Ponant has enriched its voyages offer with a programme of themed collections, “Explore to inspire”
True to its Explore to inspire philosophy, Ponant has enriched its voyages offer with a programme of themed collections. Exceptional guests, intense experiences and rare emotions await those who travel with PONANT to experience those unique ‘PONANT moments’.
Four new themed collections
PONANT voyages are designed to provide multi-faceted experiences. Based on a wealth of proven expertise and long-standing partnerships, for 2022 and 2023 PONANT has created a new exclusive programme around four key themes:
– Planet: awaken to the world and the challenges of protecting the oceans and poles, travelling with explorers, scientists and the internationally renowned naturalists who accompany PONANT.
– Culture: savour the thrill of discovering a work of art, experience the soul of a relic, explore major museums, or enjoy live music on board and meet the artists.
– Geopolitics: gain insight into every region visited as you discover their cultural, civilisation and geopolitical issues, enlightened by expert journalists, essay writers, diplomats, and historians, as an example.
– Wellbeing / Lifestyle: take care of yourself and get back to basics. 100% total disconnect experiences will be offered combining wellness, yoga, nutrition and sleep. Discovering a sense of spirituality between wisdom, self-indulgence and Epicureanism are also among the themes, and – of course – gastronomy.
Sharing emotions with inspiring personalities
Through recent and long-term partnerships, PONANT has scheduled around a hundred enriched cruises in 2022, and as many in 2023. Inspiring personalities will be sharing their experiences and knowledge, helping to create those extra special ‘PONANT moments’ during the voyage:
Inaugurating the new Geopolitics collection will be Christian Makarian, former journalist of the French news magazine L’Express, and his guests including Dorothée Schmid, a French Institute of International Relations researcher.
Laurence de la Ferrière, the only woman to have crossed the entire Antarctic alone, will embark on Le Commandant Charcot to talk about the environment and the complex geopolitics that impact this continent. Meanwhile, the m/s Paul Gauguin will be hosting sailor and artist Titouan Lamazou in 2022.
A Napoleon cruise will take guests to St Helena to explore iconic sites with insights from several experts. They include writer and historian Frank Ferrand, Jean Tulard of the Napoleon Institute, Thierry Lentz, Director of the Napoleon Foundation and Michel Dancoisne-Martineau, curator of French properties on St Helena. Two exclusive cruises are also programmed in partnership with the French TV show Secrets d’Histoire.
A 100% Jazz sailing, in partnership with the festival Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents, will host musicians playing live every evening at concerts and jam sessions. A loyal fan of the company, novelist and director Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, also makes a welcome return.
Also on the programme is the first Yoga & Wellbeing sailing with Elodie Garamond, founder of the Tigre Yoga Club who will be running daily classes aboard and on the beach in the West Indies, and naturopath Leila Nasri.
Another unusual experience is set to take place on a summer sailing in the Mediterranean when Le Bougainville hosts three dancers-in-residence, including Eugénie Drion from Opéra de Paris. Together they will be creating a new choreographic work captured on video in an original NFT (Non-Fungible Token) format.
Buoyed by the success of existing partnerships, every year PONANT schedules six musical cruises in collaboration with French broadcaster Radio Classique and Alain Duault, who arrange an outstanding repertoire of music. Cultural cruises in partnership with the Mediterranean museum of civilisations (Mucem) in Marseille and the Quai Branly Museum in Paris are also being renewed, as are the gastronomic cruises with Château Latour and Cuisine & Vins de France foodie magazine.
Highlights
Culture: The Best of Croatia – Musical Cruise
A lively, melody-rich summer awaits with this cruise to Croatia in partnership with Radio Classique. Travellers will be borne away to the sound of recitals by tenor Julien Dran, soprano Jeanne Gérard and cellist Ophélie Gaillard, accompanied by virtuosi pianists Jean-Marc Luisada, Antoine Palloc and François Chaplin. Poet and writer Alain Duault will also be on board. All the charm and authentic experience of the Dalmatian Coast will be revealed, with its breathtaking scenery, invaluable historic sites and a gastronomic heritage brimming with multiple flavours.
Venice – Venice, 10 to 17 June 2022, 8 days – 7 nights from €4,080.
Geopolitics: Ancient civilisations of the Eastern Mediterranean
In partnership with Paris Match this itinerary offers a whole new perspective on six Mediterranean countries, from the Maltese capital to the shores of the Levant. On the programme, the discovery of legendary historical sites such as Valletta, Ephesus, the Pyramids of Giza, and Rhodes (UNESCO classified), the lively atmosphere of the seaside towns of Kusadasi, Ain Sokhna or Eilat and the crossing of the Suez Canal. On board will be a very special guest in Dominique de Villepin, former French Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Interior, with some fascinating debates in store.
Valletta – Aqaba, 29 October to 8 November 2022, 11 days – 10 nights from €4,280.
Planet: The Emperor Penguins of Bellingshausen Sea
This exceptional voyage on the high polar expedition vessel Le Commandant Charcot will take place in the company of Laurence de la Ferrière. Beyond the Peter I and Charcot islands, this cruise will venture into the heart of the Bellingshausen Sea, named in honour of the Russian admiral and explorer who discovered the Antarctic in 1820. In these quasi-unexplored places live Emperor penguins, a unique species endemic to the Antarctic and rarely – if ever – observed.
Ushuaia – Ushuaia, 12 to 27 November 2022, 16 days – 14 nights from €22,130.
(Ponant)
