Jim_Iain

Today was a tender port. No rush as the full ship fits on two.

Diffence - There has been many comments about Celebrity's Commitment to the environment by shifting from plastic to Aluminum cans of water and then back to plastic. Ponant has a much better approach - They give all passengers a nice travel water bottle and have filling locations with chilled water, room temperature and sparkling. Also in your room they provide bottled waters that come from dames source. To assure freshness they are dated.

Passed under Mackinac Bridge- the longest suspension bridge in Western Hemisphere. We are tendering and should begin at 2:00 pm

Lunch - Tuesday 9/12 Hot food ordered from menu. Salad, cold cuts, cheese and desert are self serve at buffet. Beef Pomntier

We have seen a number of birds. We have to speakers who will be leading tours and giving briefings. Alexandre Thevenin is specifically geared to birds 🦅 and bird life.

The seas are relatively smooth. We had some movement overnight. Seas were 4 feet last night and currently around 2 feet and very smooth. Interesting that the ship uses Windy on the navigation channel

Things are definitely smaller but only about 150 passengers all suites. They do have a SMALL gym. They also have massage, spa and beauty salon. Will have to check on Sauna.

I turned on VPN and Logged onto YouTube TV and it streams really good so maybe the ship just doesn't like my FireStick.

yes but not straight on. It tilts to about 35 degrees. Very similar to Sky Suite as you can see sofa is a bit small.

Iain made a Fudge Brownie brownie before we left. It was so rich you could only eat a small sliver at a time. Somehow it was disappearing quickly.

I sent mine to usreservations@ponant.com with the requested proof of status. Make sure you reference the name of your Club as opposed to Cruise Line Name - e.g. Captain's Club by Celebrity

Currently on Le Bellot in the middle of Lake Michigan I tried Zoom this morning and had no trouble connecting using my iPhone. For the teckies. Speed Test I also tried streaming but not enough bandwidth.

Technology Differences - Internet Speeds - Le Bellot definitely doesn't have StarLink and the internet is similar as Celebrity pre-StarLink. Ponant Celebrity TV- Both have nice Samsung TV's but the one on Ponant is much larger than those in Sky Suite and below. They are the same size as CS and above. While Celebrity has their ports unlocked the ones on Ponant are locked down and haven't been able to hack into turning it off but only tired for a couple minutes. They do use HDMI 1 so easy just to unplug the ships connection and plug in your HDMI Device. I tried to see if I could stream YouTube Tv and I can pull up a program but not enough bandwidth to watch a show. This morning I tried out connecting to Zoom and had no problem at all.

Internet has been discussed here, some saying it is terrible and others say it is ok. Silicon Valley time. Speeds a bit slow and definitely Le Bellot does not have StarLink yet. I tried Zoom on my iPhone and was able to connect but of course wasn’t having a meeting. I tried to stream YouTube TV on my phone but could load but too choppy to watch. I also tried to use the extra HDMI ports but they have them locked. I could however unplug the ships HDMI and connect my pc I warn you, I’m a techie and always playing with technology. I have a Plex server on pc and can watch stored movies, tv shows etc.

We hope to explore all of it. But only have 5 hours.

Really looking forward to it. Excursions tickets were at our door this morning.

Last night we lost lost an hour and will be the only time zone change. We arrive in Mackinac at 1:00 today.

I will be posting Menus and Dinner here on Ponant board. Iain had the Pate I chose the octopus- incredible and cooked to perfection. For mains Iain had the pasta and I had the soft shell crab. We both thought our entree’s were so so. One thing I wasn’t prepared for is they also wanted our desert orders at the same time as you order your main meal. I think I caused some confusion by asking the waiter if I could change the desert when he delivered our entrees. He came back and sat our deserts next to our dinner. The Maitre’d stopped by and asked if we had wanted our desert with our dinner. We all laughed and I said I think I confused the waiter. He apologized and said he would talk with the waiter.

I will be posting the Dinner Menus on the Ponant Board. Link in signature.

Back aboard and a couple pictures of Le Bellot Infinity Pool Entertainment in the lounge Multi purpose Bar also serves continental breakfast. Dining Room

Back tracking- a couple parting pictures of Milwaukee.

Differences - Embarkation is a reminder of the past. Unlike Celebrity and many of the other lines that have switched to a virtual Muster, Ponant still has a live drill. All passenger first met in the Theater for a 30 minutes briefing followed by instructions to return to you cabin and retrieve you life jackets. There were staff in the hallway to make sure it was properly put on and they you met at one of the 2 muster stations - We had the main dining room. The drill took an additional 20 minutes

Sail away was quiet and then to our briefing and muster drill.

Embarkation was a breeze and very efficient - Pier side they did security scans of you suitcases but was a bit surprised at the relaxed security of boarding. We were told just to carry our hand luggage that wasn't scanned and then on board just told to walk thought the metal detector with our bags and even though ringing didn't pat us down. Oh well no pirates aboard

Thanks much Embarkation was easy, efficient and was surprised by how friendly the staff are. We departed a little early and as you know the long briefings and safety drill were conducted - It was 7:30 before the were done with all that and the briefing on the Excursions for today.