Potential Ponant trip

[Go2See]

Hi

I am thinking about one of the Ponant  trips in the British Isles area.   While I have cruised on many cruiselines, one of my favorite is Hurtigruten Expeditions because they  are so educational and casual.   I alway travel solo.   I am curious about Ponant... how casual is the dress?  do people change for dinner?  Is it friendly to solo passengers?  Do they include all excursions or do you book them?  If they provide air- is it competitively priced?    Anything you can tell me would help me try to make my decision!

Thank you!!!

[AussieBoyTX]

3 minutes ago, Go2See said:

Hi

I am thinking about one of the Ponant  trips in the British Isles area.   While I have cruised on many cruiselines, one of my favorite is Hurtigruten Expeditions because they  are so educational and casual.   I alway travel solo.   I am curious about Ponant... how casual is the dress?  do people change for dinner?  Is it friendly to solo passengers?  Do they include all excursions or do you book them?  If they provide air- is it competitively priced?    Anything you can tell me would help me try to make my decision!

Thank you!!!

 

Ponant is certainly not the stuffiest, but people do tend to dress somewhat for dinner. In the gastronomic restaurant, I'll generally wear an open collared shirt, dress pants & a blazer. Yeah, there will be someone wearing a tuxedo and someone wearing a polo shirt without jacket, but I feel I'm usually in the mid-range. If you'd rather be less formal, the other restaurant is more casual and serves most of the same dishes without all the formality.

 

I have never traveled solo, but we have always had some solo passengers on the ship with us and some have joined us for lunch & dinner. Maybe @Sitti can chime in here, as he had the same concerns as you.

Excursions are generally not included, unless you're on a special cruise (Like the Smithsonian cruises marketed only to English-speaking countries).

We have never felt air was a deal from Ponant and although we occasionally price-compare, we've always purchased air on our own separately.

 

We enjoy Ponant very much and have a pile of COVID-delayed cruises on them this year. What else would you like to know?

[Go2See]

Wow!!!! Thank you!!!   Today is the 1st day I even thought about Ponant...     I think I will check in with them.

Thank you!

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

@AussieBoyTXthanks for the info. Hope you don't mind Go2See if I slip in a hijack question or two.  We are generally Seabourn and Silversea travelers and as soon as we use up our FCCs will try Ponant.

What is the room service like?  Sometimes we'll skip dinner and have a late lunch or bits from Arts cafe or Seabourn square or perhaps Champagne and caviar. Anything like that open late afternoon/available? Is dinner seating open, and can we score a quiet table for two when needed? Tipping protocols? We enjoy the pampering but it's the itinary that counts.  These are not deal breakers, just want to know what to expect.  Thanks.

[AussieBoyTX]

3 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

@AussieBoyTXthanks for the info. Hope you don't mind Go2See if I slip in a hijack question or two.  We are generally Seabourn and Silversea travelers and as soon as we use up our FCCs will try Ponant.

What is the room service like?  Sometimes we'll skip dinner and have a late lunch or bits from Arts cafe or Seabourn square or perhaps Champagne and caviar. Anything like that open late afternoon/available? Is dinner seating open, and can we score a quiet table for two when needed? Tipping protocols? We enjoy the pampering but it's the itinary that counts.  These are not deal breakers, just want to know what to expect.  Thanks.

 

Ponant has a 24 hour menu that includes things like grilled salmon, ribeye steak, cheeseburger, fried chicken sandwich and a couple of salads. In addition, during meals, most of the menu from the restaurants is available as room service. As I mentioned previously, the ships have two restaurants and there is a lot of overlap in what's served. If I recall correctly, caviar is available from the bar menu, but it is at an additional charge. The complete list is no doubt in an earlier thread here.

 

Dinner seating is open and unless the ship is very full, it will not be difficult to get a table for two -- especially if you're on an Explorer-class ship and the weather is temperate -- there will be a sizable number of people who will choose to eat there (it's an outdoors venue). On a full ship, the exception might be a Gala night where only the Gastronomic restaurant is open. By that point, we had met other people we'd like to dine with and organized that with the restaurant manager in advance.

 

Tips and well bar drinks are included on cruises booked in the US -- one can always tip in addition, I suppose. 😄 

 

I am not expert on Seabourn or Silversea, but from what my friends say, Ponant is not necessarily less luxurious, but more casual and relaxed, in line with the smaller ships, remote itineraries & lower passenger loads.

 

If either of you decide to book on Ponant, you should find a referral, as it will save you an additional $600 on your cruise. We have a thread here, if you haven't already identified your referral: 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by AussieBoyTX

[AussieBoyTX]

Also, excursions are included on "Expedition" cruises -- typically they have multi-lingual naturalists on board and the activities are conducted by Zodiac.

[gogo65]

We have only done one Ponant cruise (Antarctica), so being an expedition everything was included. There are no excursions to book on an expedition.

dress code is very relaxed and casual on expeditions.

