REVIEW of L'Austral cruise, Dublin to Glasgow -- terrific classical music, but other problems

[Catlover54]

Here is my recent official LONG review of this one-week, classical music emphasis cruise (our first cruise on Ponant).  

 

Overall rating by me is 4/5 (though DH wanted to rate it 3/5). 

 

We will still likely give Ponant another try, since we realize each ship within a line, and even cruises on the same ship can provide different experiences.  But if we do, it would likely be on a cruise that stays in a port all day, so we could reliably plan private excursions (and/or where Tauck mostly takes over the ship and dominates with Anglophones).

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=699343

 

I would be happy to answer any questions people have about my admittedly limited experience, and/or provide clarifications. 

[jimdee3636]

@Catlover54

I read your review in its entirety. I think you were quite generous to give a 4/5 rating. Even your husband's 3/5 may be more than your particular experience warranted. If this is typical of Ponant, it does not inspire confidence.

[Host Jazzbeau]

We sailed on Ponant's Le Bellot in April in the Azores.  No classical music, but long stays at a new island every day.  [And yes, their pre-cruise itineraries were obscure with 'early morning to late evening' timings – but at least on that itinerary, with very short distances between most of the islands, the times in port were always generous.]

 

As Anglophones we did notice some ways that we were disadvantaged compared to the Francophones, but not to the extent that @Catlover54 did.  For one thing, we weren't lured by this special entertainment, only to be let down by interminable French-only introductions [which I wouldn't have foreseen, but now understand – fair warning!]  Our entertainment was more limited and more matter-of-fact, so the introductions were both shorter and more evenly-bilingual.  And with a heavily port-intensive itinerary we didn't bother with much of it anyway.

 

We did several Ponant shore excursions, and felt that these were well designed and equal in value for English- and French-speaking groups [which were always kept separate – I really felt for the German passengers, who had to choose one or the other!]  We had one hike that was extremely strenuous, but when I re-read the description afterward I realized they had accurately warned us – and while many in our group struggled with the slippery footing, it was a Belgian passenger on the afternoon Francophone hike who broke her leg.  That did put any 'poor us' views in context!

 

I'm still working on my review of this cruise, and a comparison to our first Ponant cruise which was in a Backroads English-speaking group [not a full charter, but we had Backroads personnel with us to provide all our excursions, some special treats, and to smooth things over generally].  I think my conclusion is going to back up much of what @Catlover54 says here:  regular Ponant sailings are inherently Francophone-centric, even though the non-officer crew do speak better English than French.  And the French passengers are more reserved than Americans in general, plus they tend to stay in their own familiar language-group.  You have to know that you are buying into that when you book.

 

The ships are beautiful and we have found the regular Prestige Cabins to be quite acceptable [deck 4 is even better than deck 5, because without the connecting door you get a small couch].  And they have some really appealing itineraries – in fact I recommend their Azores itinerary even with the Francophone focus.

 

But the ultimate solution is to book one of their Smithsonian cruises, which are marketed mainly to North Americans, or to book with a North American group like Tauck or Backroads. Then you can have the best of both worlds!

[Catlover54]

Thank you for your additional input, Jazzbeau! I had read many of your, JP Albany's, Aussieboy's,  and others' comments about Ponant (not many can contribute as it is a small and French line, so limited demand).  I went in with eyes open, ready for potential problems, but eagerly looking forward to the music and maybe a new culinary experience (with baguettes :).  The music more than delivered (e.g., nightly concerts, where I only expected 3-4!), despite the long-winded intros as well as in-between commentaries only in French (especially after the Anglophones' mutiny led to the CD hastily putting together written programs), and this heavily drove my 4/5 rating.

 

What was surprisingly disappointing were the lame excursions (the one from Belfast excepted, as that was English only), especially  compared with another ship that posits itself as bilingual , luxury Hapag Lloyd's Europa 2, which separates German and English excursions, and the reception's "it is not possible" service and poor communication to the point of making things up  (definitely not something I see on HL -- Germans tend to demand more precision).  The food was of course disappointing overall other than the crispy baguettes and hearty brown breads, but realistically I (not DH) could eat 3 meals/day with just great butter, cold cuts, smoked salmon, and jam (not all together), if other aspects are good.  Note I did not mention cheese, because the cheeses served also disappointed.

