How does Ponant compare to SS Expedition cruises?

[jpalbny]

We are considering a Ponant expedition from Singapore to Darwin next November (23 Nov - 4 Dec 2020; Voyage E231120). It looks like a cool itinerary, passing through a number of ports in Indonesia, with stops in Borneo for Orangutans, and Komodo (though not sure what's going on there with the park closure - just one island, or more). 

 

However, our only expedition cruise experience is with Silversea - four on Silver Explorer, and one on Silver Cloud with a second one coming up in January. I would love to hear a comparison between the two products, if someone here has sailed on both lines. My sense from reading posts here and there is that there will be enough similarities that we'll feel comfortable with Ponant, and their ships do look really nice. But some firsthand experience from someone who's cruised both would be even better! I'd feel more comfortable if I did not have to wait for my own review 14 months from now. 😉

[MBP&O2/O]

I don’t know if you have seen this? Quite recent. Somebody else's pov for a reference.

 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10703-k12945954-Ponant_not_so_good-Cruises.html

[Observer]

I have not sailed the line.  But a former colleague and partner did around six months ago and reported "Never again!"  The complaint I recall specifically was what they deemed the poor quality of the food (when they expected much better on a French-based line).  These friends are the furthest one can imagine from "high maintenance," so I take their response seriously.  I am fairly certain they have not sailed Silversea, but they have sailed Regent and Seabourn a good deal.

Edited September 30, 2019 by Observer

[RachelG]

I have not sailed on that line either, but have two friends who did last year.  Neither is high maintenance at all.  They thought the food was fine.  Their complaint was that there were a lot of smokers on board.  And smoking policies were really not enforced, or if they were, the smoke was enough that it was very noticeable in other areas of the ship.  They also felt like the French speaking people onboard were given better service.

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, RachelG said:

They also felt like the French speaking people onboard were given better service.

 

Et ce n'est pas de problemme! Je m'appelle Jean-Paul, donc c'est parfait!

 

Thanks all for the replies. It is hard to figure out why people like or dislike the food, but that seems to be a consistent issue in multiple reviews. I can think of two main reasons - one, bad ingredients. Two, bad preparations which could mean many things - simple stuff when people expect fancy (it's French, n'est-ce pas), or different from the typical American palate, or bland/uninteresting. We could handle most of the latter but not the former.

 

Food for thought. It could be an expensive diet!

[carefreecruise]

We have one coming up in eight months. There are two types. One is with Ponant and their French speaking crew and charging you for items like Viking cruise lines. The other option is when A&K charters them and things will be very close to Silversea. A&K will require the crew to speak English and provide butler's providing similar service like Silversea. Will know better when we complete the 'Kimberly the Last Frontier' cruise in early summer. 

[Observer]

1 hour ago, carefreecruise said:

We have one coming up in eight months. There are two types. One is with Ponant and their French speaking crew and charging you for items like Viking cruise lines. The other option is when A&K charters them and things will be very close to Silversea. A&K will require the crew to speak English and provide butler's providing similar service like Silversea. Will know better when we complete the 'Kimberly the Last Frontier' cruise in early summer. 

 

I believe there is a third type – such as offered by Tauck —  where the tour operator occupies a portion of the Ponant ship and provides its own escorts/managers but does not charter the entire ship for a seamless experience. 

[nowornever]

