Yachts & Voyages · Arctic · Antarctica · Kimberley
Ponant
French style to the ends of the earth · ~13 ships · Le Commandant Charcot icebreaker
Ponant is a French company sailing French-flagged ships, and the difference shows up in small ways all voyage long. It began in 1988, inaugurated the three-masted Le Ponant in 1991, and now lists thirteen ships under its own name, none of them carrying more than 264 guests. The line sits inside PONANT EXPLORATIONS GROUP — owned by Artémis, the Pinault family holding company — alongside Paul Gauguin Cruises and Aqua Expeditions. French and English are both spoken on board, and the signage is in both.
The fleet divides cleanly. Four Sisterships take 264 guests, or 245 on Le Lyrial, and do the classic worldwide routes. Six PONANT EXPLORERS carry 184 guests each and share the Blue Eye, an underwater lounge below the waterline designed by the architect Jacques Rougerie. Le Ponant, the original three-master, takes 32 guests and was the first sailing ship awarded the Relais & Châteaux label, in 2023. Spirit of Ponant is a twelve-guest catamaran chartered whole in the Seychelles.
Then there is Le Commandant Charcot, which is why most of our clients end up here. A hybrid-electric icebreaker running on liquefied natural gas, 245 guests to 215 crew, ice class PC2. In 2021 she became the first French ship to reach the Geographic North Pole, and she is the only ship in the fleet on which Ponant offers a full circumnavigation of Antarctica. Le Nuna, on deck 5, is the only Alain Ducasse restaurant at sea.
Against expedition ships that lead with hardware, Ponant leads with ice class and with France. No submarine, no helicopter hangar. The fare already covers the open bar, 24/7 Wi-Fi and an included activity at each stop, and the kitchens work with the Ducasse Conseil teams. Clients who want gadgets should look at the yacht-expedition lines; clients who want the far side of the ice, and dinner worth dressing for, belong here.
The ships
Le Commandant Charcot
245 guests, 215 crew
The hybrid-electric icebreaker, powered by liquefied natural gas, ice class PC2, 123 staterooms and suites, five guest decks. Ponant's own company timeline marks 2021 as the year she became the first French ship to reach the Geographic North Pole. She carries an indoor pool, a snow room and, on deck 5, a Cigar Lounge, and she is the only hull on which Ponant offers a full circumnavigation of Antarctica.
Le Ponant
1991 · 32 guests, 33 crew
The original three-masted sailing yacht, 16 staterooms and suites, three guest decks, renovated in 2021. Ponant calls her the first sailboat in the world awarded the Relais & Châteaux label, in 2023. Her restaurant is Le Diamant.
Spirit of Ponant
2024 · 12 guests, 4 crew
A Lagoon Seventy 7 maxi-catamaran with six staterooms, sold as a whole-yacht charter in the Seychelles. Ponant's line is that the date, duration and itinerary are in your hands. The crew is four — captain, first mate, chef and stateroom attendant.
Le Boréal
264 guests, 145 crew
One of the four Sisterships: 132 staterooms and suites, six guest decks, ice class 1C.
L'Austral
264 guests, 145 crew
Sistership, identical in layout to Le Boréal. On the published schedule she runs Antarctica out of Ushuaia and the Greenland-to-Canada crossings in early autumn.
Le Soléal
264 guests, 145 crew
Sistership. On the published schedule she takes the Kimberley between Broome and Darwin, then New Zealand's subantarctic islands out of Dunedin over the southern summer.
Le Lyrial
245 guests, 145 crew
The fourth Sistership, and the one Ponant calls the latest addition to the series. 122 staterooms and suites rather than 132, and the only one of the four to add Privilege, Grand and Grand Privilege Suites.
Le Lapérouse
184 guests, 118 crew
First in the PONANT EXPLORERS series, in Ponant's own words. 92 staterooms and suites, five guest decks, the Blue Eye underwater lounge, a pool and a marina platform — the layout shared by all six Explorers.
Le Champlain
184 guests, 118 crew
PONANT EXPLORERS class, identical in layout to Le Lapérouse: 92 staterooms and suites, five guest decks, the Blue Eye.
Le Bougainville
184 guests, 118 crew
PONANT EXPLORERS class. On the published schedule she takes short Mediterranean voyages out of Málaga and Valletta.
Le Dumont d'Urville
184 guests, 118 crew
PONANT EXPLORERS class. She carries several of the Smithsonian Journeys sailings in the Mediterranean on the published schedule.
