Gastronomy exploration Cruises vs expedition cruise

[Lookingtocruise42]

Hi!

 

We are looking at either doing a "Gastronomy and wine" cruise on Ponant and are a bit confused as to what that actually means. All of the marketing material is pretty vague, as is what I have gotten by chatting with them on the phone.

 

Both trips we are considering are based in the Caribbean, one is an "exploration" trip with "Gastronomy and wine". The other is just "expedition". It seems from what I can tell to mean that excursions are more pre-planned vs expedition. However, I would like to make sure that in even the exploration cruises that Ponant goes to more "off the beaten path" activities vs the major cruise tourist traps?

 

So my questions:

- Anyone here do one of their "Gastronomy and wine" "Relais and Chateuax" cruises? How is it different from a regular one for them? This one has a Michelin chef on it. 

- Anyone do both exploration and expedition with Ponant and able to talk a bit about the differences between them? These are both in the Caribbean, the expedition we are considering is in Belize, and the gastronomy and wine is around Fort-de-france (which does look like it might be a bit of a pain to get to)

- If you have done one where they overnight you in Cancun before the cruise: which hotel did they put you up in?

[cboyle]

@maroon cruiser and I have done three expeditions with Ponant, two to Antarctica and one to the Chilean Fjords. We have not done any expedition or exploration cruises in the Caribbean.

 

However, we have taken a Ponant gastronomy cruise in Europe. Compared to a "regular" Ponant cruise through the Greek Isles, the focus of the gastronomy cruise's onboard experience and excursions was much more on food and wine. Here is the link to our review:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=700292

 

Hope that helps!

Carolyn

[jpalbny]

We are signed up for two Gastronomy cruises (Dec '24 and April '25). We are excited about both!

 

We've done two expeditions. In our experience they do a really nice job with these. Corsica was a good mix of cities and wild places with very few people. Indonesia was excellent. Nothing really felt touristy. I posted full trip logs here. We really like expedition cruising.

 

We have not sailed in the Caribbean since about 2000, so I can't answer your specific questions about what Ponant does in that area.

[Lookingtocruise42]

6 hours ago, cboyle said:

@maroon cruiser and I have done three expeditions with Ponant, two to Antarctica and one to the Chilean Fjords. We have not done any expedition or exploration cruises in the Caribbean.

 

However, we have taken a Ponant gastronomy cruise in Europe. Compared to a "regular" Ponant cruise through the Greek Isles, the focus of the gastronomy cruise's onboard experience and excursions was much more on food and wine. Here is the link to our review:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=700292

 

Hope that helps!

Carolyn

This is a really informative review, thanks!

[Charmar78]

I did the Belize expedition in November 23 and it was anything but touristy. In most of the places we visited we were the first tourists from a cruiseline to set foot, very remote and authentic experience. Off the beaten paths places that you would have a hard time to reach otherwise (i.e. cuero y salado in Honduras, Halfmoon Caye Belize etc...). All the excursions were done via zodiac/no docking. It was a wonderful trip I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a unique travel experience. Food was absolutely amazing and another highlight of the trip, I cannot imagine what they could do more on a gastronomy cruise (aside from bringin a famous chef onboard?). The hotel they used on the Cancun pre-trip was the brand new Hilton I believe (it was optional last year and we did not do it). Ponant does a pretty bad job at explaining excursions and overall itinerary, I am not surprised you are a bit confused 🙂 i would assume the Carribean cruise would be less remote/off the beaten path but I am sure the excursions they offer are interesting as they do a realy good job in sourcing special local experiences and tours.

 

[Lookingtocruise42]

Thanks! That is really helpful!

How were the activities for someone that is not a huge swimmer? (I hate getting my head underwater unless I’m using a good snorkel. My husband goes diving though)

 

Anything else fun about it to share?

[Charmar78]

You will be fine. On our cruise there was approx 5% of divers and the rest of people snorkeled or not. When there is snorkeling, they would give options to either do it from the beach or from a location at sea depending on your swimming abilities or not do it at all. They would also give out floats to people who did not feel comfortable at sea. There is plenty of activities and excursions that did not involve swimming. Only the Blue Hole snorkel optional tour ($500/pp) is not recommended for people who do not swim well.