The name Kangerlussuaq means “Big Fjord” in the local Kalaallisut language. The settlement of about 500 people is located in western Greenland on flat land at the head of a fjord with the same name. Kangerlussuaq is the site of Greenland’s largest commercial airport and most of the economy here is dependent on the air transportation hub and tourism. The rugged lands around the settlement support terrestrial Arctic fauna including muskoxen, caribou, and Gyrfalcons.
Located just north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut is the northernmost town in Greenland where the port remains free of ice in the winter. Yet it is also the southernmost town where there is enough snow and ice to drive a dogsled in winter and spring. In Sisimiut, travelling by sled has been the primary means of winter transportation for centuries. In fact, the area has been inhabited for approximately 4,500 years. Modern Sisimiut is the largest business center in the north of Greenland, and is one of the fastest growing Greenlandic cities. Commercial fishing is the lead economy in the town‘s thriving industrial base.
Akpatok Island is the largest island in the middle of Ungava Bay, south of Baffin Island and north of Quebec. Its name is the local name for the Thick-billed Murre, which nests here in vast numbers. In fact, the entire island is designated a Canadian Important Bird Area. Other common wildlife are Polar bears, seals, and walrus. One of the most distinctive features of the island is the steep limestone cliffs ringing the shore. They rise 490 to 820 feet straight up from the sea to a flat plateau. Although is uninhabited today, remains of a Dorset settlement have been documents at the southern end of the island.
The Torngat Mountains National Park is situated on the eastern side of Labrador’s northernmost point and features mountains sometimes described as the “Eastern Rocky Mountains”. The park covers an area of 9,700 km2 (over 6,000 mi2) and is dotted with remnants of several cirque glaciers. Saglek Fjord has an outstanding array of geological features and the steep cliffs provide some of the best exposures to the earth’s geologic history. The name of the national park goes back to Torngarsoak, who was believed to control the life of sea animals and took the form of a huge polar bear. Polar bears hunt seals on the ice here in the winter months, and herds of Torngat Mountain and George River caribou migrate to and from their calving grounds in the warmer months. Inuit use the area to hunt, fish and travel throughout the year and many still have a strong spiritual connection to this “Place of Spirits”.
Around the year 1000, Vikings from Greenland and Iceland founded the first European settlement in North America, near the northern tip of Newfoundland. They arrived in the New World 500 years before Columbus but stayed only a few years and were forgotten for centuries. Since the settlement’s rediscovery in the last century, the archaeological site has brought tourism to the area. Viking themes abound but so do views, whales, icebergs, fun dining experiences, and outdoor activities. L’Anse Aux Meadows on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland is a remote community of just 40 people, with St Anthony, 40 minutes away, having a population of only 3,500. The region is locally famous for springtime polar bears, nesting eider ducks, the northern extreme of the Appalachians at nearby Belle Isle, numerous spring and summer icebergs, and a rich ocean fishery. L’Anse Aux Meadows National Historic Site is the UNESCO World Heritage Site that tells the story of Leif Erickson and the first Europeans in the new world. This site is often the keystone attraction for cruises themed around the Vikings. Discovered in 1960, it is the site of a Norse village, the only known one in North America outside of Greenland. The site remains the only widely-accepted instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, and is notable for possible connections with the attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Ericson around 1003, or more broadly with Norse exploration of the Americas. The root of the name “L’Anse aux Meadows” is believed to have originated with French fishermen in the area during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, who named the site L’Anse aux Meduses, meaning ‘Jellyfish Bay’.
Old meets new in the province’s capital (metro-area population a little more than 200,000), with modern office buildings surrounded by heritage shops and colorful row houses. St. John’s mixes English and Irish influences, Victorian architecture and modern convenience, and traditional music and rock and roll into a heady brew. The arts scene is lively, but overall the city moves at a relaxed pace.For centuries, Newfoundland was the largest supplier of salt cod in the world, and St. John’s Harbour was the center of the trade. As early as 1627, the merchants of Water Street—then known as the Lower Path—were doing a thriving business buying fish, selling goods, and supplying alcohol to soldiers and sailors.
By heading almost due east from Cap-aux-Meules in Canada, it is possible to reach France in about one day’s worth of steaming! With barely 6,000 inhabitants living on tiny St. Pierre, it is the smallest French Overseas Collective. The residents of St. Pierre are predominantly descendants of Normans, Basque and Bretons and the French spoken is closer to Metropolitan French than to Canadian French. Although Basque is not spoken any longer, the influence is still felt through sport and a Basque Festival. Interestingly, this small island has two museums in part dedicated to the Prohibition. The Musée Heritage is St. Pierre’s newest museum with a focus on medical artefacts from the 19th and 20th century. Another claim to fame is a guillotine, the only one ever used in North America. In this quirky village it is easy to find the Post Office; just look for the clock tower shaped like a praying monk.