Le Bellot
184 guests, 118 crew
PONANT EXPLORERS class. On the published schedule she takes Scotland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland in late spring.
Le Jacques Cartier
184 guests, 118 crew
PONANT EXPLORERS class. The second Kimberley ship, running Darwin to Broome opposite Le Soléal.
Swap2Zero
ANNOUNCED, NOT BUILT — nobody is sailing on her. Ponant's future sailing ship: around one hundred cabins, 181 metres, aiming at zero CO2-equivalent emissions in operation with one month of autonomy, using wind propulsion, photovoltaics, fuel cells and onboard carbon capture. The Group began the project in 2022 and publishes no delivery date.
The suites
Window or Porthole Stateroom
226 sq ft on the Sisterships
The only category without a balcony. Ponant lists it on the four Sisterships, where it sleeps up to three, and on Le Ponant, where it is published at 150 sq ft. The PONANT EXPLORERS and Le Commandant Charcot do not have one.
Lower deck balcony stateroom
193 sq ft (Sisterships), 204 sq ft (PONANT EXPLORERS), 215 sq ft (Le Commandant Charcot)
The standard room across the fleet, for two, with a private balcony. On Le Commandant Charcot Ponant specifies a king-size bed, a panoramic sliding glass window and the balcony. The upper-deck version is the same size on every class — you are paying for height, not floor area.
Deluxe Suite
290 sq ft (Sisterships and PONANT EXPLORERS), 301 sq ft (Le Commandant Charcot)
The first step into the suite grades. It sleeps two on the Sisterships and on Le Commandant Charcot, three on the Explorers.
Prestige Suite
398 sq ft (Sisterships), 409 sq ft (PONANT EXPLORERS), 430 sq ft (Le Commandant Charcot)
Sleeps up to four, which makes it the working family category. Ponant's Privilege Suite is not simply the next rung up — it is larger than Prestige on Le Commandant Charcot at 516 sq ft, and smaller on the Explorers at 344 sq ft.
Owner's Suite
484 sq ft (Sisterships and PONANT EXPLORERS), 1,237 sq ft (Le Commandant Charcot)
The top grade on the Sisterships, the PONANT EXPLORERS and Le Commandant Charcot, and the gap between classes is enormous. Le Commandant Charcot also has Duplex Suites at 1,011 sq ft, and Le Lyrial tops out at 592 sq ft. Ponant lists butler service for the highest suite grades, and the exact list differs by class.
What the fare includes
The question every enquiry opens with. What follows is what the line itself publishes as included — we confirm it against your exact sailing before you commit.
- Stateroom or suite and full board, from dinner on the first day to breakfast on the last.
- The Open Bar, from the moment you board: mineral water, soft drinks, wines, beer, champagne, spirits, coffee and tea. Some premium bottles listed on the menu sit outside it.
- One activity at each stop, chosen from a selection — guided outings led by naturalist experts (hiking, zodiac rides) or excursions led by local guides (monuments, tastings of local produce). Ponant flags a handful of remote stops as free stopovers with no organised tour, and any extra activity is charged.
- Free 24/7 Wi-Fi in staterooms and public rooms, over the Starlink network.
- Access to all common areas, the spa, the fitness room and, on Le Commandant Charcot, the snow cabin. Treatments and hair services are charged.
- Port taxes.
- Flights only on the departures Ponant marks as flight-inclusive; otherwise air is a separate package the line can arrange.
- Gratuities are not included — Ponant leaves them to your discretion, with an anonymous envelope placed in your cabin at the end of the cruise.
On board
Le Nuna
Alain Ducasse's restaurant on Le Commandant Charcot, on deck 5. Ponant calls it the only restaurant by Alain Ducasse at sea, and Ducasse's own line on the site is that it offers contemporary high French cuisine.
The Sila
Le Commandant Charcot's second restaurant, on deck 9, listed by Ponant alongside Le Nuna as one of the two rooms on the ship.
The Nautilus
The main restaurant on the PONANT EXPLORERS and the Sisterships, with menus crafted by the Ducasse Conseil teams. Ponant pairs it with a second room, Céleste, where a buffet runs alongside table service and the sommelier's pairings.
Le Diamant
Le Ponant's restaurant, built around the terroir of each coast the ship visits and the markets along the route.
The Blue Eye
The underwater lounge on the six PONANT EXPLORERS, set below the waterline and fitted with two large portholes. Ponant credits the architect Jacques Rougerie, working from the eye and the baleen of a whale.