We’ve also done SS (expedition) and feel ponant is much more relaxed, no butlers etc we found food good on both but portions are smaller on ponant (probably not catering to Americans as much??)

we are looking at options in case our northeast passage is cancelled, ponant classic cruises don’t include excursions and the ones offered seem pricey, Whereas SS now include excursions on classic cruises, so something to consider if you are comparing costs.

[shrkdive1]

My wife and I did a cruise on Ponant in the Caribbean just before Covid closed cruising.  I would say the cruise line is for the most part fairly casual.  Half the passengers like us booked the cruise independently so excursions were not included in the fare.  The other half of passengers were booked through Tauck and had excursions included.

 

For dinners you have the option of eating in the main dining room or on the back open air deck.  We were disappointed though in that the food was subpar in both venues.  It was certainly not high end French cuisine like we expected.  I would say it was average to what you would get in the main dining room on a large  ship Norwegian.

 

Lastly if you expect entertainment each night these ships are not large. Most nights the entertainment consisted of a piano player and singer lasting less than 30 minutes. Most people on our cruise were back in their rooms by 8:30pm each night.  I know the demographics of each cruise ship changes though week to week.

 

For us this was our least preferred cruise we have taken and won't be back on a Ponant ship anytime soon unless it is an expedition ship.

[lynn-in-nc]

I love Ponant. We tend to be pretty casual and while the French passengers do tend to dress up a bit more than other nationalities, I found it to be very comfortable. They have a whole list of cruises with no solo supplement so I think they do welcome solo passengers. We met a few solo passengers (women) that found it easy to meet people. They tend to seat English speakers together and French speakers together unless you request otherwise. 

 

The excursions are exceptional. We have sailed on Seabourn which is nice and quite luxurious, but the excursions on Ponant are a step above in terms of the quality of the speakers. Also, sailing with 190 people is 1000 times better than the 450 that are on the Seabourn ships.

 

I am thinking about one of the Ponant  trips in the British Isles area.   While I have cruised on many cruiselines, one of my favorite is Hurtigruten Expeditions because they  are so educational and casual.   I alway travel solo.   I am curious about Ponant... how casual is the dress?  do people change for dinner?  Is it friendly to solo passengers?  Do they include all excursions or do you book them?  If they provide air- is it competitively priced?    Anything you can tell me would help me try to make my decision!

[mauibabes]

We are scheduled on a Great Lakes trip on Le Bellot with Tauck in September and it will be our first Ponant cruise. I would have a few questions. What can we expect regarding the dining options?
What kind of electrical plugs and number of plugs are in the Prestige staterooms  (voltage) and what kind of adapters are necessary to bring along for a French ship?  What are the bathroom and shower sizes like?  What pieces of information can a Ponant veteran cruiser share with a newby?  
Thanks in advance,

Mauibabes

[AussieBoyTX]

25 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

We are scheduled on a Great Lakes trip on Le Bellot with Tauck in September and it will be our first Ponant cruise. I would have a few questions. What can we expect regarding the dining options?
What kind of electrical plugs and number of plugs are in the Prestige staterooms  (voltage) and what kind of adapters are necessary to bring along for a French ship?  What are the bathroom and shower sizes like?  What pieces of information can a Ponant veteran cruiser share with a newby?  
Thanks in advance,

Mauibabes

 

We were on Le Bellot in December. Lovely ship & great crew. My trip reports are easily found in this forum.

 

Regarding dining options, I suggest you read the very detailed trip report provided by @jpalbny from last year on Le Bellot. You will find your experience to be similar: 

 

There is one US plug at the desk, four or five European Type C plugs -- one on each side of the bed, one by the desk and one near the sofa. There is a fifth in the safe in the closet. There are also two USB type-A outlets -- one on each side of the bed. https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/c/

 

IMO the bathrooms are normal sized for cruise ships. I had no issues with the space inside the shower -- the one difference is that the toilet is in a separate room from the shower / sink.

 

Otherwise, Ponant is pretty relaxed, everyone speaks English and all announcements & activities are offered in French & English.

Edited May 17, 2022 by AussieBoyTX

[jpalbny]

Agree w/ AussieBoyTX. Le Bellot is a really nice ship. We did a circumnavigation of Corsica on Ponant last year and we were one of the few Anglophones on board (though I can make myself understood, and converse briefly in French if need be). The Tauck sailings are marketed to Anglophones, IIRC, so you should have no language problem at all.

 

Towards the end of my review, I posted photos of the daily menus for both lunch and dinner. Some of the dishes were more local to Corsica so you probably won't see them on a Great Lakes tour. We were very happy with the food, but it wasn't American.

 

We usually cruise Silversea but we really enjoyed Ponant; so much, in fact, that we are booked on them again for next March. Hope you have a nice cruise.

