Ponant's L'Austral

Food

Expectations are high for a French ship and indeed, the food selections are French. Excellent baguette varieties, French cheese, nice desserts, very good salads the way I remember them from the offerings of delicatessens (traiteurs) in French resort towns. The individual dishes are mostly very good and tend to be on the small side, but the sequence of several courses leads to plenty of calories for all gourmets and gourmands. My favorite wines with lunch and dinner were Australian. We never splurged on the high end French wines that could be had at additional cost. The sommelier was available.

Our waiter told us that with the arrival of American Tauck groups, the executive chef will add hamburgers, prime rib and Cesar Salad. I very much liked the duck and boar we occasionally had on our menu. The lamb from New Zealand was also excellent.

Entertainment and Enrichment

The Cuban singer could really sing and was entertaining! The Ukrainian piano player was extraordinary. The dancers were as good as on other ships, their program charming and corny at the same time. We missed most of the daytime programs which were plentiful for such a small ship. Instead, I picked a few appealing books from the small library after having finished my Qiu Xialong novels.

The China segment of the cruise was themed: the French magazine Paris Match. I left the theater after five minutes of listening to them touting their own horn. The French passengers were a lot more patient and stayed. Paris Match had done article series on Mao and China. I think I remember one from ~ 30 years ago.

The enrichment speaker on China was a nice gentleman with unfortunately limited English pronunciation skills. I did not mind since his program was providing really good information and he was engaging. On the Korea/Japan segment, the speaker was a lady for whose style of presentation I did not care. In my opinion she lacked warmth and organization which was difficult for me to tolerate in combination with a strong French accent. If Ponant wants to break into the Anglophone market, they should hire more accomplished speakers. Maybe their naturalists are better.

Conclusion

Would I sail with Ponant again? The review questionnaire asked. I would perhaps if the itinerary were unusual and perfect for such a small ship (~ 200 passengers). Maybe I would go to the Australes island group southeast of Tahiti on the ship named l’Austral. Nobody else stops there on the way to Pitcairn. This cruise starts in Papeete, passes Pitcairn with a chance of debarkation and ends on Easter Island with guaranteed debarkation. Ponant also offers itineraries I have never seen anywhere else, such as the ocean north of the Aleuts. Go for it!

Ports and Excursions

China

Xiamen, our excursion went to Gu Lang Yu, charming little island, weekend goal for the Chinese from the Hinterland. Gu Lang Yu used to be one of the foreign ports. Remnants from that time are some villas, a piano collection, two churches with lots of opportunities for wedding photos, several former embassies in various states of disrepair. The lucky ones are restaurants. Lovely guide.

Shanghai, two nights and a real bonus for a small ship: We sailed into the center of the city and docked only 10-15 walking minutes from the Bund. Excursions offered were the usual Shanghai highlights, a trip on the superfast Maglev train, a water village and Suzhou.

Dalian, the most interesting excursion included a visit with a Chinese family in their apartment.

Tianjin, best excursion and best guide was to Bejing as reported by other passengers. We did not go since we had been there 9 months ago and wanted to avoid the long bus ride.

Korea

Incheon, best excursion was ‘all day in Seoul’ including 7 course Korean feast. Lots of seafood! Great guide.

Jeju Island, visit to woman divers and to a beautifully landscaped bonsai garden

Japan

Japan offered the most advantages for a small ship. Our small ports thought we were the apple of their eye, offering gifts to passengers, drummers, dancers, and flowers for the captain, fireworks. Each port did something different and each had the press and TV present, even big Osaka. Yes, our Japanese friends saw my husband and me on television. We were also interviewed.

Ports: Hakata, Beppu, Iwakuni, Una Ko, Osaka

Excursions included hot springs, a monkey mountain, historic homes and downtowns, shrines and museums as well as Hiroshima. We were there at the peak of cherry blossom time, just wonderful.

In the meantime, we are back from this cruise. Indeed, excursions can only be booked on the ship. Exception: Overnight excursions which must be booked beforehand.

The excursion desk gave presentations on the ship, passengers swamped them afterwards with questions and bookings. I did not really like this at all. We had filled out the booking form at home and handed it to one of the excursion organizers in the first days of the cruise.

I am sorry that the review is doubled up. Two different threads were merged.

Very useful to read about le Ponant ships & life onboard. Thanks.