Hi JP,   I realize that you asked for people who have done both & we have not been on a Silversea Expedition although we've been on many "regular" Silversea cruises. We have been on a Tauck sponsored Antarctic trip on L'Austral.  We were not the only group - there was a French speaking group & a very small Japanese group who had their own translator.  I did not like the ship.  We were in a superior verandah, or something like that & it was very small, only a chair & a bistro type table.  The bath was small & the "ocean view" bath consisted of having a rolling cover on the outside of the bath room so you had no control.  God forbid your traveling partner decided to play a practical joke !  Tauck, as always, took care of us extremely well, but they were at the mercy of the ship.  The staff of naturalists was extremely knowledgeable but all spoke French & the English translation was very shortened. The joke was that they went on & on in French & when it was English time they said "Whales."  It was not, of course, that bad, but when the English translation came, the French speaking travelers all started speaking as loud as humanly possible so it was hard to hear the translation.  The food did not compare to Silversea & the dining room was totally uninviting. It was on a lower deck with portholes, & in the Drake Passage was sort of like being in a Maytag.  The wines offered were ok if limited selection & of course, French, which isn't a bad thing at all.  There was a nice forward lounge for viewing.  They were extremely well organized when it came to landings & offering different levels of excursions, i.e. Zodiac rides through the icebergs rather than hiking up some hill.  We have also been on their Levant & a ship they formerly had, Diamant (the old Radisson Song of Flower.) Both were completely chartered by Tauck & not expeditions, although the Diamant had Zodiacs which were deployed frequently in the Chilean Fjords - fabulous!  Maybe the ships built after L'Austral do not have some of the cabin issues.   While on the Wind in the spring, we saw "Le Champlain" in the Shetlands (or maybe Orkneys?)  We have seen a couple of the others in Ushuaia from the comfort of our beautiful Muse & Spirit & not been envious at all.  But  they are very nice looking ships.  I have photos of the cabin on L'Austral so if you want to see them, I will be happy to send via e-mail.  Please get more opinions & hopefully more recent ones & again, we have not been on a Silversea expedition, only on the Cloud before it was converted.  Aren't we all lucky to be able to make these decisions?  Sometimes I need to pinch myself!

[Joc123]

We have sailed Seabourn (215 nights), Silversea , Windstar, HAL, and Ponant Darwin - Broome on L’Austral.

 We were very disappointed with Ponant, food being the main problem.

When we complained we were told the problem was the isolation of the area. I can’t accept that as a reason as this line specialises in Antarctica.

 The service was average (we were told several crew were sick) so maybe we were unlucky with this cruise which can happen.

The thing that is a constant is the size of the cabins. Nicely furnished but small and the bathroom is just ridiculously small - definitely 1 person at a time!

The one thing that was really good and well organised were the expeditions.

They were excellent and we couldn’t fault them.

 

[Fletcher]

I am booked on a Ponant trip in spring 2021 - a back-to-back in French Polynesia, aboard L'Soleal and sailing to the Marquesas and Austral Islands.  I am not expecting Seabourn or Silversea levels of luxury and service and I discount all the comments about the food because one person's three star Michelin is another person's KFC.  The reason I went with Ponant is simple - their itineraries are far more interesting than Silversea's same-old-thing.  Part of my Ponant cruise is in association with National Geographic. 

[Fletcher]

17 hours ago, jpalbny said:

We are considering a Ponant expedition from Singapore to Darwin next November (23 Nov - 4 Dec 2020; Voyage E231120). It looks like a cool itinerary, passing through a number of ports in Indonesia, with stops in Borneo for Orangutans, and Komodo (though not sure what's going on there with the park closure - just one island, or more). 

 

 

It seems that Komodo won't be closing after all -

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/01/indonesia-cancels-komodo-island-closure-saying-tourists-are-no-threat-to-dragons

[Fletcher]

Further research at the BBC shows that tourists might now have to pay $1000 each to visit the island.  When I first went there in 1988 all I had to do was buy a goat.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49888876

[jpalbny]

Thanks for the updates, Fletcher. Though a lot can change still between now and November of next year. The $1000PP may seem steep but if it's going towards conservation I can't really complain too much. An area like Komodo Park has to be preserved and any plan has to consider those who live there. Hopefully the fees benefit the human residents of the Island too.

 

It's not out of line compared with some other fees - it now costs $1500PP to go gorilla trekking in Rwanda for a day. Luckily we did that in 2015 when it was cheap ($750).

 

Thanks all for the comments. The food issue seems to come up a lot. Joc123 or others - do you remember anything specific about the food that you can share? Any pictures or menus? We like good food and drink, but aren't overly fussy and we don't mind plain or simple food. It doesn't have to be fancy French cooking. 

 

Maybe it could work as a weight-loss program! 

 

I will need to do some detailed research into the room options. There are some larger rooms on the ship we're looking at. 

 

Appreciate everyone's helpful comments. 

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

When I first went there in 1988 all I had to do was buy a goat.