[mauibabes]

@jpalbny 

Call me a CC dummy but I have no idea how to get to the Le Bellot post you referred to about your dining experience. Please anyone enlighten me how to search for it. 
I also tried to copy and paste information about electrical plugs but CC must not allow it because while I could copy the information, I could not transfer that information to an email that I wanted to share with friends. 
I guess I am a slow learner to the ins and outs of CC. 
 

Mauibabes

[jpalbny]

@mauibabes

 

No worries. There is a bit of a learning curve here. I did a detailed trip report of our cruise and posted it here.

 

Have a look at either AussieBoyTX's post above, or in my signature. There are links to my review of our cruise on Le Bellot in both places. Click on either link, and it will take you directly to that trip review.

 

I posted most of the lunch and dinner menus in that thread, starting at post #67.

 

 

 

 

[mauibabes]

👍🙏🤙

[AussieBoyTX]

17 hours ago, mauibabes said:

I also tried to copy and paste information about electrical plugs but CC must not allow it because while I could copy the information, I could not transfer that information to an email that I wanted to share with friends. 

 

For the plugs, try and just give them this link, or this picture. It's an extremely common plug type used almost everywhere in Europe.

 

https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/c/

 

 

I don't know if Amazon links work here or not, but this is a suitable adapter. The only thing you need to confirm is if the device you're powering accepted 240 volts. This will be printed on the device itself.

 

 

Unidapt European Adapter Converter Adaptor

https://www.amazon.com/Unidapt-European-Adapter-Converter-adaptor/dp/B077WJYNQ5/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=euro+plug+adapter&qid=1652884459&sprefix=euro+plug%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-7

 

Sample power brick text.

[CUTTERSAM]

On 4/14/2022 at 12:13 AM, Go2See said:

Wow!!!! Thank you!!!   Today is the 1st day I even thought about Ponant...     I think I will check in with them.

Thank you!

 

 

Some good info here for me as well.  I go solo 99% of time and have booked the Scottish Highlands Glasgow to Edinburgh for fall 2023.  I am always a tad nervous about "table for one" like the Frasier episode 🙂 but experience has showed me the smaller the passenger list, the better the connections. Glad to hear it's a good experience on this line.

[lynn-in-nc]

On 6/2/2022 at 7:01 AM, CUTTERSAM said:

Some good info here for me as well.  I go solo 99% of time and have booked the Scottish Highlands Glasgow to Edinburgh for fall 2023.  I am always a tad nervous about "table for one" like the Frasier episode 🙂 but experience has showed me the smaller the passenger list, the better the connections. Glad to hear it's a good experience on this line.

 

Cuttersam, I'll be on that route in August from Edinburgh to Glasgow and will try to report back. 😃

[lynn-in-nc]

On 5/16/2022 at 11:38 PM, mauibabes said:

We are scheduled on a Great Lakes trip on Le Bellot with Tauck in September and it will be our first Ponant cruise. I would have a few questions. What can we expect regarding the dining options?
What kind of electrical plugs and number of plugs are in the Prestige staterooms  (voltage) and what kind of adapters are necessary to bring along for a French ship?  What are the bathroom and shower sizes like?  What pieces of information can a Ponant veteran cruiser share with a newby?  
Thanks in advance,

Mauibabes

 

I've only done one cruise with Ponant (Greece 2018) but absolutely loved it and doing another one this summer. I don't know if I will ever use another line. I love the size of it, the quality of the food, the general atmosphere. The French travelers were very kind and patient with my high school French (from 50 years ago!), and there were some lovely Australians that we met on board. In the restaurant they will seat you with French speakers if you request it and want to brush up on your French, or with English speakers. The excursions and onboard lectures were so interesting, with well-educated tour guides. 

 

There is one restaurant and the only other option is room service.  The French don't snack and there aren't snack bars and that kind of thing, but I smuggled some cookies to my room for my "gouter" (4 pm snack) and room service is available 24/7. 

 

These are the USB plugs we use - there's another version for UK. With so many adapters for different devices, with this one plug we can charge everything. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083S53DZ7

[CUTTERSAM]

6 hours ago, lynn-in-nc said:

 

Cuttersam, I'll be on that route in August from Edinburgh to Glasgow and will try to report back. 😃

I will be interested to know how physical it is. I am pretty hale and hearty but I will be 68 when I do that itinerary!  I cannot wait to get your take on it.

[CUTTERSAM]

On 6/4/2022 at 6:42 AM, lynn-in-nc said:

 

Cuttersam, I'll be on that route in August from Edinburgh to Glasgow and will try to report back. 😃

Hey how was the Scotland trip!!  I am on that trip September 2023. I see it is sold out. I didn't realize there are 180 guests, I am so used to the river boat size crowds. I am traveling solo as usual, what was the passenger mix in general. Food, tours??  I would appreciate your input!

 

Thank you in advance. Sam