Charmar78

You will be fine. On our cruise there was approx 5% of divers and the rest of people snorkeled or not. When there is snorkeling, they would give options to either do it from the beach or from a location at sea depending on your swimming abilities or not do it at all. They would also give out floats to people who did not feel comfortable at sea. There is plenty of activities and excursions that did not involve swimming. Only the Blue Hole snorkel optional tour ($500/pp) is not recommended for people who do not swim well.

I did the Belize expedition in November 23 and it was anything but touristy. In most of the places we visited we were the first tourists from a cruiseline to set foot, very remote and authentic experience. Off the beaten paths places that you would have a hard time to reach otherwise (i.e. cuero y salado in Honduras, Halfmoon Caye Belize etc...). All the excursions were done via zodiac/no docking. It was a wonderful trip I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a unique travel experience. Food was absolutely amazing and another highlight of the trip, I cannot imagine what they could do more on a gastronomy cruise (aside from bringin a famous chef onboard?). The hotel they used on the Cancun pre-trip was the brand new Hilton I believe (it was optional last year and we did not do it). Ponant does a pretty bad job at explaining excursions and overall itinerary, I am not surprised you are a bit confused 🙂 i would assume the Carribean cruise would be less remote/off the beaten path but I am sure the excursions they offer are interesting as they do a realy good job in sourcing special local experiences and tours.

Hi @Becky2010, curious to know what you thought about your Belize cruise and how it compares versus your previous experience with Silversea (although in a different destination)? We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and thought the country/culture/nature was amazing but not sure cruising holidays are for me. I think I would prefer to stick land trips (while I am young and still can) 🙂

Our cruise is coming to a close and I wanted to share some impressions (this was my 1rst Ponant cruise). For those of you departing on the same cruise in the coming weeks: lucky you!! I won't spoil it with pictures and too much details to keep the surprise, this itinerary is very unique and will please any traveller loving wildife, culture and gastronomy. Truly a once in a lifetime experience that I highly recommend. The boat is amazing, no surprise as we had seen pictures but what truly was unexpected was the level of service and passion showed by all the crew. I am looking forward to the next one already... it will be hard to get any better, my expectations are ridiculously high now 🙂

I don't see the same things on the FR App 🙂 There is a glitch with the excursions displayed on both App and website. For example for Nov 22nd, Punta Sal. I see this:

Blue Hole outsourced excursion makes sense as I believe only authorized companies are allowed in the area. Ponant told me that there would always be a snorkeling option of some sort included for the non-divers but the additionnal charge for the blue hole snorkel is disappointing.

Hello, no we have booked directly with our hotel. Wondering whether anyone on here is on the 14th of November departure? If not, we will be the first one to report back 🙂

You should get the documents soon via email and I also received paper copies and a nice Ponant pouch with luggage tag via mail.

This itinerary sounds really interesting, looking forward to hear about your experience!

Hi @Explore01, I was not planning on having any vaccination based on Ponant´s requirements for the destinations we are visiting but let me know what your travel clinic says about our itinerary. Thanks!

Belize looks amazing, can´t wait to be there! Good luck on your hotel search in Belize City, aside from Best Western, not sure there are any nice options...

No problem! It will be my first Ponant cruise (and 2nd cruise so not an expert!). Yes, I highly recommend arriving to Belize City at least 24hrs ahead of departure just in case there are issues with the flights as Belize does not have many other options if a route is cancelled. I am flying to the US from Europe 48hrs before the departure of the cruise. I have read that there is not much to see in Belize City, and it is a bit sketchy so upon arrival, we will go directly to San Ignacio (2.3 hrs. from Belize City). There we will visit the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, there are quite a few nice hotels options - see. Depending on your budget and time, there are many options: 1. Ponant offers 2-night pre-cruise program from Cancun to discover Yucatan and the Mayan ruins, It has the advantage to take you directly across the border to Belize cruise port but might involve long hours on a bus and is quite pricey in my opinion. 2. Stay at San Ignacio or around to experience the Belize wildlife - there are many nice hotels. Belize Luxury Resort | Belize Best Jungle Lodge - Chaa Creek Belize Luxury Hotels, Resort Belize - Blancaneaux Lodge at Coppola Hideaways (thefamilycoppolahideaways.com) San Ignacio Resort Hotel: Belize Luxury Resort | Best Belize Jungle Hotel (sanignaciobelize.com) Gaïa Riverlodge | Belize's Rainforest and Waterfall Resort (gaiariverlodge.com) 3. If you arrive 2-3 days early, fly to the Cayes and stay in San Pedro Matachica Resort Belize | Belize's Best Adult-Only Resort & Spa Mahogany Bay Resort & Beach Club, Curio Collection by Hilton Hope this helps! 🙂

I think 6.30am is the earliest you can disembark but you can also leave after breakfast. At least that´s what the travel documentation they sent us for our Nov 21rst departure says. It will still be early to catch a flight in the afternoon though. If you have a late flight, you can also take an excursion to Lamanai ruins or the Belize Zoo but not sure what you would do with your luggage in that case.

