PONANT Explorations

16 September, 2026

At Wild Earth Travel, we work with more than 70 small-ship operators around the world, all chosen for the same reason: they deliver immersive, authentic experiences rather than big-ship spectacle. Few of those partners are as close to our heart as PONANT Explorations.

We've been selling PONANT voyages for over 15 years, and between the team, we've sailed on almost every vessel in the fleet and clocked up somewhere in the region of 200 days at sea with them.

Who is PONANT?

PONANT was founded in 1988 by a group of French Merchant Navy officers with a single vessel: the three-masted sailing yacht Le Ponant, which still sails today. From that one ship, PONANT has grown into the world's leading French-flagged expedition and luxury small-ship operator, with itineraries stretching from the polar regions to the tropics.

The fleet today spans several distinct classes, though the ethos of authentic, immersive experience aboard world-class vessels runs through all of them:

Le Ponant — the original 32-guest sailing yacht that started it all.

The sister ships — L'Austral, Le Boréal, Le Lyrial and Le Soléal, each carrying up to around 260 guests. These four share an identical onboard layout, which is a genuine advantage for repeat travellers: once you know your way around one, you know them all.

The Explorer-class ships — six smaller, more intimate vessels (Le Champlain, Le Laperouse, Le Bougainville, Le Dumont d'Urville, Le Bellot and Le Jacques Cartier) built for warmer, more far-flung destinations. Each features the Blue Eye Lounge, a world-first underwater lounge with curved viewing portholes and a hydrophone sound system that lets you experience the ocean below the waterline — genuinely one of the more unusual spaces at sea.

Le Commandant Charcot — the flagship of the fleet and the world's first hybrid electric-powered polar icebreaker. It's the only vessel of its kind that can take guests to the geographical North Pole.

Paul Gauguin — purpose-built for French Polynesia and the only ship of its kind based there year-round. It joined the PONANT family in September 2019 and recently underwent a multi-million-dollar refurbishment.

As with all PONANT vessels, it's about the quality of the experience, not the quantity of pools and restaurants.

Where PONANT sails

Antarctica is one of PONANT's most popular regions, with several vessels frequenting the White Continent. The classic route is the 12-day Antarctic Peninsula voyage from Ushuaia, with charter flights from Buenos Aires included. PONANT also runs longer voyages that add South Georgia and the Falklands — a combination we often recommend first, given the wildlife and history on offer.

PONANT also sails to New Zealand's Sub-Antarctic Islands, a destination close to home but genuinely unlike anywhere else — home to more than half the world's albatross species and a significant share of its penguin species, with visitor numbers kept deliberately low. Longer voyages continue on to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica — a popular choice for Australian and New Zealand travellers, as it's accessible via New Zealand rather than South America.

In the Arctic, PONANT operates across several regions, with a handful of vessels active there each season, from the fjords and glaciers of Svalbard (with charter flights from Paris included) to Greenland's east coast, where Le Commandant Charcot can push through sea ice most ships never see. As with all expedition travel, wildlife can't be guaranteed — as the old saying goes, only the weather and the ice will decide — but the expedition team works hard to put guests in the right place at the right time.

Closer to home, PONANT runs a Kimberley season between Broome and Darwin, and offers voyages through French Polynesia aboard Paul Gauguin — genuinely one of the only sensible ways to cover an island region the size of Western Europe. In Europe, PONANT's home waters, there are more than 200 cruises across nine vessels each year, including shallow-draught itineraries that reach ports larger ships simply can't — sailing under London's Tower Bridge, into the heart of Bordeaux, or along the Venice canals, rather than being bussed in from a container port miles away.

Life on board

PONANT's food, drink and expedition programme are genuinely a highlight, not an afterthought. Expect a la carte dining that changes daily, tapas-style buffet spreads, and an open bar included in the fare — French champagne, wine, beer, cocktails and soft drinks, plus a stocked minibar in your cabin, so there's no surprise bill waiting at the end. Zodiac cruising, polar hiking, kayaking and (for the brave) the polar plunge are all on offer and entirely optional. Expedition leaders run lectures throughout the voyage on everything from sea ice formation to wildlife biology, and PONANT is a genuinely bilingual operation — English and French are both used on board, with English-speaking guides on Zodiac excursions.

FAQs: The practical questions we get asked most

Wardrobe: PONANT provides muck boots and a jacket for polar voyages (a distinctive orange jacket if you're sailing on Le Commandant Charcot), so there's no need to buy specialist polar gear — just layers, since the ships themselves run warm.

Zodiacs: if you can get in and out of a car, you can get in and out of a Zodiac. Crew handle embarkation alongside the ship in calm, sheltered water, not mid-passage.

Pricing: PONANT uses dynamic, yield-based pricing. Voyages typically open with a discount of around 30% off the brochure fare, which narrows as the voyage fills — so, as with airfares, the earliest bookings tend to get both the best cabin choice and the deepest discount. Solo travellers are well looked after too, with no single supplement offered across a large portion of PONANT's programme (over 200 departures at any one time). Fares can also be booked in Australian dollars, which removes currency fluctuation from the equation.

Why our clients book PONANT through us

None of the above is guesswork. It's the accumulated result of 15-plus years selling this operator, and our own firsthand travel with PONANT. We hold access to PONANT's full live availability, so whatever's advertised, we can offer — and we keep the practical detail on hand too: deck plans, packing guides and more.

If you're weighing up a voyage with PONANT Explorations, talk to the Wild Earth Travel team. We've done the homework, and in many cases, we've done the voyage!

[email protected]
AU 1800 107 715 | NZ 0800 945 3327

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