Cruise holidays: A captain’s favourite place to set sail

Passengers exploring the icy continent on Ponant expedition ship, Le Commandant Charcot. Photo / Ponant Studio, Morgane Monneret

Captain Pierre-Marie Ducournau has been sailing the world on Ponant cruise ships for more than a decade. Here, he talks about favourite places and his enduring love of the ocean.

When you’re sailing a cruise ship, no two days are the same. You’re dealing with different conditions at sea, and you have different experiences daily. You have to react and adjust all the time; sometimes it’s plan B, and other times you move on to plan C. That’s what makes it interesting. You never get bored.

I especially enjoy ice navigation on our Antarctic cruise ships. It’s quite challenging as the ice can be very restrictive, and passengers can never have a precise programme as you’re dealing with the elements and plans can change so suddenly. Often, we’re planning the afternoon’s activities that morning.

Ponant's Le Commandant Charcot, the world's only luxury icebreaker cruise ship, on an expedition in Antarctica. Photo / Ponant Studio, Olivier Braud

I’ve been with Ponant for 15 years, I started as a cadet and worked my way up to captain. I think the friendly atmosphere on board is part of what makes it special, people are in a good mood and that goes for the crew as well. We have a saying, “happy crew, happy cruise”, it’s about making sure everyone is looked after.

Expedition cruising has become really popular, as people want to go somewhere different and learn new things. Passengers love the Zodiacs, (inflatable boats for shore excursions) and they give you more freedom to explore remote areas. Our expedition cruises are kept small so we can make the most of these incredible places. It would be virtually impossible to run expeditions with more than 300 guests on board.

One of the highlights of an expedition cruise is the chance to see the sights up close on an inflatable Zodiac boat. Photo / Studio Ponant, Olivier Blaud

Smaller ships mean we get to know the passengers better as well. Many do a cruise and keep returning for more, some are on board for three months, and others go with us from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Being a French company, we always have French travellers on board, sometimes the numbers are half and half for French and English, and other times it’s more English or vice versa.

Captain Pierre-Marie Ducournau says no two days are the same at sea. Photo / Ponant

Home for me is near Bordeaux in France. Of course, people always think of wine, but our other claim to fame is that we have the tallest sand dune in Europe. Alongside France, my favourite place is Antarctica. You have the glaciers, the incredible contrast of colours, the wildlife – it really is amazing.

Ponant runs cruises and expeditions throughout the world. For more on the 2023 schedule, see uk.ponant.com