburb, only fifteen minutes away from downtown Stavanger. Seabourn Ovation was berthed nearby, while Costa Diadema and Viking Mars were berthed at Stavanger old town. We had a leisurely arrival at 9am and set off for our excursions at 9:30. Our tour first visited what was called an Iron Age farm, older than 550CE. It was interesting and the one factoid that I remembered was that the farmer must have been fairly wealthy, as they had some glassware that probably came from one of the empires along the Mediterranean -- the glass had been repaired with gold, indicating the local technology was sufficient to melt gold, but not glass. Next we briefly visited the Swords in the Stone and walked through the old town -- which was surreal with Diadema looming over the houses in all my pictures. Finally we visited the Petroleum Museum for an hour. I could have easily spent twice the time at the Petroleum Museum (and was amused that Viking had a large hospitality tent there), but there was nothing to fault about the tour -- the guide spoke English natively and was knowledgeable and entertaining. Given the limited time we had, next time, I'd get a taxi and see the Old Town and Petroleum Museum only. We were back at the pier at two and had a late lunch -- unfortunately we dawdled and missed out on the special fish of the day -- it was scarfed up by guests who arrived after us, while we had salad from the buffet. Way poor planning on our part. 🤦‍♂️ Our afternoon was spent sailing in Lysefjorden, which is a spectacular fjord. The highlight was the famous Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen), which we saw from the left, then the right side of the ship, so everyone could enjoy from their cabins if they chose. I was impressed by how tight the ship's 180 degree turn was -- it was only slightly larger than the length of the ship, added by the bow thruster. Soon after that, we had a Pata Negra tasting, at which I met some couples who have been following this trip report, so I'm now armed with suggestions for future entries... Maybe they'll pitch in with their own comments. We joined another couple who might be reading this for dinner with Terje Leiren, one of our Smithsonian enrichment speakers. He's Professor Emeritus of Scandinavian Studies at University of Washington and could not be stumped by any question about Norway. We had lots of interesting discussion with him and with our new friends and finished after nine. Because of weather, the show in the theater was postponed and we played "Name That Tune" hosted by our cruise director, singers & dancers for prizes of unspeakable value until 10:30. Tomorrow Arendal.

I assume your captain is Régis Daumesnil -- but you can see who the captain is from the Ponant app -- the captain is usually visible inside the app about sixty days before the cruise.

Today was a great day. We arrived in Loen at 7 and I was the only one in the Observatory Lounge to watch our entry into the quiet fjord. And shortly after that, we were on board the tender for the very short ride to the pier. I was still full and decided to skip breakfast aside from a small pastry (and of course plenty of coffee, as is my custom). Today our expedition used the Ponant Small Ship Advantage to go to the Briksdal Glacier. We had three busses, each a bit less than half-full and maybe seventy of us in total. The ride to the glacier was thirty minutes, but at the beginning, we could see why we left so early -- The P&O Iona, with 5400-6400 passengers was chugging into Olden, the gateway town slightly closer to the Glacier. We made it to the glacier first, of course, and the famous Troll Cars were ready to take us to the base with no waiting. The glacier itself was spectacular. Yes, it was cold, extremely windy and with a bit of rain, but the clouds were high and everything was perfectly visible. We had ample time to walk to the foot of the glacier, get our pictures and return to the base camp for an included coffee and cake stop (and fast internet that let us sync our pictures with each other) before the first bus arrived from Iona. On our way back to Le Dumont-d'Urville, I counted more than forty-five busses going the other way to the glacier! Forty-five! Indeed, Olden was busy and there was further delay passing through the town because it was jam-packed with pedestrians in the middle of the road! The local guide spoke English well and was knowledgeable. I would definitely take this tour again. Anyway, once we were safely back on our ship, it was time for lunch, the highlight of which was a galette that was so fine that it assuredly was made by a Breton (though the Restaurant Manager assured me the chef was not a Breton) and a rest before our own jam-packed afternoon. This began with a lecture by our captain Régis Daumesnil that was billed as a Virtual Bridge Tour, but was really an extremely well organized and presented history of navigation and how it applies to each of Le Dumont-d'Urville's systems. In my experience, this is rivaled only by Captain Garcia's presentation on Le Commandant Charcot. Sadly, our captain was allotted only ninety minutes 😉 and he ended his presentation with material to spare so that Robin Wright, the second of our Smithsonian enrichment speakers, could begin hers. Robin Wright's presentation was called, "Rogues, Heroes, Mercenaries & the Pope" -- basically a fast-paced overview of some of the fascinating people she met (and lost) over decades as a war and political correspondent (soon to be a book). The theater was packed for her presentation and it seemed that only a small few missed it. Afterwards, we adjourned to the lounge to enjoy the singers -- it was very busy with a high energy buzz that I have not seen before on a Ponant ship. Seems like most passengers were there enjoying animated conversation. Dinner was available at seven, but we didn't go up until 7:30, which was probably a mistake. Because of the weather, everyone was eating upstairs and were at least a course ahead of us, making it difficult for the staff to keep up with us. I have to say that the rack of lamb was spectacular! We also had the escargot, and I am reminded why I don't generally order escargot. They were properly prepared, but just not my thing. After dinner, the fun continued with a well attended Casino Night hosted by the officers, dancers & singers.We had collected a huge wad of Ponant cash, but that was not enough to win the prizes of "unspeakable value" so we retired at 11 for our upcoming day in Sandnes (Stavanger).

