Le Ponant
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Le Ponant
Le Ponant is a Ponant ship offering a luxury expedition cruise aboard an intimate sailing yacht designed to explore coastal and maritime destinations accessible to small ships. It operates itineraries focused on sailing navigation, discovering natural landscapes, wildlife observation, and cultural immersion across diverse regions within a responsible exploration approach. The vessel offers high-end comfort with elegant suites, refined gastronomy, personalized service, and spaces adapted to sailing travel. This cruise emphasizes an authentic sea voyage experience combining adventure, exploration, and access to exclusive ports of call in a maritime setting. It is particularly suited to travelers seeking a luxury sailing expedition cruise in an intimate, elegant, and discovery-focused environment.
Itineraries of the Le Ponant
Price and Availability Notice
Prices displayed are provided for informational purposes only. They reflect the rates in effect at the time of their most recent update and are shown in Canadian dollars, per person, based on double occupancy, unless otherwise specified.
Supplier rates, exchange rates, taxes and fees, room or cabin categories, and promotions are subject to change at any time. The applicable price is the one confirmed by a travel advisor at the time of booking, subject to availability. Only the confirmed price shall be considered valid.
It is the traveler's responsibility to confirm the price, inclusions, and applicable terms and conditions before making a reservation. While every effort is made to keep our content up to date, transmission, display, or pricing errors may occur. In such cases, the correct price will be communicated to the traveler before any booking is confirmed. Certain terms, restrictions, and exclusions may apply.
decks plans
Deck - 5
Bar and Sun Deck
Deck - 4
Le Diamant Restaurant
Deck - 3
Marina, Émeraude Lounge and Bar, Reception, Welcome Lounge, Beauty Area and Fitness
Deck - 2
Cabins
Technical specifications
- Tonnage: 1
- Passengers: 33
- Decks: 4
- Length: 12 m
- Width: 88 m
Frequently Asked Questions
No. It is the one thing the fare does not cover, along with the spa, and it catches many people out. People expect to pay for the shore outings and to find tips prepaid; here it is exactly the reverse. Put them in the budget from the start.
Almost everything, bar two things. Included: shore excursions, most drinks other than prestige wines, Wi-Fi, the stateroom minibar, the talks and the entertainment, and a butler in the suites. Not included: gratuities and spa treatments.
Yes, all of them, with no cap on how many. It is the inclusion that most changes a comparison against a competitor, because on an expedition you land nearly every day and every outing is billed elsewhere. The advertised fare then stops being comparable at a glance.
A great deal of good, which is rare in this sector. The carrier is Compagnie du Ponant, established on avenue du Prado in Marseille. The contract is governed by French law and a dispute is pleaded before the French courts. The Athens Convention of 1974, consolidated in 2002 and carried into European regulation 392/2009, frames liability.
No, none, and the absence is worth more than a presence. The American contracts of several competitors send every dispute to an arbitrator and forbid class actions. This one does neither: the judge keeps jurisdiction and several guests can act together.
Two years, which is enormous in this sector. Some lines allow only fifteen days from disembarkation, others thirty. Here the limitation period is two years, and a tourism mediator exists on top if the discussion stalls.
Because size decides the itinerary. A ship under two hundred and fifty people enters where large hulls cannot, lands everyone in one rotation of zodiacs, and meets without delay the polar regulations that cap visitors ashore. It is not an aesthetic choice but an operating constraint turned into an advantage.
Around five very different families. Four identical hulls delivered from 2010 to 2015, up to two hundred and sixty-four guests. Six smaller exploration ships, from 2018 to 2021. One polar icebreaker. One three-masted yacht from 1991. One catamaran chartered privately. Few lines cover a spread like that.
Yes, this is a French line and it shows everywhere: French-speaking crew, talks given in French and English, French cooking. For a Quebec clientele that is a real advantage, above all on expedition where days at sea are largely spent listening to specialists.
The Athens Convention frames liability, with one clear exception: nothing is covered for baggage left unattended. The practical rule fits in a sentence: whatever is irreplaceable travels with you and never sits alone on a deck or in a corridor.
The figure is published nowhere, and we will not invent it. We check it file by file before confirming. On these ships, ask about the zodiacs too: access to the landings matters as much as access to the stateroom, and it is not solved the same way.
Yes, on 4 April 2008, in the Gulf of Aden. She was returning empty from the Seychelles: thirty crew aboard, no passengers. The crew was released on 12 April after a ransom was paid, and six pirates were then captured by French forces and tried in Paris.
Thirty-two. She is the smallest ship in the fleet after the catamaran, and that scale changes the nature of the voyage: the crew knows everyone aboard by name and the ship anchors where others cannot.
Yes, a three-masted yacht built in 1991, and the sails genuinely work. She is not a motor vessel with decorative rigging. That also means the programme depends on the wind, which is part of the pleasure for some people and not for others.
Le Ponant remains a ship: she has departure dates, public spaces and other guests to meet. The Spirit of Ponant is a catamaran chartered whole by a group, with no fixed date. They are two different products despite the same house.
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