 

I assume that you had to feed it to a dragon? You know, just like visiting the petting zoo, and buying some pellets to feed the rabbits...🤣

Edited October 1, 2019 by jpalbny

[Fletcher]

1 hour ago, jpalbny said:

 

I assume that you had to feed it to a dragon? You know, just like visiting the petting zoo, and buying some pellets to feed the rabbits...🤣

 

Yes . . . there were four tourists on Komodo that day, the two of us and another couple.  We were staying at a Losmen at Labuanbajo on the western tip of Flores.  Our guide charted a police launch and we set off for Komodo, stopping at the village to buy the goat.  The village in those days was very poor and I remember the graveyard and the graves covered in sharp coral rock to deter the dragons from digging up the bodies.  We then dragged our poor bleating goat down the path to a sort of feeding area where our guide butchered it and hung it up on a hook and rope.  About a dozen dragons eventually devoured the whole thing.  The place was full of flies and snakes and you got close enough to smell the dragons' putrid breath.  Then we all went to pink beach for a picnic, a swim and a snorkel.

Edited October 1, 2019 by Fletcher

[jpalbny]

Fletcher, that's a great story. I showed it to Chris today, while we were eating lunch. She hyperventilated a little bit about the snakes... And we both felt bad for the goat. I bet things are a little different now!

[zigtraveller]

Hi JP, I'm following this thread with interest as I have also been looking at some of the Ponant itineraries, but haven't been convinced to take the plunge as yet. 

An acquaintance of mine has done Silversea and Ponant.  Her opinion is that Ponant is wonderful and much better than Silversea.  She is a self avowed Francophile though, so said she loves the food and the bilingual announcements etc doesn't worry her.  She is no longer sailing with SS and is only booking Ponant.

[sanne]

I have posted a reply on the Ponant site. I have sailed explorer and Cloud expeditionary. 

 

As the subject of food is of great interest I’d like to add that I enjoyed the food. We only ate in the casual restaurant and mostly out on the deck as this was in the tropics. The food was of good quality and simple in presentation. Plenty of choice and very good service. 

 

Our expeditionary crew were mostly Australian so no problem with language issues. The expeditionary leader was French and we didn’t see much of him. 

 

I would cruise Ponant again if the itinerary was what I was looking for, and they certainly have some very interesting itineries. 

[jillyf]

We are on the Coral Discoverer at present and they have a new 120 passenger ship, Coral Adventurer and ? Coral  Geographe next year. 

They have a Darwin to Singapore in Jan 2020 advertised. 

 

We haven't been on a Silversea expedition but had 30 nights on Silver Cloud in 2013.  

Comparing food - not as "refined" as SS but acceptable.  Everyone seems to polish off everything without complaint. Wine only offered as included lunch and dinner. Hardly any choice but drinkable ( and we like our wine), and you can purchase much better.  I drink Petaluma Chardonnay before dinner ($60) and they keep it for me.  It works out a bit more expensive than their Chardonnay/ glass so I’m happy. 

The excursions have been very good. Expedition team and guest lecturers are knowledgeable and fun. 

From Darwin to Cairns we have a Torres Strait Artist on board as well to give lessons. I am hopeless but enjoying them.  

Someone I spoke to feels SS expedition staff had more in depth knowledge but that is from being on this cruise from Darwin rather than the Broome to Darwin.  It’s a very different cruise now than last week in the Kimberly for me.  Expedition crew and guest lecturers were very knowledgeable about the rocks and animals. Not needed so far on this part of cruise although one of the guest lecturers lived in one of the remote aboriginal communities we visited and spoke the language. Interesting to hear about the culture. 

 

There is a flat bottomed vessel called Explorer that takes the 70 people off to the beaches, or transfers people into the 3 zodiacs from the back. The Coral Adventurer has 2 of these for the 120 people. 

It’s very comfortable for the times you head up rivers for a few hours and has overhead cover. 

 

I'm not sure about age of passengers. This second part of the B2B has a much older, less agile demographic.  The Adventurer has a lift and the age and frailty of passengers may be older. 