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
Services provided
In addition to the common services provided to all our suites and staterooms:
A la carte meals are served at the table in the gastro restaurant. At lunch, a selection of dishes inspired by contemporary French brasseries will be offered. At dinner, it is time to sample the grand traditions of French fine dining, with menus to go with one of the best wines from our cellar, as recommended by our sommelier.
To the rear of deck 2 you’ll find a gastronomic restaurant big enough to seat all passengers together at one sitting.
Whether you wish to have breakfast in the privacy of your stateroom, savour a snack in the middle of the day or enjoy your dinner in an intimate setting, our Room Service is available for you. Have a gourmet interlude and treat yourself from a varied menu at any time of day or night*.
Excursions & land itineraries
Each itinerary has been thoughtfully created by our teams to offer you a complete excursion experience. You can discover the hidden gems of the regions you visit in line with your interests.
Hidden creeks, ancient cities, UNESCO world heritage sites… the world reveals its hidden gems as you journey along the routes taken by travellers. In keeping with our ethos “Accessing the worlds treasures by sea”, we offer a wide choice of land excursions during all our cruises (except for expeditions). Chosen by our PONANT experts for their cultural value and historic interest, these excursions can last a few hours or a few days. If you need to stay on land overnight, we take care of your stay from start to finish, until you rejoin your ship. These longer excursions mean you can discover the unmissable sites of the region you are visiting, like Cuzco in Peru for example or the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
You can access these trips by pre-booking two months before your departure date.
On board the sisterships (Le Boreal, L’Austral, Le Soléal and Le Lyrial) and PONANT EXPLORERS, the reception desk and the excursion desk are arranged side by side to facilitate all your requests.
Reception: our receptionists can accommodate you 24 hours a day on all our ships (from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Le Ponant) to answer all your needs, such as room service, etc.
The excursion office: the excursion team is available at all times to tell you about the onshore programmes, organise group or private excursions and to manage transfers at the start or end of the cruise.
On Le Ponant, the receptionist will answer all your questions about excursions.
The Theatre
The Theatre* is the most unique meeting space on board. It’s the largest space on the ship and regularly accommodates all the passengers. It plays host to shows and entertainment as well as conferences from our experts, naturalist guides and guests of honours. The Theatre makes every cruise unique and enriching thanks to its constant and very accessible events.
On board all our ships, a shop is open during sailing. It offers a selection of presents and souvenirs: clothing, jewellery, beauty products, postcards and accessories.
All our ships feature an onboard spa. Equipped with massage cabins and a Turkish bath (Sister ships) or a sauna (Explorers), the spa offers a wide choice of top-of-the-range treatments provided in association with SOTHYS™ or CLARINS (Le Bellot and Le Jacques-Cartier only), leading French spa and wellness centre brands.
Discover a range of facial treatments, aromatic baths, exfoliation and body massage treatments designed to provide moments of complete relaxation. You can also supplement your beauty ritual with additional services such as hair-removal, makeovers, manicures and pedicures.
Prices and details of services in the PONANT Yacht Spa menu.
The gyms on our ships are equipped with the very latest Technogym© equipment and machines. Treadmills, exercise bikes, Kinesis Wall© strength training machines and many other types of equipment are all provided in a laid-back relaxing environment. The wide floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the sea add undeniable charm to the exercise sessions.
Each day also begins with organised morning workout sessions, either out in the open air or in the theatre. These are supplemented by water aerobics in the pool, or in the sea off the beach for PONANT passengers, when the situation allows it.
Provided in partnership with KÉRASTASE® and L’ORÉAL PROFESSIONNEL®, the hairdressing salon offers a complete range of top quality treatments designed to strengthen, nourish and reinvigorate hair’s shine and brilliance. Our stylists are available to serve all your styling, highlighting, colouring, cutting and tailored hair advice needs.
Your stateroom Officer will be able to take care of your laundry**. The washing and ironing of your clothes will take between 24 and 48 hours. Only ironing** can be delivered on the same day. As dry-cleaning is not possible on the ship, please only give us clothes that can be washed in water.
** These services are not free of charge and are billed directly to your stateroom account.
PONANT ships are non-smoking, even on the stateroom balconies. Smoking is only allowed in the exterior parts of the ship designated for the purpose.
A number of electrical outlets are provided for our cruise guests to use in our common areas.
European power sockets
the 220 volt 50 hertz alternating current is distributed by sockets meeting European standards. Onboard power is 200 volt AC (European standard) and 110 volt AC (North American standard). For safety reasons, hair irons and clothes irons cannot be used in staterooms. Please note that on Le Ponant, 110 volt AC is only available in stateroom bathrooms.
Children under one year of age shall not be authorised to embark on the ships.
On classic cruises, children are accepted from the age of one, with a maximum of 5 children between 1 and 6 years old on board.