The Blue Lagoon and the fire pit
Two more spaces Ponant lists as Le Commandant Charcot only, along with the indoor pool, the snow room and the Cigar Lounge on deck 5. The Blue Lagoon is heated by the ship's energy recovery system.
Where it sails
Antarctica
November to March
Departures from Ushuaia on the Sisterships, and on Le Commandant Charcot for the harder ice — the Weddell Sea and the Larsen Ice Shelf, and the only full circumnavigation of the continent Ponant sells. Ponant notes that ships sailing for the White Continent do not carry more than 200 guests at a time.
The Arctic and the Geographic North Pole
March to October
Le Commandant Charcot works the shoulders nothing else reaches: Greenland in March and April, then the Geographic North Pole out of Longyearbyen between July and September, some of those voyages ending in Reykjavík. The rest of the fleet takes Iceland, Scotland and the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Arctic Canada from May.
The Kimberley, Australia
Late May to September
Ten-night runs between Broome and Darwin on Le Soléal and Le Jacques Cartier, both directions, across the dry season. Two ships on one coast is unusual, and it is where the Explorers earn their keep.
The Mediterranean
April to November
The largest single block of departures on the schedule, mostly PONANT EXPLORERS, and where the Smithsonian Journeys sailings sit. Five to ten nights, and the easiest way to test whether the line suits you before committing to a polar voyage.
What we add · All voyages
Shipboard credit on every voyage
A US$100-per-guest shipboard credit (up to US$200 per stateroom) on all Ponant voyages — including Le Commandant Charcot, the only luxury ship to the North Pole.
- US$100pp shipboard credit
- All voyages, incl. Charcot
- French luxury expedition
Booking this line
Book polar early. Le Commandant Charcot's North Pole and Weddell Sea departures are published years ahead — the 2028 season is already on sale — and the top suites go first, so the Owner's Suite, the Duplex Suites and the Privilege Suites are the grades we chase. Ponant confirms the final excursion programme about two months before departure; pre-booking runs from at least 60 days out to 7 days before embarkation, and we hold your choices through that window. We also watch the departures Ponant lists with no single supplement, handle the air package, and tell you which sailings are worth waiting for.
Questions, answered
What does the Ponant fare include?
Ponant's all-inclusive package covers your stateroom or suite, full board from the first dinner to the last breakfast, the Open Bar (mineral water, soft drinks, wines, beer, champagne, spirits, coffee and tea, with some premium bottles excluded), free 24/7 Wi-Fi over the Starlink network, one activity at each stop chosen from a selection, access to all common areas, and port taxes. A handful of remote stops are free stopovers with no organised tour, and any extra activity is charged. Flights are included only on the departures Ponant marks as flight-inclusive. Gratuities are not included and are left to your discretion.
Which ship should I choose?
Le Commandant Charcot if the ice is the point — she is the icebreaker, ice class PC2, 245 guests, and the only ship on which Ponant offers the Geographic North Pole or a full circumnavigation of Antarctica. One of the six PONANT EXPLORERS at 184 guests for the Kimberley, Iceland or a first expedition. A Sistership at 264 guests for Antarctica on the classic route or a longer worldwide voyage. Le Ponant, the 32-guest three-master, or the twelve-guest Spirit of Ponant in the Seychelles if you want the smallest thing afloat.
When is the best time to sail?
Antarctica runs November to March out of Ushuaia. The Geographic North Pole sails between July and September from Longyearbyen, with Le Commandant Charcot adding Greenland in March and April. The Kimberley season is late May to September. The Mediterranean carries the most departures, April to November, on shorter voyages of five to ten nights.
Is Ponant a French-speaking line, and does it take children?
Both French and English are spoken on board and the signage is in both. On the expedition cruises Ponant accepts children from six years old, and from eight on Le Commandant Charcot, on the condition that they can be completely independent during zodiac landings and respond immediately to the expedition leaders. On the classic cruises children are accepted from one year old, with a maximum of five children aged one to six on any voyage, and a Kids' Club from four where the service is offered.
Why book Ponant through an advisor?
Ponant states that it applies exactly the same rates to travel agencies as to its direct clients, so nothing is lost by having us in the middle. What you gain is suite strategy — which grades carry butler service, which decks are worth it on each class — plus someone watching the excursion window when pre-booking opens, the departures with no single supplement, and the flight-inclusive sailings. We hold options rather than book you into the first thing available.
Enquire
Sail Ponant
Tell us roughly when and which region appeals. We check live availability, secure the suite category worth having, and add the amenities that come with booking through us — at the fare you would pay direct.
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