Kevin is blogging http://www.thefletchers.com.au/The_Fletchers/Broome_Cairns_Cruise_2019/Broome_Cairns_Cruise_2019.html

[sanne]

We have recently very much enjoyed a Coral Adventurer Kimberley cruise. We did this itinerary many years ago on the Orion but this was a much more in depth cruise of the Kimberley. It’s not 5* like Silverseas expeditions but more like a safari on water. Very relaxed and casual but extremely knowledgeable and engaging expeditionary crew ( better than Silverseas or Ponant ) .

 

We enjoyed the simplicity and the friendliness of everyone on board. Loved the 2 explorer boats and the unique way of getting on and off. It enabled us to see so much more than on zodiacs as we could be out for several hours in the heat and humidity. It was very busy, very little downtime. Often at breakfast by 6:30 so we could be away early - everything dependent on the tides. Back for lunch then off again in the afternoon. 

[jpalbny]

Thanks, sanne and jillyf. Another line to explore! It's great to have so many nice choices.

[Rummblestrip]

I would like to add to the conversation, but I have never sailed Silversea or Ponant. My experience is with Regent, Oceania, and NCL. I think that the Oceania ships are too many people. When on NCL I prefer to be on a ship with the Haven. I usually never leave the area. I have had amazing butlers on all NCL ships.

 

I travel solo and I am a scuba diver, that was my main reason to even look at Ponant. I took a chance and I have booked 8 sailings back to back on Ponant. This sailing will let me explore India for 16 days, dive in the Maldives for 16 days, and end up in Japan. A lot of bucket list items checked along the way. With the back to back offers, solo supplement discount, and moving up the loyalty ladder from the start of your cruise, I could not pass up the amazing deal. For the cost of 76 days on Ponant was less than a sailing on Silversea for 21 days that I had priced.

 

I can deal with the food, happy with a simple salad or steak for dinner or a burger for lunch. It is all about the itinerary for me. If I can give you my honest opinion, I never go in with any expectations and then I am never let down. You have to decide what you want on a cruise. If you cruise for the dinning experience, use that as your deciding factor. If you are more about where you explore, pick the itinerary that you like the best. I understand that most of Ponant passengers are repeaters, same as Silverseas, that says a lot...Happy sailing!

[TrulyBlonde]

I was perusing this Board and was on Ponant for Antarctica last November. My trip info is on the Ponant Board.

I think I still have PTSD from this voyage. 😉 

 

[Aussieflyer]

It is some time since we did a SS expedition (2010 to the Arctic) and last year for a Ponant one to Antarctica. It's a long story but the Ponant was thousands cheaper than SS was offering as we booked very late (paid in full at booking). The feedback I gave our TA on the Ponant ship was that while we would be happy to sail with them again, there were some negatives that people need to be aware of. 

We had a balcony cabin in Deck 5 - it was very small and only one chair and an ottoman to sit on. We were offered an upgrade after boarding to a suite for about $AU10 but owing to a number of factors didn't take it. 

The food was not as good as we hoped - poultry was excellent but steak was terrible - tough and overdone.

The entrees (appetisers), breads and oils were very good on the whole. 

Drinks were excellent - well made cocktails and wines very passable.

English speakers numbered about a third of the total passenger load and we did sometimes feel a bit left out, as French was the first language. On the other hand, we did expect this and can imagine how awkward it must be for non-English speakers on most cruises. Service was good and all staff did speak good English but we did miss the banter with bar and restaurant staff. 

We thought the expedition staff were much poorer in quality than we had had on SS though I  have heard  that it can be a bit hit and miss on SS now. We felt that the young staff were inexperience and 'keen kids' rather than established experts that we had had on SS. Lectures in English were generally not great though I hear the French were much better.

The itinerary made a lot of difference - South Georgia and Antarctica - you can't go wrong so not sure if a different region and a first cruise with Ponant people would be disappointed.

I should say we are looking at another Ponant expedition to the Russian Far East but know what to expect.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Aussieflyer

[TrulyBlonde]

Hi again. Final note: If you are prepared to be in a Maytag washing machine for 8 sea days, go for it! It is Hit or Miss when you visit S. Georgia and Antarctica.

 

After having visited most of the World, we much prefer floating around the South of France and Amalfi Coast. 

 

;-))