On Board Le Lyrial — Treasures of the Aegean Sea — July 30 / August 6, 2021

[AussieBoyTX]

Okay, looks like we’re the first to sail on Ponant since COVID, so this thread is about our experience. 

 

More on other topics later, but here’s what we know about the COVID procedures:

 

Check-in was straightforward and took 40 minutes from when we were dropped off at the cruise terminal in Piraeus to when we entered our cabin. COVID testing was all done in the car park adjacent to the terminal. We completed a COVID declaration and had an antigen test completed by Greek authorities. That was less than thirty minutes and there was no waiting. 

 

After we cleared the test, everything was normal. Security, photo on gangway, check-in at reception and G&T from the minibar. 

 

Staff seemed thrilled to see us. They’re always friendly and professional, but this time was like they were excited. So we’re we!

 

In the cabin, there were masks and antiseptics along with stainless steel water bottles. From a quick look at the program, it seems like everything is on offer. 

 

One important note: the excursions require you to be vaccinated or to have an antigen test less than 48 hours old. Clearly they’re prepared to administer a lot of antigen tests. 

 

All passengers will also receive an antigen test on Day 4. 

 

I’m happy to answer any questions and I’ll be updating this thread as we come across any interesting info. 

Edited July 30, 2021 by AussieBoyTX

[AussieBoyTX]

Some additional COVID notes:

 

The Hammam is closed. 

The Bridge is closed, but the Captain said he would organize tours. 

 

Dinner at the gastronomic restaurant on Deck 2 was as normal aside from waitstaff wearing masks. 

 

Breakfast & Lunch at the grill restaurant on Deck 6 were modified buffets. You could plate your own main plate, but cheeses and cold meats / salmon and desserts were pre-plated and bread was sliced / toasted to order. 

 

There are few non-French speakers on board. I overheard eighteen, which includes some children. Only four people turned up for tonight’s excursion overview. This highlights how widely English is spoken on board — the restaurant, bar and housekeeping staff all speak English and few speak French, so English is widely heard on board, as even the French speak English with the service staff. 

[ethan1171]

Thank you so much for these notes! We are booked on Le Lyrial Emblematic Antarctica in February so it is exciting to read about your experience. And it is good to see that apart from a few minor necessary COVID related  "annoyances" the rest of the cruise seems to be enjoyable.

[AussieBoyTX]

17 minutes ago, ethan1171 said:

Thank you so much for these notes! We are booked on Le Lyrial Emblematic Antarctica in February so it is exciting to read about your experience. And it is good to see that apart from a few minor necessary COVID related  "annoyances" the rest of the cruise seems to be enjoyable.

I think we’re doing that cruise or a similar one Christmas 2022 on Le Lyrial as well. 
 

We’re having a fine time and everything is as we expect. 

[AussieBoyTX]

The captain’s welcome reception was held last night by the pool on Deck 6. I don’t know if this was because of COVID, but it was dramatic to have the waving tricoleur and setting sun behind him. 

 

Probably because of the extreme heat, most passengers dressed down from what was advised. One couple was very nicely dressed in tuxedo and gown. I was among the most dressed up with blazer & dress shirt — on other cruises with Ponant, I would have been among the underdressed, if only slightly so. Those still wearing shorts and polo shirts enjoyed their dinner outside by the pool. 

 

This may say something about me, but all the bar staff & managers know me by name. Maybe it’s just because I appear to be a booze connoisseur after asking your questions. 

Edited August 1, 2021 by AussieBoyTX

[gogo65]

Great to hear you are onboard and enjoying it!

Was vaccination not mandatory?

[AussieBoyTX]

2 hours ago, gogo65 said:

Great to hear you are onboard and enjoying it!

Was vaccination not mandatory?

No, vaccinations are not required under Ponant’s current protocol. Unvaccinated passengers are tested every other day. The rest of us are tested on day 4. 

[AussieBoyTX]

Ponant says they organize black & white nights on cruises longer than seven nights. Don’t believe them. There is always some sort of black & white event. Last night, the dancers hosted an all-white dance party at the outdoor pool bar on Deck 7 and it seemed everyone was prepared for it with their full white outfits. It was high energy, loud and great fun. All crew members wore masks, most passengers didn’t. 

 

IMO, the pool bar is an advantage the Sisterships have over the Explorers. Each have three bars / lounges: the continuously open main lounge, and an observation lounge with limited bar hours. The Sisterships have the pool bar and the Explorers have the Blue Eye underwater on Deck 1. IMO, the Blue Eye is cool, but I don’t visit it more than once per cruise. 

