Ponant Updates English Wording

The latest brochure just released by Ponant, contains the following changes.

Why Choose Ponant

The third heading is as follows:

For our French style: as our ships fly the French Flag, it is only natural that a certain French art of living permeates on board through the main language spoken, the accessible crew, the French design, gastronomy, wines, and the discreet service. Our passengers truly enjoy the relaxed elegance of the atmosphere.

From this, I would have to say, the Company has no intention of changing anything for the English market.

At least it now explains what English speaking passengers can expect, the main language spoken in French followed by a poor condensed translation in English.

However still no mention of the dual language, or that all passengers will be treated with respect and equally.

English speaking passengers can truly expect a “Second Class Experience” (relative to French passengers).

What a pity!!!!

Just as I mentioned on your other thread. Some posters had suggested that with the new owner, things may change. I did say this on the thread in response to those posts, although nobody responded to my comments....

"As for the purchase in July of this year by Pinault, the business pages in France have suggested that the purchase was made in order to keep the line under French ownership and control. So, I wouldn't hold my breathe waiting for cultural changes!"

For those who aren't Francophone, or simply don't like the 'Frenchness' of Ponant, there are alternatives. Vote with your wallet!

Just as I mentioned on your other thread. Some posters had suggested that with the new owner, things may change. I did say this on the thread in response to those posts, although nobody responded to my comments....

 

"As for the purchase in July of this year by Pinault, the business pages in France have suggested that the purchase was made in order to keep the line under French ownership and control. So, I wouldn't hold my breathe waiting for cultural changes!"

 

For those who aren't Francophone, or simply don't like the 'Frenchness' of Ponant, there are alternatives. Vote with your wallet!

Nigella, I had been looking at Ponant quite intently and after reading your review relating to your parents cruise, I have taken them off of my list. Sorry for no response because your points were well taken and helped me in making my decision to not waste my time with them. thank you.

As I said in the original post under the heading “A Second Class Expedition Experience” I have no doubt at all, that they now have no intention of changing, even under the new owners.

As I mentioned then, two of them were on-board for two weeks and they certainly were not interested in English passengers.

That wording change I believe came about because I made the Australia office aware that it could be construed as false advertising in some regions, without mentioning the fact that the ship is very much French, including the language. Certainly all the previous brochures did not mention it, and that is where all this began.

They are doing such a big push into the English market and traveling to so many English speaking places, they really need to make potential passengers aware of the Company's bias. This new wording does address that,which I think is a good thing.

So anyone booking with them just be warned, you can still have a good experience, but just not as good as if you were French.

It certainly sounds like their push into the English speaking market has a long ways to go. We have stayed in Club Meds in various parts of the world and are familiar with having French as the first language and English, German and various Asian dialects to be more or less an "aside". While Europeans might find this acceptable, IMO, the majority of North American passengers will not.

While we love visiting countries with different cultures and languages, when we return to the ship, we want to dine and/or have cocktails with English speaking passengers. Perhaps Ponant should look at the Asian market - they are likely to be more successful there.

<i>They are doing such a big push into the English market and traveling to so many English speaking places, they really need to make potential passengers aware of the Company's bias. This new wording does address that,which I think is a good thing.</i>

It seems like they're responding to passenger complaints (by making themselves clear).

Why were you surprised that a French cruise line had French as their main language on the cruise? I read that you were disappointed and it decreased your experience, but I don't know why you weren't expecting French in the first place.

Why were you surprised that a French cruise line had French as their main language on the cruise? I read that you were disappointed and it decreased your experience, but I don't know why you weren't expecting French in the first place.

My understanding is that the complaint is that Ponant having expressed an intention to attract English speaking clients make very little effort to provide English Language facilities on board the ships.

Compare that to Hapag-Lloyd's Europa 2.

My understanding is that the complaint is that Ponant having expressed an intention to attract English speaking clients make very little effort to provide English Language facilities on board the ships.

 

Compare that to Hapag-Lloyd's Europa 2.

Exactly!!.

Not only that, I do expect to be treated equally and fairly in comparison to any other group of passengers. After all I did pay the same fare!!!

That's not what happened on Le Soleal, and probably doesn't on the other four Ponant ships either.

By the new wording it's not going to in the near future either.

My understanding is that the complaint is that Ponant having expressed an intention to attract English speaking clients make very little effort to provide English Language facilities on board the ships.

 

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This was not true for the crew on our b2b cruise on l'Austral in March 2015. They made a great effort to accommodate English speaking passengers. Hotel director and cruise director were bilingual. The front desk had a bilingual German-French member whose English was fluent. The other young women spoke decent English. We sat with Australian passengers most of the time. Our Balinese waiter spoke better English than French.

Some of the French passengers had trouble dealing with the concept of travelling with non-French. Maybe the brochure should tell them that the ship will not be entirely French - the line could not fill our 2 cruises with French speakers. If you want the ships to be more "anglisized", you need to book when Abercrombie or Tauck charter them.

However, the main asset of this line is itineraries that nobody else does. The ships are luxurious expedition ships with double hulls, but even in warm waters, I found ports that nobody else goes to.

We did go on Le Boreal, charted by A&K, to Antarctica. This was an excellent expedition cruise and everything worked really well.

A&K bring all their own multi-national expedition team on board and everything worked like clock work. We could not have asked for it to be better, so it isn't that hard to get it right.

As you point out, Ponant's itineraries are unique and very good. The fact that they now have 4 ships, all basically the same, means that the regions they can cover at any one time is quite diverse as well. So they are attractive from that point of view and will become more popular in time.

Wow this discussion amazes me!

First, the reviews of these ships suggest that English is pretty widely used and that non-francophone guests have managed just fine and enjoyed themselves.

However, my big question is: Why is it a "second class experience" to participate in the language of the culture you are visiting? Do you have a second class experience in France? Since you clearly feel the desire to be an advocate, why not advocate for all the Chinese, francophones, Spaniards, Italians etc who must be having "second class experiences" on most of the cruise lines where English is the "main language"? I don't know why you would expect French people to speak English just to accommodate you. If you don't like to be surrounded by others speaking a different language, there are plenty of English speaking countries and cruise ships you can visit. I don't understand why you would want to so limit your life experience, but the choice is yours.

The issue on this board is not that French is the primary language but that Ponant is not a luxury cruise line no matter what language you speak.

The issue on this board is not that French is the primary language but that Ponant is not a luxury cruise line no matter what language you speak.

i was twice on board in Belgium , once with a special meal and i could not describe the items served as "great " just very normal food.

the second time was a party

based on the experiences :

i decided not to go on Ponant.