Frankly, also, the dining service (rather than the food) on this ship overall was better than on our last experience on "luxury" rated Seabourn a few months ago, despite numerous glitches, and we were thankful to be able to eat without battling to get a refill of our wine, and not a single soup was served to us inappropriately cold.

 

I am still attracted to Ponant's itineraries, and the Azores have been on my bucket list for a long time, so will keep it in mind. Maybe if I book well enough ahead of time we could get the Owner's Suite, with a very desired bath tub and properly distributed space  (we had originally done an OS on a Ponant Carmen focussed cruise, but had to cancel due to Covid issues), and perhaps better service to go with it.  We will also consider a Smithsonian voyage, but not Backroads, as we are no longer in the good shape we were in for many years to do Backroads level hikes like we used to. 

 

 

[vjt]

Hello Jazzbeau and Catlover54.  I very much appreciated reading about the UK cruise.  We will be taking our first Ponant cruise in June on Le Commandant Charcot...an Arctic cruise.  I do intend to give my impressions on our return.  Sure hope they do better in the cheese department, or we will be very miffed.  Some of your comments re language, selection of spirits and what we would call rudeness (by reception), I had gathered reading along with the other comments.

But, perhaps as mitigation, just wanted to let you know that we sailed Silversea Whisper (a ship that I personally love) on a pretty similar journey last June.  The tours were almost  uniformly crowded, staffed by folks who had no idea of the history of what we were seeing or any relevant facts.  I am wondering whether the sudden and immense increase in ships visiting the Islands has forced tour companies to employ novices, and they might even be short on buses.  I have a fair amount of previous history with Silversea, and this was quite noticeably worse than other cruises I have been on.

[Host Jazzbeau]

8 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

Note I did not mention cheese, because the cheeses served also disappointed.

 

1 hour ago, vjt said:

Sure hope they do better in the cheese department, or we will be very miffed.

 

Actually, the cheese on our April Ponant cruise was one of the highlights – as it had been on our Iceland cruise back in 2019.  But you have to love French cheese.  They did have a selection of Azorean cheeses one day [bland, Dutch-type cheese], but otherwise it was almost all French and almost all 'stinky.'  Thankfully we love 'stinky' cheese...  😉

[vjt]

Phew. Count us in!

 

[Catlover54]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

 

Actually, the cheese on our April Ponant cruise was one of the highlights – as it had been on our Iceland cruise back in 2019.  But you have to love French cheese.  They did have a selection of Azorean cheeses one day [bland, Dutch-type cheese], but otherwise it was almost all French and almost all 'stinky.'  Thankfully we love 'stinky' cheese...  😉

 

I love soft, runny stinky cheeses!  But on 6/7 nights and multiple lunches/breakfasts, there wasn't a single stinky cheese to be found (unless you redefine the word stinky).   Maybe they had all been eaten up by the time we got to the restaurants, or maybe they were out.  It's not that the cheeses were bad (I ate a lot fthem), they just weren't special.  I had a better gourmet  French cheese selection on the German line Hapag Lloyd last summer than I did on this French ship on this cruise. Odd, but it is good to know you had a suitably stinky cheese experience , so I won't give up hope!

[Catlover54]

3 hours ago, vjt said:

Hello Jazzbeau and Catlover54.  I very much appreciated reading about the UK cruise.  We will be taking our first Ponant cruise in June on Le Commandant Charcot...an Arctic cruise.  I do intend to give my impressions on our return.  Sure hope they do better in the cheese department, or we will be very miffed.  Some of your comments re language, selection of spirits and what we would call rudeness (by reception), I had gathered reading along with the other comments.

But, perhaps as mitigation, just wanted to let you know that we sailed Silversea Whisper (a ship that I personally love) on a pretty similar journey last June.  The tours were almost  uniformly crowded, staffed by folks who had no idea of the history of what we were seeing or any relevant facts.  I am wondering whether the sudden and immense increase in ships visiting the Islands has forced tour companies to employ novices, and they might even be short on buses.  I have a fair amount of previous history with Silversea, and this was quite noticeably worse than other cruises I have been on.

