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1 hour ago, brngckn said:

Lindblad is also leaving guests hanging. I've been trying to take a Russian Far East trip since 2020. They posted a vague (we're aware and looking into things) message on 2/24 and nothing since. 

It’s frustrating isn’t it.

We have flights booked (which could be cancelled/changed), and have looked at other options.

Similar to your cruise, there really is no option to just exchange a port or two.

Ponant haven’t even published a vague statement. 
When is your cruise?

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

There's no need to be 'cute.'  Facebook is not 'it who shall not be named.'  It is ok to refer to Facebook pages hosted by the cruise lines or individuals' facebook pages.  What are banned are the ones that siphon off roll calls from CC.  But we spot all the euphemisms.  If you're not sure, post it openly and then  Report you own post and ask for a review – then you won't get a dreaded Guideline Reminder.

Oh Jazzbeau I feel like I’m in the principles office 😂😂

thanks for clarifying for me, I will in future do as suggested.

I never want to do the wrong thing so I’m glad that mentioning Facebook is ok when In these type of circumstances (yes it was the Ponant page that I still have my pending request)

thanks Gabrielle 

So a little frustrated,

seems that all major cruise lines have responded to the Ukraine crisis, and provided details on their plans but nothing from Ponant.

I have a pending post that hasn’t been approved on the book of faces…

Has anyone heard Ponant’s stance on cruises to Russia?

23 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I think the agent would have contacted you if there was a problem with your property. However, my offer still stands. My daughter is going out tomorrow and will be going fairly close to your rental house. If you want her to check out where the floodwater came I am sure she won't mind. I will leave it to you.

Thanks again Aus Traveller,

Our agent responded to my email today, so far everything is ok, apparently the tenants haven’t checked outside as yet, now to brace for the next flood.

Stay safe and thanks again for your kind offer 🙂

4 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

As one of their landlords who lives interstate, I think it is quite reasonable for you to phone your real estate agent for information. We have a couple of rental properties. We live locally, but even so our real estate agent contacted us on Monday morning with an update on the situation at our houses.

 

I could go and check your property EXCEPT at the moment my access road to Everton Park, Settlement Road, is blocked by landslides. We don't know when it will re-open, but the official word is that it will be at least the end of the week. Anyway, I will be going that way next Monday, either via a re-opened Settlement Road🤞 or the long way around. If you don't have any info by then, I can check it for you. If you want me to do this, we can be in touch by email.

 

If you want info more urgently, I might be able to ask my daughter to check out your property tomorrow.

That is very kind of you.

Agree that I should just contact my agent, was just trying to not overwhelm them, but the photos posted are worrying.

I will email my agent, and ask for an update, there is nothing documented in our online portal, which hopefully means everything is ok, but it may mean they haven’t  been able to get through either 🤷‍♀️
 

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

So sorry to hear of your loss.

 

Re your investment property - If you have an agent managing the property, they should be able to tell you whether it was impacted or not. If you don't have an agent, maybe if you feel like telling us which street/suburb it is in, someone on here will probably have knowledge of what happened in the area.

Aus traveller thank you.

we do have an agent and we have been sent a generic email, I figure they are busy dealing with major issues and will advise us if there is a concern.

I am a member of a local FB page and this photo was posted.

our road is off Camellia avenue in Everton Hills.

Thank you all for your kindness.

My heart is breaking for my SIL, brother, nieces, nephew and their families. There are no words that can take away the pain they are feeling.

However, there is one thing I know, after living through a house fire two years ago, while it is heartbreaking going through possessions and throwing out parts of your life you can rebuild and replace.

Hug your loved ones extra tight and take care all.

It’s becoming heartbreaking.

My sister in law lost her brother last week after being swept away in his car.

Although it pales in comparison to loss of life, we are waiting to hear about our investment property in Brisbane, Ive seen photos of the road that our street is off, and pray our tenants are safe.

We had minor flooding in our brand new home last week, we have pumps ready for the next few days.

We live very close to where a man drowned last year in the floods, roads will be cut soon enough, we will stay home, it is not worth risking anything, we have food and currently have power.

Everyone please stay safe and only leave if necessary.

Seems like most companies are either pulling out of Russia for the season or advising clients they are looking at options for changes to itineraries.

Hopefully Ponant will also advise clients shortly what their plans are.

We have a north east passage cruise booked for august with Ponant, pretty much the whole cruise will be in Russian waters, haven’t heard a thing from Ponant as yet.

16 minutes ago, cruising cockroach said:

Just be aware the trip is subject to ice conditions.  NW passage in either 2019 or 2018 was cancelled (or rather, changed to something like a circum-Greenland with no refunds) because of such.

That wouldn’t bother me to much, as I’m looking at Greenland options for Plan B, we’ve done Svalbard before so wouldn’t be keen for that. 
Assume it’s the same for the north east passage based on ice conditions, just an interesting thought as they need to get the ship there anyway and may be (or maybe not) an option that works.