 

The other problem is the high-end suites overlook the pool on the Explorers, so you wouldn’t want a massive party disturbing them for very long. Not a problem on the Sisterships where the suites are more forward. 

 

It’s a shame, since the Explorers spending most of their time in temperate / tropical weather could benefit from an occasional big, loud party. 

[jonikal]

11 hours ago, AussieBoyTX said:

All crew members wore masks, most passengers didn’t. 

How much masking goes on in other areas of the ship?  And here's a deeply offensive and sacrilegious question, do they serve any diet soft drinks? 

[AussieBoyTX]

4 hours ago, jonikal said:

How much masking goes on in other areas of the ship?  And here's a deeply offensive and sacrilegious question, do they serve any diet soft drinks? 

90+% of the passengers wear masks indoors and only remove them when seated for meals or bar. Masks are also worn by most on tenders and busses. Ponant is good about reminding people, but there are a few who just don’t — at least not for any extended period. 
 

Coke Light freely available in the minibar, lounges and restaurants.  There might also be Coke Zero, but not sure. 

[AussieBoyTX]

Fifty of us had Delos to ourselves this morning for about an hour. Then Celebrity Apex disgorged 3-400 people… 😱🤪

[Rummblestrip]

3 hours ago, AussieBoyTX said:

Fifty of us had Delos to ourselves this morning for about an hour. Then Celebrity Apex disgorged 3-400 people… 😱🤪

Just think, pre-rona it would have been almost 3000 she would have dropped in port. 

[AussieBoyTX]

Yeah. It holds 3400, but I overheard it’s something like 800 on board. 

[AussieBoyTX]

On Day 4, we were COVID tested. Exactly one day too soon for us to use for our flights. The tests were conducted in the theater and we were called based on some combination of excursions selected and decks. In any event, it took less than five minutes and was the least invasive COVID test ever. 

 

I must have missed a memo — not a single person aside from me was wearing a jacket for dinner. 

 

Cruise Critic has reminded me to leave a review. This isn’t quite a review, and I may get around to a review at some point. 

 

At Delos, we were reminded of the small ship advantage — we had the island to ourselves. Fifty in total and thirteen in our English tour. An hour later, the boats from Mykonos arrived with at least 400 people — most from Celebrity Apex. 

 

We left Delos midday for Mykonos and found RCL Jewel of the Seas and Costa Deliziosa joining Apex — potentially nine thousand other cruisers! 
 

Coming up next for @jonikal our attempt at an on-demand COVID test… 🤞

[jonikal]

3 hours ago, AussieBoyTX said:

Coming up next for @jonikal our attempt at an on-demand COVID test… 🤞

Thanks Tex!  Enjoying the heck out of your reporting and will await this one anxiously!

[AussieBoyTX]

On 8/3/2021 at 7:22 AM, AussieBoyTX said:

 

Coke Light freely available in the minibar, lounges and restaurants.  There might also be Coke Zero, but not sure. 

Confirmed CZ is available at the bar. 

[Frncie]

I love reading your reports because we were on this very itinerary in the Fall of 2019 aboard Le Bougainville. Seems like a lifetime ago. Sounds like Ponant and Greece are still wonderful. 

[AussieBoyTX]

Yesterday we were in Paros. Finding Tom Hanks unfortunately but understandably had to cancel brunch with us, we took the public bus with the backpackers to Noussa. Others claimed  Noussa was like Mykonos 20 years ago. Yes, it was a small, clean whitewashed fishing village turning into a tourist hub. It was nice. 

 

Returning to the ship in the early afternoon just in time for lunch, the front desk urgently let us know that we had lots of unused shipboard credit and little time left to use it. We’d already purchased a fair bit of Ponant logo wear, so we had to take drastic measures — we scheduled massages, which burned through much of the remainder. 

 

I usually get sports massages, so I have low expectations for spa massages. I would say that it was good and my partner agreed that her massage and body scrub was good as well. 

 

Happy hour was spent with a Hendrick’s G&T garnished with cucumber and conversation with the only other Americans on board. They were late to book and because of circumstances, Ponant was the only option that worked for them. This is their first cruise on Ponant and they’ve moved from skeptical and wondering if they could live without missing amenities to “We’re doing this again!”

 

After dinner, we watched the show, which was fun. The five dancers were French and the singer from Ukraine. Only 45 minutes long, so no time to be bored. 

 

— 

 

Also want to note that several of the islands we visited aren’t heavily visited by cruise ships. Several will only be seen by Le Lyrial, MS Hamburg and Silver Moon — all fairly small ships, though Lyrial is about 1/3 the size of Silver Moon. 

