Jim_Iain

I've learned a lot after reading all the Live reviews here on Ponant and yes there is a huge difference in their offering. The first thing I learned is that Ponant has two types of Cruises Expedition and Explorer Cruises. After I booked I learned that our cruise is an Explorer Cruise with the biggest difference being ALL EXCURSIONS are extra and no fee excursions. They have the same itinerary on the same ship but a "National Geographic" Cruise which is higher priced and considered an Expedition and includes all excursions. I haven't figured out yet how you can tell in advance of booking without asking. The Itinerary -

I preferred The Poseidon Adventure. LOL

Yes. It is not automatic. You have to call either your agent or Celebrity to have the adjustment in price.

Wondering if UK residents or other non-US bookings are able to log onto the U.S. site and get the deals. Yesterday I was recooking a number of excursions for the sale price. I was also trying to book dinner for 2 rooms - on being an Australian Reservation and it wouldn't let me do it. It did let me book two separate reservations and gave me the sale price for their Eden Reservation and paid for it on my Credit Card - All the prices were in AU$. for their reservation. Go to bottom and Choose U.S.

In May when we ate at Eden, Our waitress was bringing additional entree's and deserts without us ordering. I had order the Lobster and Iain the Sea Bass. She brought an extra Lobster dish for him and said you have to try this. I couldn't initially decide between two deserts finally settling on the Lemon Tart - She brought the Strawberry desert also and said -- oops. She was a real character.

Thanks much - It will really be helpful if some of you recommend other cruise lines to explore. I think high on our demand list are itineraries other than the standard Caribbean and Mediterranean and of a duration 14+ days. Top on my list is a life long dream to visit Africa.

Thanks you Dianne - Hope you are doing well. I'm sure your working hard to teach Henrietta to read the forum to you. After you, she is one of my favorite CC followers.

Gail - We really enjoyed meeting you on Apex. She is a beautiful ship and really enjoyed. The good news for many of you more interested in Celebrity, is that we will also be sailing on Edge in November/December on the 2nd half of the World Cruise. I'm really excited about that cruise because we know so many CC friends and so many we have never met face to face.

The main reason for Ponant is kinda simple. My best friend from Australia is a big Ponant Cruiser and have tried for years to get us to join them on one of their expedition cruises. We decided to pick a relatively short cruise (8 days) which is a short flight away to see if it is a match. Some of the comparisons are also things like - perks, communication, passenger mix, food, drink, entertainment etc. We are also researching Azamara, Seaborne, Oceania and Silver Seas.

This is definitely a totally different experience than Celebrity and will be a fun see the differences and similarities.

I remember well meeting you and was happy you introduced yourself. I have really enjoyed meeting so many from Cruise Critic and really learns so much on a daily basis. We still have 5 cruise booked with Celebrity so we may find during our separation allows us to see what else is available. I will be fun to find out if the changes at Celebrity are endemic of changes in the cruise industry or unique to Celebrity's new Management.

I've been following Ponant's Forum for about a year now and are taking our first Ponant cruise on Le Bellot in just over a week. I really want to thank all those who have been patient with me and answered all my dumb questions. As an introduction we are Jim and Iain (with and eye pronounced like Ian). We have sailed exclusively on Celebrity for over 22 years and this will be our first experience on another cruise line. We live in the heart of Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale) have been together as a couple for 34 years. I have to admit we are addicted to cruising and life at sea. The Ponant Forum is much different than Celebrity's Forum and because of the small size I want to both be respectful as well as drive others here so they can discover Ponant and their offerings. We have very close friends who travel Ponant extensively and they have been trying to talk us into joining them for years. I know that this particular cruise is not representative of the normal expedition to far off exotic sites but we thought it would be a nice close by taser cruise for us to figure out if Ponant will be a match for us. Please be patient with me and also I will try to find out and answer any questions asked.

Iain and I will be embarking on our first Non-Celebrity Cruise in 22 years a week from today. We have been very satisfied with Celebrity and never seen a need to cruise another line because Celebrity was a perfect match for us. Celebrity has made some major changes in the past 1 1/2- 2 Years and finally reached the point for us to say - Loyalty is a two way street. Kinda like catching your spouse cheating we have come to conclude it is time for a trail separation and possibly a divorce. It may take me awhile to get sorted out on how I am going to post a comparison between Ponant and Celebrity and Live Post at the same time. Ponant is a totally different products. Ponant's Cruise Critic Forum https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/846-ponant/ is also very different to the very popular and free ranging Celebrity Forum. Ponant's forum is only 15 pages long and their are no Roll Calls. Most live post only run 1 or 2 pages and have very little banter. For this reason I want to be respectful of their Forum and at the same time drive some of you to visit Ponant's Forum and understand their product offering.

Thanks for the information - rather disappointing to hear their Internet is so slow. I'm sure we will survive and making alternative plans. e.g. take a vacation from my Meeting.

If you cancel at least 3 days prior to cruise your OBC will be immediately credited and credit card will be refunded if using cc. After that it will be refunded to you account as either an NR Credit if used OBC or as a RF OBC if you used a credit card. At the end of the cruise you can either withdrawal in cash you RF OBC or it will be credited to you CC.

Sounds like an incredible deal - Celebrity is known to screw up things every time they have sale.

Strange --- I was just looking at my Cruise on Edge for November

It will indeed make a difference. Some in Suites do not have Premium Drink Packages - e.g. those upgraded and some on the Blue Chip Club. The Hosts in the Retreat have a machine and will print you a new car - If you order before having it corrected and charged they will also reverse the transactions for you.

I just went in and got some good saving on Excursions and Specialty Dining for our cruises in November and December 2023. Checked our cruises for March/April 2024 and nothing discounted. I wish there was a way to just apply the new price but I had to go in and Cancel each one and then rebook it. On one it was sold out and had to wait about 10 minutes before it showed up back in inventory. Most of the original were 15% discounted and Many of the sales prices are as much as 45%

Just chuckling --- We are all also members of Captain's Club but doubt many of us our Captain's. Maybe I qualify under the last Similar -

I would definitely check with the cruise lines. I know someone who's S.O. passed away and the cruise like made exceptions. Death is definitely different than a no show or illness. Most agents are very sympathetic and will work with you.

Let your waiter know if you have specific dislikes, aversions of dietary restrictions. I absolutely hate BEETS (Yuck) and let them know. If an amuse bouche had beets in them our waiter would ask the desert to make something different for me. I really didn't request it but the waiter just picked up on my dislike and adjusted accordingly. I do have to say they have upped their game on the amuse bouche in the past year an some of them are pretty good.

I was thinking last night - how hard would it have been for them to send a canned response like the one liner when they rejected them. Actually Iain never even received the first rejection.

To my knowledge there haven't been any posts of late on the protocol. The last ones I read indicated that only the infected one was quarantined for 5 days. The other guests in the room were required to test/be tested daily for 5 days and if remained negative were not quarantined. I suspect many now don't report and self test and self isolate (at least I hope so).

Only problem is what do you do with all your winnings in cash? LOL I actually usually end with a bundle of cash - some from winning but also like to pull off my Refundable OBC so I don't loose the 3X points that would occur if I let them refund to my credit card.