cruising cockroach Posted July 2, 2018 #1 Share Posted July 2, 2018 My wife and I are thinking of cutting back cruising to "once in a lifetime" experiences rather than regularly going on them (we've been using cruise ships for intercontinental travel rather than round-trip excursions). One such cruise we're considering is a Polynesia + trans-Pacific on Ponant next year. Would it be safe to assume that there isn't much savings to be had on a Ponant cruise? Prices seem to be static for the cuise I've had my eye out on for almost a year - whch is kind of nice. I assume there are no commission kickbacks that one can get via select TAs for other cruise lines? I think the best I've seen is a clear-out agency offering a USD500 credit for new-to-Ponant cruisers but that may be available through any TA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Jazzbeau Posted July 2, 2018 #2 Share Posted July 2, 2018 The Ponant cruises I have been checking seem to sell out quickly. We booked a New Zealand cruise for March 2020 about a month ago and got the last non-suite cabin. Ponant regularly charters out half the ship (or more) to Tauck and other value-added providers, leaving even less inventory subject to later price cuts. This may change in the future as the rest of their new class of ships come on line, but at the moment demand seems to be running ahead of supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruising cockroach Posted July 6, 2018 Author #3 Share Posted July 6, 2018 I've been keeping an eye on this one for nearly a year now (~9 months to go). I think I remember one of the discount sites was offering 4% off last year. Cruise is still fairly available in the cheaper categories, and seems fairly empty for the following ocean voyage. I suspect it may be less than popular as most of the stops are excursionless and you just go and do watersports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridiana Posted July 7, 2018 #4 Share Posted July 7, 2018 The last Transpacific - Polynesia cruise I was looking at, had islands that nobody else visits. My pearl is from there and I almost booked, but we had time conflicts with other trips. Two of the islands were in the same lagoon and one of those has the largest catholic church in all of Polynesia with an interesting history. I don't think you need a formal excursion to visit, but hopefully the lecturer explains the history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare gogo65 Posted September 6, 2018 #5 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Ponant’s Pricing starts at 30% discount when itineraries first released, as they sell the cabins it reduces by 5%. So might be the first 10 cabins get 30% off, next 10 25% etc... This is documented on their website, so best option is book as soon as released, or occasionally just before departure, to get a last minute discount, however many cruises are sold out quickly. We booked Iceland to Quebec 2019 in when released in 2017, it was sold out within 2 months and has remained so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newlondon Posted September 6, 2018 #6 Share Posted September 6, 2018 While the itinerary is slightly different the Tauck price for 9/19 Great Lakes cruise is actually less than Ponant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruising cockroach Posted October 18, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted October 18, 2018 Not only are the cruises I'm interested in still available but they're being dumped at 53% off (even more for some) at the cruise clearance TA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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