[AussieBoyTX]

Haven’t mentioned tours and enrichment because that’s not really our thing. We have done two tours, which were very good.

 

At Patmos, our guide literally wrote the book. It was available for sale for €17. He took us for a very interesting walk through the mountain-top village as well as some other scenic locations on the island. He only spoke English, which was highlighted on the program and at the excursion presentations, but most of the participants were French, so those who could wound up translating. 

 

At Delos, we toured with one of the four Greek guides who accompanied the ship. Her English was excellent and we got a great overview in three hours. 

 

We also were offered presentations on Greece and ancient Greek history from a travel consultant. The presentation was good and his English was okay. I was pleased and impressed that he put on a program for us, given the small number of non-French speakers. I thought it was time well spent. 

[ebay33]

On 8/4/2021 at 1:34 AM, AussieBoyTX said:

Confirmed CZ is available at the bar. 

Thanks for that info! 

[gogo65]

So good to hear how its going!

Weve also have significant OBC on our next cruise (whenever that will be, fingers crossed for January).

We dont normally get OBC but its been carried over for our cancelled cruise in 2019. I had thought of spending it in the shop on board, or upgrading our drinks, but maybe a massage would be nice. We have €700 to spend, so will be fun!

[AussieBoyTX]

Final day was at Hydra. What a lovely town, free of cars. Almost everything is transported by donkey and horse. We arrived about two hours before the large boats from Athens. It reminded me that most of our stops (Nafplio, Syros, Patmos, Delos, Paris & Hydra) are visited only once a week by any cruise ship. We also were able to dock at Nafplio and Syros, which was a bonus. Only Mykonos was shared with (many) other cruise ships. 

 

We had the final cocktail reception at the Deck 6 pool and the almost the entire crew were introduced to us. After that. Most of us went to the gastronomic restaurant on Deck 2 for the set dinner, which was good, though time consuming. Afterwards, we saw a show back at the pool deck and finally bid farewell to our friends at the main lounge on Deck 3. 

 

In order to catch our flight back home, we needed to get off the boat as soon as it was docked. The Ship’s Captain and Shore Excursion Manager met us at 7:00am at reception — actually, they were about to come looking for us, as the ship docked at 6:50. They and the porters walked us through the small terminal to where our driver was waiting. We arrived at the airport with about an hour to spare and had only a small hiccup at checkin as there was a misunderstanding regarding which version of the Passenger Locator Form we needed to possess. 

[AussieBoyTX]

This is kind of a draft on my thoughts about Ponant:

 

Why You’ll Like Ponant:

 

• Small ships with fewer than 260 passengers (much fewer on the Explorer Ships)
• No lines and no crowds. 
• A small crew who multitask and you’ll see them again-and-again. 
• Because of the small staff, they quickly figure out what you like and work to deliver that again-and-again. 
• Destinations that few cruise lines visit. Silversea being the notable alternative.
• It’s French. The officers and senior staff are all French. The food is often very French and very well prepared. The line very much has that je ne sais quoi. 
• It’s a great high-end, if not luxury, experience. 

 

Why You Might Not Like Ponant:

 

• It’s a small ship and if you like big ship amenities you could be disappointed. No casino, no specialty restaurants, no big shows, limited hours at some bars, the shop, one pool and so on. 
• It’s French and proudly so. The staff will work to accommodate you, make sure you have a good time and ensure you’re taken care of. But in the end, they’re French and if you don’t like Foie Gras, and other classic French foods, or eating dinner later than 7:30, you’ll be eating a lot of steak (two choices) and grilled salmon - just two choices from the always available menu. And everything will feel a little bit like you’re swimming upstream. 
• Although there are two restaurants, their menus are similar with 3-4 choices for each course. Their difference is primarily in how formal the service is. There’s plenty of selection (plus the always available menu), but if you’re keen for a Japanese Steakhouse one night, you’ll be disappointed. 
• English is not the primary language. All crew members speak English, but French is more widely spoken. If you’re looking to make new English-speaking friends, that could be challenging—unless you’re on one of the Smithsonian cruises, or the itineraries marketed to Australians. 

 

Our view is Ponant is the only cruise line that ticks some very specific boxes. If you like their value proposition, they are the only choice. 

[jonikal]

Thank you so much for taking the time to keep a very interested audience  amused and informed.  Wishing you the best of travels home.

[AussieBoyTX]

Aside from the drunk passenger who had to be restrained 😱 the return flight was fine. 🤪