On “expedition” cruises children are accepted from 6 years old (except cruises aboard Le Commandant Charcot) and must be fully independent during all the outside activities organised and during disembarkation in rubber boats, be sufficiently tall to sit on the inflatable sides of the boats, and old enough to understand, and immediately respond to the orders given by the persons in charge. As a result, children’s participation in any activity in an inflatable boat shall be subject to the agreement of the Captain and of the Expedition Head, depending on the sea conditions, and the difficulty of disembarking at each location visited. The ships do not carry Parka’s in children’s sizes. Parents must arrange to bring a suitable Parka for children. In all cases, children and young people under the age of 18 are at all times on board or on land under the full and total responsibility of their parents or carers.
For all “expedition” cruises on board Le Commandant Charcot, children are accepted from 8 years old only.
Children aged 4 years or more can be welcomed in the Kid’s Club when the service is offered on board (consult the list of cruises concerned).
The crew are bilingual in French and English. All signage and announcements made are in French and English. On certain cruises, crew members also speak other languages.
On board our vessels you can enjoy the following services:
Free Wi-Fi internet access is available on all of our ships, in both the staterooms and the communal areas. One or several computers are at your disposal in the recreation centres. Please note that the Wi-Fi connection may be discontinued depending on the navigation area and landscapes that may block the vessel from satellite coverage, especially at high latitudes (no connection possible beyond 80° North or South), or for technical reasons beyond our control.
All the ships have a doctor and a nurse available on board, except Le Ponant, on which there is a nurse and a telemedicine service available:
Medical Consultations
Consultations, medical or surgical treatments, and laboratory-based or medical imagery-based (radiology) analyses carried out on board by the doctor or the nurse have to be paid for. The price can vary according to the time and place of the consultation (hospital or stateroom). The prices for all treatments and procedures are displayed in the waiting room. Any medication must also be paid for by the passenger. If using medications on a regular basis make sure to bring adequate supplies for the duration of your cruise.
The doctor on board is not authorised to distribute sick leaves and prescriptions. Only accounts and invoices are provided which may be used by the passenger to obtain a refund from his/her health insurance if his/her contract allows.
Special Medical Treatment
If you have any special treatment, we ask you to inform the reservation service when you register for the cruise, to note it on the information sheet before departure, then inform the on-board crew at the moment of departure and always keep your medication with you for the duration of the cruise.
Seasickness
Our ships (except Le Ponant) have stabilisers equipped with dynamic fins which adapt to the movements of the ship. This system allows the ship to anticipate and compensate for the pitching and tossing of the sea to achieve greater stability. Passengers suffering from seasickness will see their symptoms alleviated and are pleasantly surprised to not feel uncomfortable during their journey. However it is wise to bring travel motion medication with you for peace of mind.
Our Sisterships, PONANT EXPLORERS, Le Paul Gauguin and Le Commandant Charcot were designed for people with reduced mobility in mind:
Access ramps allowing easy movement in communal areas:
– Decks 3 (307), 4 (407) and 5 (509) on board the Sisterships: three 18 m² double cabins adapted for wheelchair access and fitted with either a double bed (180 x 200 cm) or two single beds (90 x 200 cm), a bathroom with shower and toilet, and in the case of the cabins on decks 4 and 5 only, a 4 m² balcony fitted with a small exterior wheelchair access ramp.
– Decks 4 (431) and 5 (527) on board the PONANT Explorers: two 27.5 m² double cabins adapted for wheelchair access and fitted with either a double bed (180 x 200 cm) or two single beds (90 x 200 cm), a bathroom with shower and toilet, and a 4 m² balcony with a small exterior wheelchair access ramp.
– Decks 6 (626 and 628) and 8 (818) on board Le Commandant Charcot: three 28 m² double cabins adapted for wheelchair access and equipped with either a double bed (180 x 200 cm) or two single beds (90 x 200 cm), a bathroom with shower and toilet, and a 7.5 m² balcony with a small exterior wheelchair access ramp.
– Deck 4 (415 and 416) on board Le Paul Gauguin: two 21 m² double cabins adapted for wheelchair access, with cabin 416 fitted with a queen size bed (160 x 200 cm) and cabin 415 fitted with two single beds (90 x 200 cm), and with both cabins featuring a panoramic window and a bathroom with shower and toilet.
Despite these arrangements, each passenger should be able to be independent or travel with a close family member or friend who can give them whatever assistance they require during their trip.
If a person has not been judged suitably fit for travel in complete safety, the company reserves the right to refuse their embarkation. Disembarkation in difficult places or in a Zodiac® is subject to the approval of the Captain, who will always have the safety and wellbeing of the passenger in mind.
We advise our passengers to wear casual and elegant outfits at their convenience, and more formal attire for the Captain’s Dinner.