Internet at the best of times is slow on all Ponant ships I’ve been on. A crossing shouldn’t be worse. I’ve been posting using cellular service for the most part. The library is small with with perhaps twenty novels and perhaps another twenty coffee table books in English. Here’s a picture. The four games are on the bottom shelf. On this ship, Trivial Pursuit is in English. There’s an additional game with a pyramid of wooden balls called Pylos that looked fun.

Here are some: - Antarctic both from Argentina and New Zealand (you must do both) - US Great Lakes - Seychelles (must include Aldabra Atoll) - NE Passage (yes, we all know that opportunity won’t present itself again soon). - Ocean Voyage, as long as possible. There are a few others that I will have to recall.

Geiranger is the famous town at the end of the fjord that seems to be the subject of most cruise advertising. I was up at six and had the entry mostly to myself, enjoying my cappuccino as we passed the Seven Sisters and reached the small town. We were at anchor, but it was easy to see that the town was ready for huge cruise ships -- there was an articulated gangway that extended well into the fjord that made it simple for large ships to disgorge their thousands of passengers without tenders. Two tours were on offer -- one very highly recommended seven hour tour with incredible scenery and a four hour tour, which we took. Our tour began with a visit to the Norwegian Fjord Center, just a couple of minutes up the rushing river from the pier. I thought it was very interesting and could have easily spent twice the time we were allotted. Then the bus took us over the mountains to a traditional summer goat farm. It was a long, but scenic drive with a couple of photo stops. The farm itself was also interesting -- the farmer was a Ph'D in some humanities when his wife inherited the farm more than forty years ago, where they have been since. The sun broke through the clouds for a bit, and really highlighted how beautiful the place is. We were offered a cheese tasting, including the wonderful brown cheese, which is comprised in large part of caramelized lactose. The way back was "more of the same" spectacular scenery. Guide and farmers spoke English very well and our guide had a constant, interesting commentary for the couple hours of bus-time. I'm not really one for being on busses, so although I would have missed out on the farm, I would spend my time at the Fjord Center and hiking above Geiranger. Traffic was heavy and we arrived back in town a bit late for the very short tender ride back to the ship. In the meantime, Costa Diadema had arrived, and the articulated gangway was already stretched out. Pretty impressive engineering! Back on the Le Dumont-d'Urville, we were late for lunch and there was a scramble for seats to take in the view of the fjord on our short sail to Heilesylt. We were alongside the pier for a couple of hours as we waited for the seven hour tour to join us. We were some of the few passengers who disembarked from the ship to enjoy the very small town, which seems like a gateway to summer mountain adventures.There was a small ferry terminal, a couple of outdoors shoots and a small dairy processing plant, along with several good sized hotels & hostels. The other tour arrived at the ship at 5:30 and we set sail for Loen. Those on the longer tour said it was awesome and spectacular. Not convinced it would have been for me. No other activities were planned for the late afternoon, so we visited the lounge and enjoyed the singers. Dinner at eight was good -- and we made a quick visit to The Blue Eye before leaving our friends to enjoy the classical piano recital. It was our turn to be in bed early at 10.

Overnight, we made our way to Alesund, met by gale-force winds -- which were dealt with handily with Le Dumont-d'Urville's stabilization system (and our Captain's judicious course change). I found the light rolling very comforting and wound up sleeping soundly until 6:30, when the lounge opened for coffee. We had few obligations in the morning -- presentation of the excursions, which gave us enough insight to change one planned excursion for another. Then our first Smithsonian enrichment lecture, which was excellent, though unfortunately named: "Before Climate Change: Norway, Nature and the Exploration of the Polar Regions." I really enjoyed it and about eighty others attended. Lunch was shortly before we arrived at Alesund and I'll note that the Southern Fried Chicken Burger that's available on the "Anytime Menu" is the best we've seen served on Ponant! At Alesund, we split up and took all three offered excursions. All were excellent with fluent English-speaking guides. The one disappointment was that all the stores were closed for the walking tour through Alesund. I went to the aquarium, which was solely marine life from Norwegian waters and enjoyed it. That was followed by a short trip to the mountain outside of town so we could capture our ship at dock. At 7, the Captain's Cocktail Reception was offered in the main dining room on Deck 4 -- a first for us and really quite efficient, given we were already seated for dinner after the toast and introduction to toast and introduction to the senior staff. We were invited to join the captain for dinner and found him delightful -- and quite a good salesman, with several suggestions for "must do" and "life changing" cruises for our list. We also found we're likely to be sailing with him again on a future cruise. He seemed almost gleeful at the prospect of having repeat guests on his ship. The gala dinner itself was very good and had several variations of my favorite Ponant classics -- including the crispy egg, which I found was prepared perfectly. After dinner, our captain excused himself to pilot our ship out of Alesund and we went to the theater to see the show, "Mademoiselle de Paris." The performance had three dancers and a singer and most of the elements were new to us. The forty of so people who stayed up for the show enjoyed it. After the show, it was already late and we went to bed. Tomorrow: Geiranger.

