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Compagnie du Ponant

From: European Cruise Guide

ABOVE:  L'Austral at anchor in Rab, Croatia.

Compagnie du Ponant Yacht Cruises is a boutique cruise line owned by the world's third-largest container-shipping group.

Although the Marseille-based company has a low profile in the English-speaking cruise market, it has served French cruisers since 1988, and its ships carry passengers to destinations around the world. Today, about one-third of the company's guests are French, with the rest coming from other Continental countries, the UK, the United States, and elsewhere.

The line's original vessel and namesake, Le Ponant, is a three-masted motorsailer that accommodates 64 passengers in 32 staterooms, including three triple cabins and two with king-size beds. The large sun deck beneath the sails enhances the yachtlike ambiance. (Le Ponant was fully renovated in 2022.)

Since 2010, the company has added a growing fleet of luxury "sister ships" that accommodate 184 to 264 passengers in 92 to 132 cabins and suites, most with private balconies. (You can read about an Adriatic voyage aboard a Compagnie du Ponant "megayacht" in our L'Austral cruise review.)

Ponant also has a group of "new generation" Ponant Explorers with only 92 staterooms per ship. And finally, Le Commandant Charcot is billed as the world's only luxury icebreaker.

European destinations and itineraries: In a typical year, Compagnie du Ponant offers nearly 100 cruises of varying lengths along the coasts of Northern Europe, Greenland, the Mediterranean, and the Iberian Peninsula.

Cruise line's Web site:

Compagnie du Ponant

Cruise review:

L'Austral Adriatic Cruise from Venice

Inset photos 1, 2, 3: Compagnie du Ponant. Used by permission.