WHY IT RATES: Ponant's growing fleet includes exciting onboard features to explore new routes in new ways.—Jason Leppert, Cruise Senior Writer

PONANT, the leader in luxury expeditions and the world’s only French-owned cruise line, unveils its Summer 2019 brochure with 100 exceptional cruises featuring 11 new sailings. 2019 also marks the maiden season for Le Bougainville and Le Dumont-d’Urville, the latest additions to the PONANT EXPLORERS series.

NEW SHIPS

In 2019, the fleet is expanding with the launch of the two latest additions, Le Bougainville and Le Dumont-d’Urville, for a maiden season that will be spent cruising the Baltic and the Mediterranean. With just 92 staterooms and suites attended to by a crew of 110, the PONANT EXPLORERS will offer exceptional comfort, personalized service, and refined gastronomy. Boasting a removable marina platform and a fully-equipped sundeck, the vessels will provide easy access to a number of nautical activities.

In a world first, the ships in the PONANT EXPLORERS series also boast a multi-sensory lounge below the waterline. Called Blue Eye, it allows guests to observe, listen to and experience the subaquatic world.

During the 2019 season, PONANT will cruise across the seven seas to discover exceptional landscapes, sailing to several continents and hundreds of different countries. PONANT is introducing brand-new itineraries, including the Great Lakes of North America, the tribes of Central America, the unspoiled Bissagos Islands, and the virgin territories of Greenland.

NEW ITINERARIES

Greenland of great explorers

A brand-new cruise to discover the east coast of Greenland and its virgin lands, where the first French explorers once walked. L’Austral will take its passengers to meet the Inuit people, sailing through exceptional landscapes on the way: fjords, glaciers, icebergs, sheer cliffs, and polar ice fields.

L’Austral | From Longyearbyen to Kangerlussuaq | 15 days/14 nights

Departs July 12, 2019 – prices start from €9,790 (approximately $12,010) per person, based on double occupancy

Great Lakes of North America

An itinerary sailing to four of the five Great Lakes of North America, between Canada and the United States. A cruise combining nature and culture with picturesque landscapes, history of the Indigenous peoples that lived in the region before the European colonization, charming villages, and big cities.

Le Champlain | From Quebec City to Milwaukee | 11 days/10 nights

Departs September 12, 2019 – prices start from €6,180 (approximately $7,582) per person, based on double occupancy

Le Champlain | From Milwaukee to Quebec City | 11 days/10 nights

Departs October 6, 2019 – prices start from €6,180 (approximately $7,582) per person, based on double occupancy.

Natural wonders of Central America

Discover the nature reserves, biodiversity and tribes of Central America, with the possibility of visiting UNESCO World Heritage sites: Tikal, Antigua Guatemala from Puerto Quetzal, Cocos Island National Park. The ship also sails to Darien National Park to meet the Embera indigenous tribe.

Le Soléal | From Puerto Quetzal to Guayaquil | 14 days/13 nights

Departs September 23, 2019 – prices start from €4,910 (approximately $6,024) per person, based on double occupancy

Adventure in the Bijagos Archipelago

Experience the unspoiled islands with exceptional wildlife and biodiversity, classified as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: saltwater hippopotamuses, crocodiles, sea turtles, rays, sawfish, otters, manatees, and dolphins. Other highlights include visits to traditional villages; encounters with the Bidyogo, a people with ancestral traditions; discover the mangroves, which covers more than a third of the emerged part of the archipelago.

Le Dumont-d’Urville | From Dakar to Dakar | 9 days/8 nights

Departs October 8, 2019 – prices start from €4,170 (approximately $5,116) per person, based on double occupancy

Source: Ponant press release