Transfer to Longyearbyen (LYR) from Paris for The Geographic North Pole on Le Commandant Charcot

[jsea]

Does anyone know at what time the Ponant charter flight typically departs Paris for Longyearbyen on this voyage?

 

We did an arctic sailing on Seabourn Venture this year and the charter flight left Oslo at 4:30am with a required 2:45am departure from the hotel. It was miserable especially considering we were required to take a tour of Longyearbyen and then kill time on our own until boarding commenced in the early afternoon. We arrived into Oslo from the United States the afternoon before and it was a draining few days. 
 

Hoping to avoid a similar misery this time, we are arriving into Paris very early the day before the charter flight and booking another night to guarantee ability to checkin upon arrival. 
 

But then I started thinking about booking SAS from Oslo into Longyearbyen the day before boarding and staying at the Funken Lodge. And simply forfeiting the included Paris charter flight.

 

If anyone has any sage advice, feel free to share. 
 

Thanks.

[AussieBoyTX]

In a French group,, I saw a departure from CDG at 5:30AM for one cruise last summer. It's only one datapoint, but I'd guess that all departures would be similar.

[jsea]

Very helpful - thanks!

[jonikal]

On 11/27/2022 at 3:05 PM, jsea said:

Does anyone know at what time the Ponant charter flight typically departs Paris for Longyearbyen on this voyage?

 

We did an arctic sailing on Seabourn Venture this year and the charter flight left Oslo at 4:30am with a required 2:45am departure from the hotel. It was miserable especially considering we were required to take a tour of Longyearbyen and then kill time on our own until boarding commenced in the early afternoon. We arrived into Oslo from the United States the afternoon before and it was a draining few days. 
 

Hoping to avoid a similar misery this time, we are arriving into Paris very early the day before the charter flight and booking another night to guarantee ability to checkin upon arrival. 
 

But then I started thinking about booking SAS from Oslo into Longyearbyen the day before boarding and staying at the Funken Lodge. And simply forfeiting the included Paris charter flight.

 

If anyone has any sage advice, feel free to share. 
 

Thanks.

Thank you for reminding us of the difficulties you encountered in flying into Longyearbyen!  We had a similar experience a few years ago (with another expedition ship) when we lost two night's sleep due to horrible flight connections, and consequently were too exhausted to take part in the first two landings,  Just recently we were about to make the same mistake and planned another sailing involving a Longyearbyen-bound charter out of Oslo and after intense research, realized it was going to be an equally torturous ordeal - so we changed our plans and chose another itinerary. There was simply no reasonable way to get there from here without spending two days of stress at airports and a couple of sleepless nights with midnight departures. 

[AussieBoyTX]

I was catching up on YouTube videos and found a brand new Sam Chui trip report on La Compagnie, the all business class airline, between Orly and Longyearbyen. I was surprised to see that it was a charter for Ponant! 

 

We flew on La Compagnie in 2019 on a 757 from Newark to Paris. We thought the service was good and the seat was okay. They've since upgraded to newer aircraft that make the seat better.

 

Anyway, for those of you on Charcot flying to Longyearbyen, maybe this is what's in your future.

 

 

 

 

[parischris]

The departure times for the charters are *almost* always going to be early morning. The charter will be picking up disembarking passengers at the other end (who will be leaving around the 08:30am mark). Same routine as for the charters to Ushuaia. Drop the new passengers off then fly back with the disembarking passengers. 

 

And before anyone chimes in with their edge case, I said 'almost always' for charters.

[jsea]

On 12/12/2022 at 5:36 PM, AussieBoyTX said:

I was catching up on YouTube videos and found a brand new Sam Chui trip report on La Compagnie, the all business class airline, between Orly and Longyearbyen. I was surprised to see that it was a charter for Ponant! 

Thank you for this excellent find. Coincidentally, I came back to this thread due to something new I discovered when creating a dummy booking for our 2023 North Pole journey. There is now a $2800 “business class” option for the Paris - LYR charter. Surely this is what it’s for.

 

I applaud Ponant for giving us options. One aspect of our Seabourn Venture Svalbard / Greenland expedition cruise that felt decidedly non-premium was the whole charter / transfer experience from Oslo to Longyearbyen.