Travel Deeper, Travel Responsibly: How Ponant Explorations is Changing Cruising for the Better

For more than 35 years, Ponant Explorations has led the way in small-ship exploration, carrying travellers to places larger vessels cannot reach. Its French-flagged ships each carry fewer than 500 guests and range from the poles to the tropics, transporting guests to some of the world’s most popular as well as most elusive destinations. The group’s other brands widen that reach further, with Aqua Expeditions exploring the Peruvian Amazon, Indonesia and beyond, and Paul Gauguin specialising in French Polynesia since 1998.

The Difference is in How You Travel

Certifications and cleaner engines matter, and they should. Ponant holds one of the strongest environmental records in the industry, being the first cruise line to earn Bureau Veritas Cleanship certification across its fleet. Its ships also carry Green Globe certification, and its polar ship Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s only luxury icebreaker, is hybrid electric powered by liquefied natural gas.

Yet responsible travel is measured less in technical specifications and more in how a journey feels, and, importantly, in what it leaves behind. In real terms that means engaging with local communities authentically and taking the time to learn their stories and traditions with respect. It means supporting the local economy by choosing local guides, producers and small businesses, and treading lightly in nature so the places that leave us in awe continue to do so for future generations. Whether you are among the penguin colonies of Antarctica, the rainforest coast of Costa Rica or the Indigenous heritage of the Kimberley, the aim is to arrive as a traveller, curious and present, rather than a tourist. Responsible choices bring you deeper into a destination to enhance the overall experience, and this is where a voyage with Ponant becomes something richer than a holiday.

Wild Places, Kept Wild

The most remote corners of the planet are also the most easily disturbed, so how we visit them counts for a great deal. Before guests step ashore, the expedition leader and naturalist guides scout each landing to check it will not disturb the wildlife or the communities who live there, and they will move the site if it does. In the polar regions, Ponant follows the rules set by IAATO in Antarctica and AECO in the Arctic, which limit how many guests come ashore and set clear distances for approaching wildlife.

What makes the experience more meaningful is the scientific research woven through it. Through the PONANT Science programme, researchers join expeditions and invite guest participation. On Le Commandant Charcot’s crossing of the Arctic Ocean, guests joined scientists sampling the sea ice, then heard the findings explained in onboard Science Talks. Other teams have mapped coral reefs and seagrass beds in the Seychelles and studied the methane cycle in polar waters. The people sharing that knowledge are drawn from the top of their fields.

Ponant partners with The Explorers Club, which sends seasoned explorers to lecture and lead activities on its polar voyages and sponsors scientists aboard Le Commandant Charcot each year. An alliance with Smithsonian Journeys, in place since 2022, brings historians and naturalists on board to open up a destination’s history and natural world. You come home having understood a place, rather than simply passed through it.

Engaging with Communities Authentically

The richest travel memories tend to be human ones. Ponant plans its itineraries in dialogue with the communities it visits and sometimes designs them together. To prepare a new voyage on the edge of Greenland, a Ponant team travelled a thousand kilometres north of the Arctic Circle and worked with local Inuit hunters to shape the experience, down to guests spending nights with local families.

An Ethical Traveller’s Charter guides behaviour ashore, with a simple idea at its heart, to observe wildlife at a distance and adapt to the culture you are visiting. Back onboard, Ponant’s team of naturalists play an important role in the success of cross-cultural encounters by properly briefing guests, informing and conceptualising the experience, they help them to open their eyes, to stimulate thinking and to break stereotypes. Whether learning Water Music in Vanuatu or conversing with locals over a meal in Iceland, cultural exchanges like these are a key aspect of any Ponant itinerary. Local people are hosts and collaborators, not a backdrop for photographs.

Travel That Uplifts

Tourism, handled with thought, can quietly strengthen the places it reaches. By buying local produce and working with local guides, suppliers and craftspeople, Ponant channels real economic benefit into the communities on its routes. That commitment holds when things go wrong. After Hurricane Beryl tore through the Grenadines, rather than quietly dropping the port of call, Ponant helped rebuild the dock at Mayreau so local tourism could restart. That care reaches the most isolated places its ships visit. When the regular supply vessels cannot get through, Ponant’s icebreaker Le Commandant Charcot has delivered food to Inuit communities in Greenland, and in French Polynesia the doctor aboard Paul Gauguin holds consultations for island populations who have no physician of their own.

The PONANT Foundation extends this further, backing projects around the world that restore ecosystems and support the communities near them, from reef restoration in the Seychelles to contributing to reforesting the Amazon.

None of this asks its guests to give up comfort or beauty. The pleasure of these voyages is that looking after a destination and enjoying it fully go hand in hand.

Finding Your Voyage

Every Ponant Explorations voyage is different, shaped by the season, the local communities and the environment. Finding the right voyage depends entirely on what you hope to find. Your Travelcall advisor can match you to the Ponant journey that suits you and your interests, along with the benefits and access that come from travelling through trusted specialists.

If you have ever wanted to explore the world’s wild places, and to know your visit did some good along the way, there has rarely been a better moment to begin. Speak with a Travelcall advisor to start planning your voyage.

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Speak with a Travelcall advisor.

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or email travel@travelcall.com.au