 

Yes, more novices are employed (e.g., 2 of the bus guides we had said they had just started guiding last year). Pre-Covid, on our multiple SS cruises, SS never packed their buses full, as you say, i.e., there would always be extra seats, and never more than 25-26 people (usually less) on board an excursion bus that could  hold close to 50.  Other lines, e.g., "luxury" Seabourn, and Regent, have also started packing many of their buses more since the Covd faux "social distancing" ended.  SS going "door to door" and all inclusive with many  "free" excursions has aggravated this, especially since they have not lowered the excursion or cruise pricings.

 

You will be on Ponant's new "star" expedition ship, so odds are good they will put their best foot forward, with top staff (and hopefully top cheeses as well :).  Of course on an Arctic cruise, it will be mostly all about the scenery, just as my cruise was all about the wonderful music (with the rest less important).   

[Catlover54]

I forgot to add that it was not until we returned home three days ago (we had added on a few days in Scotland after the cruise, so there was a delay) that we found a big paper bundle from Ponant, which was mailed 2 weeks before the cruise by snail mail (we left the country 10 days before the cruise, so did not get it before leaving). It included luggage tags.  My TA had no idea that we would be getting paper bundles (she had called a month before when she had gotten nothing, and neither had I, and hd been told everything would be electronic --  otherwise she would have had them express mail the stuff to us.  It had a lot more information about excursions than what had been available electronically,  in a beautiful 88-page pamphlet, but it made no sense to only mail the pamphlet out 2 weeks before sailing, since electronic excursions could be booked 6 or so weeks before.  The billing for the horrible Kilmartin excursion we were on out of Oban indicated we would be split into two groups, with one going to the museum and the other to stones ("hundreds" of stones were talked about, and we saw 3),  but we were all in one big group, and no one went to the museum. 

  The paperwork made very clear that this is a French line, and that there would be classical music featured  (but perhaps the Americans who did not know this were also traveling and did not timely receive it).  But it did not commit to having excursions for Anglophones in English (which Americans may expect) so one needs to be prepared to be dumped into a big bilingual group with clumsy language toggling. 

.

Oddly, however, the thick pamphlet it did not provide any details on where exactly  in "Dublin"  we were to board (as I said earlier, there were 3 options and we had to figure it out on our own ), and for disembarkation it just said port of  "Glasgow" (it did not make clear that we would be disembarking in Greenock, a small town 45 minute drive from Glasgow proper, which many of the Americans were unpleasantly surprised about -- we had tracked that down by using a cruise ship mapper for L'Austral, just because we wanted to know where to rent a car and I am experienced enough to know that such details are important.

 

More bizarrely, an erroneous " contact list" for a totally different cruise  was included -- for boarding from *the port of Ponta Delgada*!  A Barcelona company (Marmedsa Cruises General Agent) was listed as their "port agent".  No wonder that even one of the Australian Anglophones on board, who was a travel agent of many years, could not figure out whom to call to get the boarding location. 

 

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Catlover54 said:

More bizarrely, an erroneous " contact list" for a totally different cruise  was included -- for boarding from *the port of Ponta Delgada*!

Maybe you were destined to be on our Azores cruise!  🤣

[Host Jazzbeau]

On 5/11/2023 at 8:51 AM, Catlover54 said:

I am still attracted to Ponant's itineraries, and the Azores have been on my bucket list for a long time, so will keep it in mind.

Just noticed this.  Another cruise line that does a very interesting Azores itinerary is Noble Caledonia – and they visit all 9 islands in the archipelago [we only did 6].  They are British, so no problem with language or culture [and I mean that – we were able to understand everyone on board including officers, crew, and our fellow passengers who were 100% British].  And rather than deal with the poor layover timings in Lisbon you could fly to London a day ahead and take advantage of their included flights.

 

Here is the brochure for their 2024 Azores cruise, which unfortunately for you is already sold out.  [We didn't book with them only because the 2023 cruise was going to be on Serenissima, a 'quirky' ship they aren't using anymore because its owner is Russian...; 2024 is on their lovely Island Sky, sister to the Hebridean Sky that we have cruised and hopefully 2025 will be on one of the 'Sky' ships too.  The top suite has a really large bathroom, but there are no bathtubs onboard.]

 

Islands of the Azores 2024.pdf

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for the well written review.   We will be taking our first Ponant cruise in September on Le Bellot .     We have good friends from Australia that sail them all the time and love the product.  Before we committed to flying half way around the world and find the Ponant product was for us we decided to do a teaser 8 day cruise.   

