The French luxury cruise line is picking up steam again after the Covid years.
Hundred. That’s how many cruises Ponant’s most loyal customer has taken to date. The budget that is not communicated must also be excessive. Because a trip costs an average of 7,000 euros, for a sixteen-day cruise in the Antarctic with the icebreaker “Commandant Charcot” it is up to 26,000 to 70,000 euros. These prices are all inclusive, including wine and activities. Something that will delight Hervé Gastinel, who has been on board the Ponant company since 2021, succeeding the historic founder Jean-Emmanuel Sauvée.
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This Nazair native, overqualified amateur sailor (Essec, Sciences po, Éna), former boss of the Beneteau shipyards in Vendée, has had a lot to do since his arrival. Starting with restoring the spirit of cruising after two years of the pandemic and traumatic episodes like that of the Diamond Princess, 3,711 passengers and crew were stranded in Japan for weeks in 2020. And while dusting off the image of cruise seniors with bingo evenings and tea dances.
“We have a very diverse clientele. Our passengers are on average around 55 years old. We are also welcoming more and more families and people in their thirties,” continues Hervé Gastinel, who wants to stand out from the global cruise offer: American superliners with space for 6,000 to 8,000 passengers, veritable floating hotels with casinos, “infinity pools”. “, even go-kart or zip-line tracks. On average, the boats in the group have 120 to 150 cabins, so more human-sized.
All captains are French
Most cruises have the following themes: arts and culture, history and geopolitics, nature or wholeness and well-being (meditation and yoga, etc.). With renowned speakers such as Dominique de Villepin, Alexandra Cousteau, the granddaughter of the man in the red cap, the lyrical artist Béatrice Uria-Monzon or star chefs. We are here at the pinnacle (the ultra-high-end class) of cruising with luxury services, both in terms of the plate and in terms of hospitality. The clientele comes from Europe (40%) and the USA (40%).
Founded in 1988 in Nantes by Jean-Emmanuel Sauvée, Philippe Videau and a dozen merchant navy officers, the Compagnie des Îles du Ponant was distinguished by their desire to sail under the French flag. If the crews are very international, all the captains remain French. Long owned by the shipowner CMA-CGM, which moved its headquarters to Marseille, the Ponant company has belonged to Artémis, the holding company of the Pinault Group, since 2015. It currently has thirteen boats, including a sailboat (the aforementioned “Ponant”). In addition to voyages in the Mediterranean, it also offers odysseys that inspire dreams, such as forays into Polynesia on board the “Paul-Gauguin”. The boats stay at sea for around three hundred days a year, with the rest devoted to maintenance and “positioning”, such as the annual transhumance of the “Commandant Charcot” from the North Pole to the South Pole.
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The group is currently working on their 2025 catalogue
Hervé Gastinel’s big challenge is to reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet, which is far less polluting than American superliners, but where progress is still to be made. “Cruises are fun, but they are harmful to the environment,” environmental groups often scoff. Ponant not only takes scientists on board “pro bono” in its polar expeditions, but also focuses on greening at all levels. “We have eliminated 100% of single-use plastics on board. And we want to reduce our CO2 emissions by 30% by 2025 compared to 2019,” emphasizes Hervé Gastinel. Heavy fuel oil will be banned in favor of marine gas oil with a best world standard sulfur content of less than 0.05%.
Now working on their 2025 catalogue, the group now believes they will sail wherever safety conditions are between 70% and 80% filled with boats: from New Zealand to Svalbard. For those dreading the prospect of long weeks at sea, there is still the option to stay overnight on one of the boats in the group Monaco F1 during a major event such as the Olympic Games, the Soccer World Cup or more recently the Grand Prix.