Jim_Iain

Really interested to find out a little more. We have a U.S. booking for next weeks cruise. I don't see anywhere that they mention that tips are included. Is this something I need to call Ponant or my agent and inquire about it or just wait and see once on-board.

Thanks Mike and Mary - Should be interesting. I going into this with the expectation that it will be different and embrace the differences.

I'm sure you will find this interesting. They have a full section on cruises with NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT. https://us.ponant.com/offers/no-single-supplement After resumption of travel I read of a number of couples that were booking two rooms with no supplement instead of a larger suite. Hmmmm...

I initially had the same feeling and still have some trepidation's. My per-cruise research show that they have two dining venues - The Main Dining Room, Le Nautilus - Gastronomic Restaurant, is large enough to accommodate 100% of the passengers in a single seating. The Main Dining Room, offers the ability to open up to the Aft Stern Deck for alfresco dining when conditions permit. During a 8 night Cruise the have 2 Captain's Formal Nights. Everyone eats at the same time. Other nights you dine at your convenience. They also have the Grill Restaurant where they offer dining in a more relaxed environment and is also used for both Breakfast and Lunch. They also have Room Service available 24 hours per day.

Hopefully it will be fixed soon. Every time Celebrity has a "SALE" their IT Department screws up the website and many of it's components. I had the same thing happen a couple months ago and after a couple days it was back to normal with no action on my part.

In the last 6-9 months the norm has been that the menus have been either in accurate, incomplete or totally missing until 10 days prior to 1 day prior to cruise departure. If interested I would recommend finding a cruise on the same ship with same number of days for a current cruise. In addition to the normal delay in posting they are releasing new menus as of September 1 which may also affect what you are seeing. In reality I find that the menus are identical on all of the this so also be effective choosing any ship. I was looking at the new menus yesterday and they were fully loaded for the Current Apex and Silhouette.

Following along and really enjoying your Live post. Curious about the pictures in Venice - It looks like the Square was flooded. Were the tides really high for the Blue Moon?

Looking forward to follow your Live Post.

Internet - While I hope to be able to do a Live Post, Since most of our cruise will be very close to land I'm hoping I can mitigate by using my cellular data when available and in ports to keep caught up. I've been advised by @garykool81 - Thanks Gary Posted August 27 "You absolutely will not be able to do Zoom meetings aboard any Ponant ship. Their Internet is among the most outdated in the industry, and the worst I've experienced on any modern ships. As you can see, I've sailed with them multiple times on three of their ships -- two of them among the newest in their fleet. I found the Internet speeds, especially while at sea when demand is higher, to be as slow as 15KB/s -- literally 1990s dial-up speeds. On the best of days, I got to perhaps 100KB/s -- so think very early age DSL circa early 2000s. I often work while I am on vacation, and the WiFi aboard their ships has been pretty challenging. At times, it was so slow that it would take over a minute to load a text-only email. Definitely make alternative arrangements for connectivity if you need to have Zoom meetings while onboard! "

Thanks Cathy - Looking forward to Toronto. We have some dear Celebrity friends in Toronto and hope to get to see them. I have a feeling we may miss the best color, it's a bit (maybe 2 weeks too early). We get a bit of color in our area - Gold (during the summer) and Green (Winter). Some years we actually do get some nice color in the Fall but nothing like New England and Canada.

While I hope to be able to do a Live Post, I've been advised by @garykool81 - Thanks Gary Since most of our cruise will be very close to land I'm hoping I can mitigate by using my cellular data when available and in ports to keep caught up. " #8 Posted August 27 You absolutely will not be able to do Zoom meetings aboard any Ponant ship. Their Internet is among the most outdated in the industry, and the worst I've experienced on any modern ships. As you can see, I've sailed with them multiple times on three of their ships -- two of them among the newest in their fleet. I found the Internet speeds, especially while at sea when demand is higher, to be as slow as 15KB/s -- literally 1990s dial-up speeds. On the best of days, I got to perhaps 100KB/s -- so think very early age DSL circa early 2000s. I often work while I am on vacation, and the WiFi aboard their ships has been pretty challenging. At times, it was so slow that it would take over a minute to load a text-only email. Definitely make alternative arrangements for connectivity if you need to have Zoom meetings while onboard! "

I compare using Celebrity Site - To be quick and easy - I first search on the Cruise - Choose Book now and select number of staterooms, # Guests From the results I book mark that page - e.g. https://www.celebritycruises.com/booking-cruise/selectRoom/stateroomCategory?pID=EG12K163&sDT=2023-12-09&sCD=EG&sCT=CO&roomQuantity=1 From that page I can quickly come back and do a mock booking for the room type I am comparing in a couple seconds. From the final booking screen it summarize the Total Price as well as what is included. Once I have this I compare it to my booking which I keep in an Excel Spread sheet . If a cheaper price I email my Agent and he has the booking re-priced.