We are booked on the Northeast passage cruise in August across the top of Russia (Tromso to Nome) unless current world events improve it is looking unlikely to go (understand 6 months is a long time). 
Looking on the bright side I wonder if Ponant would consider a complete itinerary change and do a north west passage instead.
It means the ship still arrives in Nome in time, we have 24 days which is ample time, and we don’t have to be disappointed about another cancellation!

Looks amazing! 
good to hear you have had a great experience so far.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the trip!

Love the jackets! I believe it’s special for Charcot.

9 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Diamond is worth looking forward to,it makes cruising a little different.

A few free drinks,a lounge you can pop into and make a cappuccino and a party for top tier.  But there’s word some ships,if there’s to many .Its only Diamond Plus and pineapples.

I’m actually closer to elite with celebrity, having only done 3 RCI cruises. The value is definitely there with RCI and the 4 four free drinks at Diamond, not so much with celebrity due to the all inclusive.

I’m booked on the April 23 transpacific, but no email. 

First time in a junior suite, so will be enough to get me to diamond!

Wow, room looks amazing!!

So excited you made it Sitti!

Good to hear you made it through the challenging Chile covid procedures.

Cant wait to hear all about it.

We had a Kimberley cruise booked with Ponant in August last year. It was cancelled but we had no issues with being offered a refund or a credit (with a 10% bonus) if we wanted to rebook.

We've since had another Ponant cruise cancelled and we were offered  the same T&C’s, we rebooked, our friends got a refund and the money was refunded in less than a week.

Ponant are very popular in the Kimberley’s, we’ve done Antarctica with them and loved it.

I assume that the Kimberley cruises would have more English speakers on board.

On 2/12/2022 at 7:51 AM, flyers said:

Is it best, price wise, to deal through an agent or would Ponant be better though their 'quote request' on the internet. I was wondering if they  entertain  last minute requests .....subject of course to their COVID protocols.Anyone have any experience dealing with them on this?

Flyers, Ponant have a price policy where they offer 30% off the earlier you book, this is reduced as cabins are sold by 5% each time another proportion of cabins are sold, until it’s down to 0%.
Ive never seen a sale to sell off cabins.

They do have a discount for first cruise, I also received a 5% discount for attending an online presentation but that’s about it.

There s a change fee of $100pp to change your booking if you have a non refundable deposit.

Clause 31:

If you book a promotion cruise which stipulates that the deposit is non-refundable, a change fee of AU$100 per person per change will apply up to 150 days prior to departure. Inside of 150 days, ticket contract cancellation conditions will apply.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/contentPage.do?pagename=terms_and_conditions_australia_page_2

As mentioned there has only been a couple of cruises so far, with only 200 people on board I’d say less than a 1000 people have had the opportunity to sail on her.

there are two people here that will be on an upcoming sailing, so I’m sure they will provide us with lots of feedback.

in regards to charter flights, our experience when we went to Antarctica was they advised us less than two weeks out. It was a pain because we wanted to book hotels close to the support and as BA had two airports we couldn’t book anything till last minute.

The geographical North Pole cruise looks awesome, I’d love to do the north west passage on her  but it’s a little out of our budget, instead we will stick with the more affordable north east passage on Le Boreal.

It looks absolutely amazing and I believe it is probably the best polar ship out there at the moment.

On 2/1/2021 at 7:36 PM, MIchalCors said:

I've also recommended Ragnar Arctic destinations, check out their website https://ragnaryacht.com/destinations-arctic/

Interesting.

It seems this is a private yacht?

Does it do a north west passage cruise? I cant see one on the website, but would be interested to know cost..

Virgil, we have done one Ponant cruise to Antarctica and one Silversea cruise to the Arctic.

From an expedition point of view we preferred Ponant, we felt they went out of the way to ensure the expedition experience was the best it could be, where as SS was a little more relaxed and didn’t seem to go out of their way to enhance the experience.

We certainly didn’t have any issue with language and as previously mentioned most of the staff probably speak better English than french.

As Aussies we didn’t feel the whole butler experience on SS provided anything to our holiday, maybe because we are more relaxed and easy going.

We preferred the less Americanized food on Ponant (smaller servings and less fried food), that’s not to say we didn’t enjoy the SS food.

We much preferred the Ponant ship much more fresh and modern in comparison to the much older silver cloud.

In regards to cancellations in Covid we have had two cancellations with Ponant since Covid (and one prior) and the option to return deposits was upfront and quick (our friends had their money back in less than a week), we decided to carry over our deposit each time.

To be honest we would cruise either again based on itinerary and price but if they were similar we would choose Ponant but not because of the pampering more we just liked that it was lay back and relaxed compared to SS which seemed much more stuffy.

So does that leave Le commandant Charcot and Le Lyrial still sailing?

Assuming passengers from Le Boreal and Le Austral have been transferred to similar sailings on Le Lyrial?