Saturday proceeded almost predictably. Shortly after letting off its passengers, Le Dumont-d'Urville pulled away from the dock to make room for World Voyager, a 200 passenger ship. Ponant passengers apparently started arriving well before four to find Dumont-d'Urville in the harbor, nowhere near boarding. Fortunately, Ponant provided a truck to store guest baggage, but the guys securing the baggage didn't know specifics on boarding. More curious than anything, I went to the World Voyager and asked one of the officers their itinerary and found they were not going to leave until five. Knowing that boarding couldn't start before 5:45, we walked back to town to enjoy Bergen for another hour or so. MarineTraffic.com let me know when World Voyager cast off and we decided to head back to the pier to see Le Dumont-d'Urville pull in. Maybe 100 guests were waiting at that time and some were comparing notes on embarkation times as we watched the crew prepare for embarkation. Right about 5:45 embarkation began with health checks on the pier. We took advantage of "priority boarding" and were in our friends' Suite Grand Deluxe Deck 6 enjoying Champagne on the expansive balcony well before six o'clock. As usual, once you get on board, everything just works and any difficulties getting to/on the ship are soon forgotten. The crew are fabulous and enthusiastic and the only difference from other cruises is that aside from a "bonjour," there's no pretense of speaking French -- all guests speak English (not "non-French") and almost all are Americans. The "Life on Board" presentation went quickly without presenting in French & English as did the abandon ship drill. We were seated for dinner at 7:30. The menu was typical and didn't have any adjustments for American palates (whew). The only real difference was the menu itself was English-only and had "Smithsonian Journeys" at the top. At the “Life on Board” presentation, our Captain apologized for the boarding confusion and made a strong request for all passengers to wear masks on board. Indeed, a large number of passengers are now wearing masks. The crew does have one addition -- a "Tour Director" who self-described herself as a "fixer" to act as a liaison between guests and crew in the event of any difficulties. After dinner, we were the only ones in the lounge and finally made it to bed before midnight.

Everything has been full or oversold on every transportation mode. It is a mess.

This one has been booking fast no single supplement is gone and Ponant Bonus is down to 20%. Have spoken with some friends about it, so still looking for that group discount. 😄

Cruising the Norwegian Fjords – with Smithsonian Journeys (a/k/a Ponant, American Style) We’re back with our final COVID-delayed cruise — though this one we had booked earliest — we had planned to travel on Le Jacques Cartier’s inaugural season cruise from London to Bergen in 2020. We didn’t book this cruise without some level of concern. Our travel advisor said we’d love the Smithsonian experience, but aside from the notable speakers, inclusive excursions and a price premium, nobody has been able to describe what else is different between a Smithsonian cruise and a regular Ponant cruise. So, I guess we’ll find out together. And to add to the stress, we’ve brought out best friends along for their first Ponant cruise. Since we last wrote you in Greece, we’ve been experiencing the travel meltdown in Europe and have had several flights cancelled and seen thousands-upon-thousands of pieces of lost luggage in airports (fortunately not ours). We’ve changed our plans several times, enjoying Greece, Switzerland & Denmark cheating on Ponant and taking an eighteen hour cruise ferry (!) between Denmark & Bergen, getting us to Bergen two days before the cruise, which seems to be the minimum allowance to ensure travel disruption doesn’t cause one to miss the cruise. This morning, we watched Le Dumont-d’Urville sail in and our friends were very excited to see the ship for the first time. They had seen all the videos and may have known more about the ship than I do and they easily pointed out their cabin and ours, along with the restaurants and other main features of the ship. So, now we wait until embarkation time — but we’re not sure when that is. Maybe it’s at 4:00pm like some documents say, maybe 5:45pm, like others say. So far, we haven’t gotten any clarity (and definitely not the expected SMS), so we’ll probably show up sometime after four and see what’s up.

Apparently you do the test yourself, take a picture and upload to a portal It is on the guest’s honor to confirm the test is theirs and valid

Note this roll call by @yyjcruiser:

IMO, the biggest difference is the Smithsonian cruise will have speakers they organize and the Tauck cruises later that month will have something else that Ponant organizes. The Ponant speakers may be great, or they may be great in French and “can also do” English. All excursions are included on Smithsonian cruises. Smithsonian cruises are only marketed in the US and are only visible on Ponant’s English language sites. I am told that announcements are in English only. On the Smithsonian cruise you mention, here are the scheduled speakers:

On Facebook, Ponant has clarified that self-administered antigen tests are accepted for Australian cruises only.

😱

That's a plan... 😱 The FAQ says this (though it's missing the 90 days bit).

By the way, Ponant will accept a "Letter of Recovery" -- all you need is a positive PCR and a note from your doctor that says you've recovered as of X date that's less than 90 days old when you board.