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Ponant Ocean Voyages


PBfromDC
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Hi all. We will be doing a Ponant Ocean Voyage in a little over two weeks - Le Boreal, Martinique to Lisbon. In their literature Ponant states there is no on-board entertainment or speakers on their ocean voyages. Curious as to what they really mean about no on-board entertainment. No shows? Probably. No live music (or recorded) in cocktail lounges pre-or-post dinners? Hope not. Won't change our minds as we're looking forward to the trip - just wanting to know what to expect. Any experiences you've had would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Have you completed this cruise? I'm interested in the answers to your questions because we're going on Ponant's Circumnavigation of Iceland next year. We're booked through Backroads, to get included active shore excursions, but I don't think they'll be doing any entertainment onboard.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi there! So to answer my own questions that I had about Ponant:

 

House Champagne is Henri Abele. VERY drinkable and LOTS was consumed over the 11 night trans-Atlantic ocean voyage.

 

Entertainment: So we were told that there would be NO entertainment during this cruise and that "gastronomy" would be reduced from their normal high standards. WRONG on both accounts! There were 88 guests on board, which we were told was a fairly high number for Ponant's Ocean Voyages. Because of this, the cruise director Bruno decided to up the ante on the entertainment front. We had live music every evening in the main lounge - two couples (a singer and piano player/singer) who would do two sets before and after dinner. In addition there was a classic pianist that played in the observation lounge before and after dinner every night. Most evenings their dance troupe - four women and one man - would put on a dance show in the main lounge. During the day there were lectures, films (both in French), dance lessons, stretching with the dancers, trivia, and afternoon tea. It was really very nice and quite enjoyable. I know this was different than most Ocean Voyages.

 

The "gastrononmie" was reduced only in the number of eating places. For breakfast and lunch, we were served in the casual restaurant on the pool level. Buffets and the food in our opinion was quite good. Many choices. Dinner was in the main dining room. We found the service and food to be exceptional.

 

All in all a very nice cruise - so much so that we booked a Spring 2019 trans-Atlantic from Cayenne to Lisbon on board.

 

Perry

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi there! So to answer my own questions that I had about Ponant:

 

House Champagne is Henri Abele. VERY drinkable and LOTS was consumed over the 11 night trans-Atlantic ocean voyage.

 

Entertainment: So we were told that there would be NO entertainment during this cruise and that "gastronomy" would be reduced from their normal high standards. WRONG on both accounts! There were 88 guests on board, which we were told was a fairly high number for Ponant's Ocean Voyages. Because of this, the cruise director Bruno decided to up the ante on the entertainment front. We had live music every evening in the main lounge - two couples (a singer and piano player/singer) who would do two sets before and after dinner. In addition there was a classic pianist that played in the observation lounge before and after dinner every night. Most evenings their dance troupe - four women and one man - would put on a dance show in the main lounge. During the day there were lectures, films (both in French), dance lessons, stretching with the dancers, trivia, and afternoon tea. It was really very nice and quite enjoyable. I know this was different than most Ocean Voyages.

 

The "gastrononmie" was reduced only in the number of eating places. For breakfast and lunch, we were served in the casual restaurant on the pool level. Buffets and the food in our opinion was quite good. Many choices. Dinner was in the main dining room. We found the service and food to be exceptional.

 

All in all a very nice cruise - so much so that we booked a Spring 2019 trans-Atlantic from Cayenne to Lisbon on board.

 

Perry

 

When you booked on board I am assuming you received a 5% discount. Is that correct? Also, what was the deposit requirement?

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When you booked on board I am assuming you received a 5% discount. Is that correct? Also, what was the deposit requirement?

Yes we did get the 5% discount for booking on board. The deposit was 25% of the total cruise amount including taxes and port fees minus the discount.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Re Ponant cruises

We are booked on a new Ponant cruise in February going Sub Antarctic, from New Zealand. Its the first one snd in a newly delivered ship. Its an adventure cruise so no celebrity stuff. We will have 180 passengers. Going to be exciting, and scary if seas rough!

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  • 2 months later...
Re Ponant cruises

We are booked on a new Ponant cruise in February going Sub Antarctic, from New Zealand. Its the first one snd in a newly delivered ship. Its an adventure cruise so no celebrity stuff. We will have 180 passengers. Going to be exciting, and scary if seas rough!

 

Hi wildlifewarrier, nice to find someone else going on the Sub Antarctic Islands cruise on Le Laperouse! Look forward to seeing you onboard!

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Re Ponant cruises

We are booked on a new Ponant cruise in February going Sub Antarctic, from New Zealand. Its the first one snd in a newly delivered ship. Its an adventure cruise so no celebrity stuff. We will have 180 passengers. Going to be exciting, and scary if seas rough!

We did Antarctica with Ponant, when you say no celebrity stuff, do you mean entertainment? There is entertainment most nights, singers, dancers, pianist etc. Not full on production shows but entertainment nonetheless. The lectures were excellent.

We’ve booked to do the Arctic on one of the new ships also! Looking forward to the underwater lounge!

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  • 5 weeks later...

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