Ponant frequent cruise benefits
Jan 16, 2019, 7:59 pm
#1
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Ponant frequent cruise benefits
Just a note to anyone considering Ponant, the nice feature about the Yacht Club frequent cruiser scheme is that benefits are earned for the cruises booked and not actually travelled.
All you have to do is book a second cruise (so if you book your first two before actually sailing any, you get benefits on he first) to enjoy base tier benefits for these cruises. The best benefits (for me) are complimentary laundry and €50 credit per cruise (the latter rises with tier) - used to be an excursion credit which is useless if your cruise offers none. There is also a discount for future cruises. Other benefits for the middle and top tier are upgrades, onboard purchase discounts (except excursions) and free change of cruises.
The other new development is that internet is reportedly now complimentary for all since beginning of the year. It used to be a frequent cruiser benefit (60/120//240 minutes per cruise depending on tier).
Of course with the cost of most Ponant cruises, some of these benefits should arguably be included.
All you have to do is book a second cruise (so if you book your first two before actually sailing any, you get benefits on he first) to enjoy base tier benefits for these cruises. The best benefits (for me) are complimentary laundry and €50 credit per cruise (the latter rises with tier) - used to be an excursion credit which is useless if your cruise offers none. There is also a discount for future cruises. Other benefits for the middle and top tier are upgrades, onboard purchase discounts (except excursions) and free change of cruises.
The other new development is that internet is reportedly now complimentary for all since beginning of the year. It used to be a frequent cruiser benefit (60/120//240 minutes per cruise depending on tier).
Of course with the cost of most Ponant cruises, some of these benefits should arguably be included.
Aug 2, 2019, 8:08 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Just a note to anyone considering Ponant, the nice feature about the Yacht Club frequent cruiser scheme is that benefits are earned for the cruises booked and not actually travelled.
All you have to do is book a second cruise (so if you book your first two before actually sailing any, you get benefits on he first) to enjoy base tier benefits for these cruises. The best benefits (for me) are complimentary laundry and €50 credit per cruise (the latter rises with tier) - used to be an excursion credit which is useless if your cruise offers none. There is also a discount for future cruises. Other benefits for the middle and top tier are upgrades, onboard purchase discounts (except excursions) and free change of cruises.
The other new development is that internet is reportedly now complimentary for all since beginning of the year. It used to be a frequent cruiser benefit (60/120//240 minutes per cruise depending on tier).
Of course with the cost of most Ponant cruises, some of these benefits should arguably be included.
All you have to do is book a second cruise (so if you book your first two before actually sailing any, you get benefits on he first) to enjoy base tier benefits for these cruises. The best benefits (for me) are complimentary laundry and €50 credit per cruise (the latter rises with tier) - used to be an excursion credit which is useless if your cruise offers none. There is also a discount for future cruises. Other benefits for the middle and top tier are upgrades, onboard purchase discounts (except excursions) and free change of cruises.
The other new development is that internet is reportedly now complimentary for all since beginning of the year. It used to be a frequent cruiser benefit (60/120//240 minutes per cruise depending on tier).
Of course with the cost of most Ponant cruises, some of these benefits should arguably be included.
Aug 2, 2019, 10:19 am
#4
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Also, don't forget the €250pp first cruise discount available (at least if you book via a travel agent). This doesn't apply to ocean voyages but does for all other trips. And you can double dip with the Virtuoso €200pp onboard credit so with the loyalty scheme, it soon adds up!
Aug 2, 2019, 10:35 am
#5
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Some of the very-few U.S. pax on the first leg didn't think much of the food, they wanted to go for fast food burgers when the ship got to Hilo. The rest of us, including Australians made up the largest contingent after the French, and are apparently Ponant's most-important English-speaking market) thought it was perfectly fine though a bit repetitive (see below).
Cabins are nice though a bit small (on the Soleal, Lyrial, Austral and Boreal ships) for a luxury line (it should be called expedition especially when the ship carries enough Zodiacs to carry over 2/3 of the pax onboard - and enough supplies for survival in the event the ship has to be abandoned in the Antarctic or Arctic). A/C works very, very well even in the tropics (we crossed the equator). Many people we met onboard were repeat cruisers (some up to or over a dozen).
Dining service is a bit disorganised and the ship is a bit understaffed (gross ratio is 2:1 - crew bunk 2 to a cabin) and apparently a full ship (anything more than 200 pax - 260-266 is the maximum for the class) gets a bit disorganised on banquet nights. Fortunately our first leg only had 199 (where we did notice some disorganisation - first banquet was so slow the after-dinner show had to be postponed).
On our particular cruise, the chef de cuisine got thrown off the ship at the port we boarded. Seems he had ruined the Beef Wellington (by overcooking) on the previous leg on the captain's dinner. The sous chef became the acting chef for the 1st half of the 1st cruise we were on, and a replacement chef was flown in for the duration (all the way from and back to France). The sous chef was quite keen to assume the role of chef de cuisine. It took a while for us to notice on the 2nd cruise that he was MIA and was apparently thrown off the ship in Honolulu where the 2nd leg started. One of the Filipino kitchen staff assumed the role of acting sous chef and did a great job - for things they knew how to cook - but unfortunately it was what was offered on the first leg hence the repetition.
And the complimentary laundry and internet? Was and worked very very nicely respectively.
Aug 5, 2019, 8:04 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,303
On our particular cruise, the chef de cuisine got thrown off the ship at the port we boarded. Seems he had ruined the Beef Wellington (by overcooking) on the previous leg on the captain's dinner. The sous chef became the acting chef for the 1st half of the 1st cruise we were on, and a replacement chef was flown in for the duration (all the way from and back to France). The sous chef was quite keen to assume the role of chef de cuisine. It took a while for us to notice on the 2nd cruise that he was MIA and was apparently thrown off the ship in Honolulu where the 2nd leg started. One of the Filipino kitchen staff assumed the role of acting sous chef and did a great job - for things they knew how to cook - but unfortunately it was what was offered on the first leg hence the repetition.
Aug 5, 2019, 10:05 pm
#7
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Disembarked, sent home (to France). Not sure if the employee's contract was ended right there. There were some rumours but they remain just rumours. No quibbles about the food other than unripe fruit and repetitiveness of the menus.