A Le Commandant Charcot celebration

AN EVENING of festivities was enjoyed last night on board Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot as she docked in Lyttleton inbetween Antarctic expeditions.

This is the first and only time the purpose-built luxury icebreaker will make a port call in this region in 2023, as she makes a stop between her two semi-circumnavigations of Antarctica.

Ponant commodores, travel industry partners, and media joined in a night of celebration, enjoying a lecture about the unique icebreaking design of

Le Commandant Charcot from Captain Stanislas Devorsine, followed by cocktails, dinner, a show, and dancing into the night.

The evening also acted as a celebration of Ponant’s recovery from the pandemic, with Chair Asia Pacific Sarina Bratton sharing the cruise line has made a triumphant commercial return despite the difficulties of the past few years.

“Whilst many in our industry have struggled, we returned to profitability last year, in 2022, and 2023 will be a record year for our company,” she said.

In particular, Bratton highlighted the company’s success in the Asia Pacific region, in spite of the changing government policies impacting the cruise industry throughout the pandemic.

“All of us here in APAC have worked tirelessly over the past three years, through triumphant times, incredibly difficult times, and what often appeared to be unfathomable changing government conditions, that were totally out of our control,” she added.

“We continue to muster our strength to face each and every one of those challenges and we’ve already doubled the 2019 turnover of Asia Pacific in the second month of 2023.”

Pictured: Cruise Traveller’s Julie Donaldson and Laura Stone.