Hi, we are booked on the 21rst of November departure, can't wait! Is it your 1rst cruise with Ponant?

Thanks, I have just blocked an option on cabin 412! Do you recommend taking the multirisk insurance that Ponant offers (6.5% of the cruise cost) or do you use CC coverage like AMEX or any other insurance? What about travel/health insurance, any company that you recommend?

Then 412 it will be! I was hoping for a cabin on the other side to get the port/coast view when we sail but I guess it is not available if not offered. I will check with Ponant over the phone before booking just in case. Glad that the 4th deck is better than 5th, I was led to believe it was the opposite as 5th is priced higher. I am sure I will have a million more questions before we sail in November, the information on this board has been invaluable thank you all! I will make sure to report back with a detailed review upon return 🙂

Sorry me again, what´s the best ´side´, not sure which side overlooks at the coast? I would prefer mid ship to limit sea sickness at maximum. Thanks!

Thanks for all your inputs! We are planning to do Xunantunich closer to San Ignacio as the trek down to Caracol seems rough and we only have only 1 night between arrival in BZE and departure of the cruise so it will be too tight. I wish we had time to do it + Tikal which is super close as well, next time! I will pick a standard cabin as the caveat you mentioned with the larger cabin will bother me for sure. I actually just attended a webinar organized by Ponant (Jose Sarica) to present their Latin American cruises and they spent quite a lot of time to on this itinerary, it really sounds amazing, I am sold! 🙂 They shared that the captain on these cruise departures will be Mr. Daumesnil, have you cruised with him before?

Sure, I will report back if we finally decide to book! How did you find Belize and Honduras in terms of safety? Which mayan ruins did you visit and you recommend in Belize?

Thanks a lot that was fast! 🙂 I am not actually a diving so hoping there will be other things on offer, from itinerary I see there is quite a few explorations with naturalists and beach/snorkeling activities so it should be nice. I am excited about the itinerary as it seems to be very unique and different from other cruise lines although I would have preferred to not be on the first few cruises that go there so they have time to work out issues... but I guess we will have to be flexible and go with flow! I have been told by Ponant that because it is an expedition all excursions are included in the price, so I think it is really good value (hoping there are actually good excursions). The cruise you did from Cozumel sounds great too, we are actually planning to visit San Ignacio before the departure of the cruise to see some of the Mayan sites as well.

I just joined Cruise Critic and I am so excited to finally find useful information and trip reviews from travelers on Ponant! I am considering booking a tropical exploration cruise to Belize/Honduras, has anyone done that one? It looks like they have 5 departure dates between Nov 14th and Dec 19th and I am wondering whether this is a new itinerary that they have not done before? Anyone has experience with Ponant cruises in that region? It will be my first cruise, I am not normally attracted to cruising but because it is an expedition going to very remote places that I would have a very hard time getting to by myself, I am very tempted (+ the food and boat look wonderful). I have a few questions on this itinerary if anyone has experienced an expedition cruise and could help as the Ponant website is not super detailed: 1) With most (if not all) excursions outings being done by tender, is it likely that we will have a shorter excursion time that on a normal cruise so that they have enough time to rotate boats and groups? I am wondering if we may end-up with limited 2-hour trips and having to spend the rest of the day on the boat. 2) I am French, and actually looking forward to meeting people from other countries (rather than 100% French), In your experience is there a good mix of nationalities on Ponant? I assume it vastly depends on the itinerary, but this is also an important element of my choice. 3) Has anyone stayed in one of the slightly larger accessible Deluxe rooms on deck 4 (431)? This is the one their website is offering for my date and although bigger I am wondering whether I may be close to a lot of traffic (on the map I see it is closer to an outdoor access (maybe to board the zodiacs?) Does it have the same overall decoration and furniture, just bigger or is there a significant difference? Thanks!