Comparison - Ponant Bellot - Deluxe Stateroom 204 SQ Ft Prestige Stateroom 204 SQ Ft Privilege Suite 344 SQ Ft Prestige Suite 409 SQ Ft Grand Deluxe Suite 482 SQ Ft Owner Suite 484 Sq Ft Celebrity E-Class Veranda, Concierge , AquaClass Staterooms 200 Sq Ft Sky Suite 300 Sq Ft. Celebrity Suite 460 SqFt Royal Suite 687 Sq Ft Edge Villa 739 Sq Ft Penthouse – 1,378 Sq Ft Iconic - 1,802 Sq Ft It 's easy to quickly see Cabin size across the board are smaller on Ponant.

Thanks - Will be interesting to see the demographics on this cruise. It is rather unique even to Ponant's normal more exotic cruises. I suspect in addition to a high French presence there will be a large number of French Canadians.

We are similar and our sweet spot has been CS and RS. I'm really getting excited to try something new.

For this cruise we opted for a Prestige Stateroom Deck 6

OK --- How much does this cost ? Prices are per person.

By the way I have put a link in my Signature for the Ponant Live Post. I will try to keep both going and try not to duplicate.

I'll go back to about 9 months ago when we made the decision to try out Ponant Their website is pretty well designed but like celebrity has broken links and outdated information. They have 4 types of ships - Explorer Class ships Expedition Class Ships (also refereed to as the Sister Ships) Ice Breaker - Incredible cruises like arctic circle and Norther Passage Le Ponant - A masted Yacht I will concentrate on the Explorer Class - which I will be on. The Ponant Explorer – Created in 2018 they have 6 luxury ships with only 92 cabins PONANT EXPLORERS series consists of small-sized ships, which combine respect for the environment, elegant design and cutting-edge technology. They feature Blue Eye, a unique multi-sensory lounge, the only one of its kind in the world, which is located in the hull, below the waterline. These six exceptional yachts, with just 92 staterooms and suites, bear the names of French explorers who went in search of previously unknown territories. They have a good Crew to Passenger ratio of 118 Staff for 92 Suites (186-220 Pax). Differences - I won’t even compare Celebrity and Ponant - As expected Ponant has small intimate ships with the ability to get to places you will never even see on Celebrity. To compare them would be like comparing a Lear Jet to a Boeing 777.

Before deciding on flying half way around the world to try out Ponant Signature Cruises to exotic destinations we wanted to find something closer to home and of a shorter duration. I’m sure there is no comparison to Ponant's exotic Antarctic or Tahiti cruise and and their Ice Breakers and Larger more modern ships. Let’s just say we are planning on make a “Hors d’oeuvre” cruise - enough to give us a taste of what Ponant is all about. The first thing I did in planning my booking was to understand Ponant ships. I started out by clicking the SHIPS tab. From here it lists: · Sister Ships · Ponant Explorer · Le Ponant (their Masted Yacht) · Ice Breakers

Thanks - hope you jump in and help out or just to say hi.

I hope all goes well. I've been warned that Internet is TERRIBLE on all of the Ponant Ships. I may have to batch my photo intensive post until ashore and use my mobile data. Yesterday someone advised me that they have never been able to connect to a Zoom Meeting.

There's not a lot of information and it is only about a month old- Just make sure you list Captain's Club by Celebrity as oppose to Celebrity. Their agent's were rejecting almost all initial application on multiple lines by looking Club Name instead of Cruise line. https://us.ponant.com/benefit-from-the-status-match/ I started a thread on Ponant's board - there are some links to a PDF file there

Terry - I remember reading that. We were excited doing the TA from Barcelona to Buenos Aires as we had two previous cruises on that route cancelled due to covid. I guess 3 strikes and your out.

Thanks for bringing that up. We didn't save any because we are so close in to our cruise. We did the Status Match and they gave us Grand Admiral Status. Unfortunately for Ponant Loyal Cruiser they may be diluting their Loyalty Program. My best buddy from Australia is a bit irritated (he can be a bit competitive). After 7 cruises he is only Admiral Level. I have been having fun rubbing it in. LOL By the way - Anyone applying for Status Match - When you apply - Make sure you state Captain's Club by Celebrity . I was originally rejected and got an email saying Celebrity was not part of the Status Match Program - The agent was looking for the name of the club not the name of the cruise line. I understand the MSC is also doing Status Matching.