International clientele?

[sailing canary]

I'm interested to know what the proportions of different nationalities are found on Ponant cruises and does the makeup change depending on the embarking ports and destinations? This will affect which cruise I'll choose.

[AussieBoyTX]

An interview with the CEO says that "Ponant carries 70 to 80,000 passengers per year, first Americans (45%), followed by Europeans (40%) and Asia-Pacific (15%)."

 

For sure, there are regional variations in that mix -- Australian cruises have a lot of Australians and Antarctic cruises apparently have a lot of Americans. Ponant does have some cruises marketed to certain types of guests (e.g. Smithsonian, French themed cruises and so on), which may make the mix you're looking for more predictable.

 

 

[jpalbny]

Not unexpectedly, on our cruise last year (Nice-Nice, circumnavigation of Corsica) there were fewer than 10 Anglophones. It was fun, almost like a private tour for a few of us. So we will see what it's like in Indonesia this March.

Edited September 4, 2022 by jpalbny

[Host Jazzbeau]

Ponant sells blocks of cabins on their regular cruises to various groups:  e.g. Backroads [a US hiking tour company], Tauck [a US group tour company], NatGeo [a US expedition tour company]; and they have co-marketed sailings with Smithsonian.  Except for the Smithsonian sailings, you will find it hard to know about these other groups until you get on board.

 

Any cruise with one of those groups will have a lot of English speakers, but if you aren't part of the group [except Smithsonian, which is the entire cruise] you won't be part of their special English-only activities [shore excursions, onboard enrichment, etc. – for which they had paid extra].

 

But as long as the percentage of English-speakers of all types on a given cruise is large enough [which increasingly seems to be most of the time], the Cruise Director will make all announcements and especially all presentations bi-lingual in a fair way.

 

We were with a Backroads group, and felt that all the non-Backroads presentations were easy for Anglophones to understand.  But we had our own reserved tables at dinner, our own shore excursions, and our own speakers and other get-togethers – so I'm not sure if an Anglophone on our cruise who wasn't part of our group would have felt quite so included...

[AussieBoyTX]

This might not impact the OP, but I just want to note that currently National Geographic cruises aren't marketed by Ponant in the United States. The cruise is still available for purchase in the US, but there's no mention of the NatGeo speakers or benefits -- just to say I wouldn't expect these cruises to have higher percentages of Americans due to them being partnered with National Geographic.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by AussieBoyTX

[AussieBoyTX]

6 minutes ago, sailing canary said:

I was rather hoping to find cruises with mostly French passengers, but from the answers it seems unlikely I'll be able to find it.

 

Having clarified your question, I think there are ways to maximize your chances:

1. Look at cruises promoted to French speakers, like this one: https://www.ponant.com/mediterranee-rivages-iberiques-et-ile-de-beaute-ly260423-1 The honored guest only speaks French, so for the most part, I'd expect guests to either speak French or be Francophiles.
2. Some destinations might have more French speakers -- our Seychelles cruise was at least 80% French, but it was also during covid, so was missing potential Australian guests. I'd think Madagascar would be similarly French. All of the Mediterranean cruises we've done with Ponant had English speakers as a minority.
3. Ponant reservations can give an idea on where the bookings for any given cruise are coming from, which may helpful to inform your decision.

[65Mommy]

We have found 70% of passengers were English speaking countries and 95% of passengers were fluent in English.

[sailing canary]

7 hours ago, 65Mommy said:

We have found 70% of passengers were English speaking countries and 95% of passengers were fluent in English.

Actually, that's the reverse of what I'd be looking for!! We lived in France for many years and  I'm a fluent French speaker so I'd prefer a cruise aimed at Francophones.

[65Mommy]

2 hours ago, sailing canary said:

Actually, that's the reverse of what I'd be looking for!! We lived in France for many years and  I'm a fluent French speaker so I'd prefer a cruise aimed at Francophones.

I think  Paul Gauguin cruises might be a better choice for European audiences.

[sailing canary]

4 hours ago, 65Mommy said:

I think  Paul Gauguin cruises might be a better choice for European audiences.

Except they only operate in the South Pacific!!

I really would like to 'do' northern Europe, particularly the ports of the Hanseatic League.

[AussieBoyTX]

On 10/30/2022 at 1:59 PM, 65Mommy said:

I think  Paul Gauguin cruises might be a better choice for European audiences.

Now that I’ve been on Le Paul Gauguin, I can confirm it attracts an American audience. On this cruise, it’s 70% US / Canadian, 20% French and 10% other non-French. I wouldn’t book it expecting a French clientele.