Ponant to Antartica

Has anyone sailed Ponant to Antartica recently? How was your experience and would you do it again? Trying to decide between Ponant and Silver Seas.

I had exactly the same quandary but ended up opting for Ponant, mainly down to price. Have booked for November 2017 so interested to hear opinions from others. I can't find much here on CC forums, but there is quite a bit of info on TripAdvisor....

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You can get more information on the Antarctic Adventures Forum on Trip Advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowForum-g1-i12337-Antarctic_Adventures.html

We were on the Silver Explorer Jan. 2016 to Falkland Is., So. Georgia, and Antarctica. Loved it. We saw a Ponant ship one afternoon - the only other ship we saw the whole cruise!

My understanding is that the first language on Ponant ships is French. Scott1sh, did you investigate this prior to booking? I'd be interested in trying a Ponant ship, but the language issue puts me off.

Hi gnld, I asked the agent and he said that the passenger mix tends to be 50:50, and lectures are available in both French and English. Reading some online reviews I also found out that zodiac excursions are also split by language, so hopefully it won't be a problem.

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I had exactly the same quandary but ended up opting for Ponant, mainly down to price. Have booked for November 2017 so interested to hear opinions from others. I can't find much here on CC forums, but there is quite a bit of info on TripAdvisor...

 

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We also just booked with Ponant and would be very interested in hearing your thoughts when you return. Ponant seems like a nice blend of comfort, expedition, and price. Now we have about 18 months to learn some French 😉

Hey Scott1sh, which cruise in November are you on? We are on Le Boreal, Nov 17th to 28th.

We are on the Lyrial - leaving from Montevideo.

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My wife and I were on a Ponant Antarctica cruise last January and had an extraordinary experience! We highly recommend it and hope to sail with them again within a year or so. Here are a couple comments: 1) -the language situation is a non-issue.Our trip (the boat was chartered by Gohagen for multiple US and Canadian affinity groups) was entirely in English - -the officers and naturalists were mostly French but all were at least bi-lingual. 2) the food was really good, including French baking - best we've had on our 9 cruises over the last 25 years (including a Regent Seven Seas cruise) 3) the ship naturalists were outstanding, most highly seasoned (like 5-10 + years of Antarctic cruises) with widely varying backgrounds in biology, geology, and expeditions. 3) the Zodiac expeditions (two or more a day) were extraordinary! 4) we really loved the ship - from the food to the public spaces (slightly cramped, if everyone was indoors) to the cabins (wonderful!)to the hotel and wait staff.

My wife and I were on a Ponant Antarctica cruise last January and had an extraordinary experience! We highly recommend it and hope to sail with them again within a year or so. Here are a couple comments: 1) -the language situation is a non-issue.Our trip (the boat was chartered by Gohagen for multiple US and Canadian affinity groups) was entirely in English - -the officers and naturalists were mostly French but all were at least bi-lingual. 2) the food was really good, including French baking - best we've had on our 9 cruises over the last 25 years (including a Regent Seven Seas cruise) 3) the ship naturalists were outstanding, most highly seasoned (like 5-10 + years of Antarctic cruises) with widely varying backgrounds in biology, geology, and expeditions. 3) the Zodiac expeditions (two or more a day) were extraordinary! 4) we really loved the ship - from the food to the public spaces (slightly cramped, if everyone was indoors) to the cabins (wonderful!)to the hotel and wait staff.

Thanks you for your review. We are looking forward to the Ponant experience in Antartica!

We did Le Boreal to Antarctica in January and loved it.

The boat was 50/50 French/ English speaking, there was probably at least 50 aussies on board, they tended to keep all the English speaking people together. All the lectures were provided twice, once in English and once in French.

The food was great, the boot rental was good (we took sheepskin liners) the parka was really warm.

The zodiac excursions were well organised, and everyone took turns going first.

The entertainment was lacking but this was an expedition cruise, we were busy nearly all day, early nights, early mornings.

We've just booked another Ponant cruise for 2019