 

I'm hoping many of the negative events of your cruise were one offs and not consistent.  You have indeed opened our eyes.   At least Iain speaks French so may be of assistance. 

[vistaman]

On 5/12/2023 at 1:58 AM, Catlover54 said:

 

I love soft, runny stinky cheeses!  But on 6/7 nights and multiple lunches/breakfasts, there wasn't a single stinky cheese to be found (unless you redefine the word stinky).   Maybe they had all been eaten up by the time we got to the restaurants, or maybe they were out.  It's not that the cheeses were bad (I ate a lot fthem), they just weren't special.  I had a better gourmet  French cheese selection on the German line Hapag Lloyd last summer than I did on this French ship on this cruise. Odd, but it is good to know you had a suitably stinky cheese experience , so I won't give up hope!

We both are aware Hapag Lloyd is spending a lot on "cheeses"  -  speaking French I joined twice the hoetel director and the chef in Honfleur and Bordeaux  - aside of the deliveries from Hamburg they twice spent heavy money on the market on cheeses. I will join Europa 2 on 10th June : wait and see . 

[vistaman]

Thank you for the review :  I  did only one Ponant in 2020 and will never return.

In that Covid period it was the only available  cruise for me - remember  the only Germany , Austria  Switserland policy  by Hapag  ( where later I could prove it was 100% illegal and violating the EU laws)

Obviously the food did no t improve    despite Ponant does pay a lot to  Alain Ducasse Consulting

I  am allergic to all those chefs giving their names on ships and even Hapag took in a former one starred chef from Berlin who was forced  to close his business  - sometimes he does destroy dishes by adding vegetables  not going with the food at all and he is not acqainted with Italian neither 

Maybe I am far too strict  but Ponant is not worth the money !!!

A lot of details were going wrong  - waiters with dirty clothes , no fresh salads ,  expired mini packages of butter ...even glasses not very clean a few times  ok it was covid  period 

it seems  Hermes toiletries are finished as well  

IMHO  it was very courageous to go to a French speaking ship -  most French people are still not great with a 2nd  or other languages. 

Belgians seems to be a exception  reaching  up to 3   - in my case  4,5 languages 😁

 

 

[Catlover54]

37 minutes ago, vistaman said:

We both are aware Hapag Lloyd is spending a lot on "cheeses"  -  speaking French I joined twice the hoetel director and the chef in Honfleur and Bordeaux  - aside of the deliveries from Hamburg they twice spent heavy money on the market on cheeses. I will join Europa 2 on 10th June : wait and see . 

 

And I will join Europa for a Baltic cruise a couple weeks later, for the Ocean Sun classical music festival.  We can both seek out the complicated and wonderful cheeses we seek and report our findings! 🙂

I've been reading up on some of the Baltic ports, and it looks like there will also be several opportunities to enjoy nice regional cuisine while on land, independent from ship excursions.

 

 

[vistaman]

8 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

And I will join Europa for a Baltic cruise a couple weeks later, for the Ocean Sun classical music festival.  We can both seek out the complicated and wonderful cheeses we seek and report our findings! 🙂

I've been reading up on some of the Baltic ports, and it looks like there will also be several opportunities to enjoy nice regional cuisine while on land, independent from ship excursions.

 

 

as long as you are not going to eat out in Norway - despite the actual low currency - or in the Operakallern in Stockholm  :  very €€€€€ 

i will do a seven days  on Silversea   and i found something in Copenhagen for some typical  sandwiches and 1 glass of wine  :  but  some 60 %  more as Belgian prices    

[highplanesdrifters]

@Catlover54 Thank you for your very detailed review. Very helpful.

[kasr]

On 5/31/2023 at 3:01 AM, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks for the well written review.   We will be taking our first Ponant cruise in September on Le Bellot .     We have good friends from Australia that sail them all the time and love the product.  Before we committed to flying half way around the world and find the Ponant product was for us we decided to do a teaser 8 day cruise.   

 

I'm hoping many of the negative events of your cruise were one offs and not consistent.  You have indeed opened our eyes.   At least Iain speaks French so may be of assistance. 

Hi, you'll find Ponant cruises in Australia/NZ quite different to Europe, as they are 90%+ English-speaking passengers. Antarctica cruises are about 75% from experience, but a lot of the Ponant expedition team in that area are Australians or New Zealanders too.