These Fun, New Themed Cruises Are Calling Your Name

There’s a certain kind of traveler, call them a cultural explorer, who looks to connect with the world by meeting it openly and head-on. For these types of adventurers, French cruise line Ponant is launching a collection of English language–themed cruises. Two of its Europe-based maiden expeditions retrace the sea routes of the ancient Greeks and Romans, in Sicily and the Italian Adriatic coast, and the Vikings and Hanseatic merchants around the Baltic.

What it’s like onboard Ponant ships

Unlike the original voyages’ shipboard conditions, Ponant’s intimately sized Explorer yachts offer unsurpassed comfort and service. The onboard experience epitomizes the French art of savoir vivre or living graciously. Every cruise includes English-speaking guest experts and lecturers, well-versed in the history and culture of the various destinations along the route. The well-appointed interiors are stylish and thoughtfully designed throughout the vessel, with most of the communal areas open to the sea breeze. All 92 staterooms and suites have private balconies.

One sphere where Ponant especially excels is at the table with a dining concept overseen by Michelin-starred chef Ducasse Conseil’s catering arm. Guests can enjoy a menu of French culinary classics and local fare at the fine dining restaurant or the buffet at the more casual grill on deck. Everything, including organic bread, is cooked and baked in the ship’s galley. Most days, chefs go ashore to buy local produce and freshly caught seafood.

Sporting and wellness facilities include a heated seawater infinity pool, spa, modular marina with access to the sea for swimmers, and submerged mini-port stocked with watersports equipment.

An exclusive feature of Ponant Explorer–class ships is the Blue Eye underwater lounge, where guests can don hydrophones and stretch out on a body-listening sofa that subtly vibrates to sound waves transmitted from the surrounding waters of the subaquatic world for a multi-sensory experience.

As further proof of excellence, all Ponant Explorers have been awarded the Cleanship label as part of the cruise line’s commitment to eco-friendly practices.

Enjoy food and wine along the eastern coasts of Sicily and Italy

Welcome aboard Le Bougainville. If you’re an epicure who seeks out the finest of fine foods and wines, you’ll be in your element on Ponant’s Epicurean Delights of Sicily and the Adriatic Coast of Italy voyage. Beyond the pleasures of the palate, however, Ponant also designed the program for connoisseurs of history, the arts, local culture, and the natural world—in other words, epicures in the purer, original sense of the word.

Explore the ancient world of gods and emperors in Sicily, Taormina, and Lecce

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In the shadow of Mount Etna on the southeastern coast of Sicily, Syracuse is a classicist’s dream destination. You can see the most important architectural relics of its Greek and Roman past, which tend to be monumental in size, within the expansive Neapolis Archaeological Park overlooking the modern city. On the itinerary are the Greek Theater; the Roman Amphitheater of Augustus, where gladiators engaged in fierce combat; the caverns of the Latomie of Paradise (once used as prisons); and an echoing grotto known as the Ear of Dionysus. Even more ancient are the ruins of the Doric Temple of Apollo on the island of Ortygia, also included in the excursion.

The clifftop city of Taormina also features impressive Greco-Roman ruins, most notably the Teatro Antico, originally built by the Greeks as a theater and later converted into a gladiator arena by the Romans. It faces stiff competition from the panoramic views of Mount Etna, Mount Tauro, and the shimmering sea below.

For centuries, no one suspected that a well-preserved Roman amphitheater dating from Emperor Hadrian’s time was buried beneath the main piazza in the center of Lecce. Construction workers discovered it accidentally in 1901, and today, original graffiti images of gladiators fighting lions and other beasts can still be seen.

Visit vineyards and farms, from Sicily to Venice

Every port visit on the itinerary includes at least one opportunity to try the local food and wine. For those wishing to delve more deeply into production methods, several tempting food or wine excursions await. You’ll also be cruising in the company of three food-and-wine specialists, each wearing several hats, such as cookbook author, reporter, sommelier, historian, and entrepreneur. All are there to share their passion and insider knowledge of la cucina Italiana.

Martina Franca is a baroque hill town near Bari. For cheese fans, its star attraction is a farm producing mozzarella, ricotta, caciocavallo, scamorza, and burrata. You can tour the dairy and see the master cheesemakers at work. The visit culminates with a tasting, plus a few bonus Apulian specialties.

Wine enthusiasts can choose from a range of vineyard visits and other wine-tasting experiences, starting in Sicily and continuing up the Adriatic coast. Notable wineries on the list are in San Marcello (Lacrima di Morro d’Alba), Romagna (Sangiovese di Romagna), and Valdobbiadene (Prosecco Superiore).

Discover Venice’s hidden gardens

Courtesy of ©Studio Ponant

Even if you’ve been to Venice many times, there’s a fair chance you’ve only scratched its surface. What could be more typically Venetian than colorful and fantastical carnival masks and gondolas? Learn more about both on an historical walking tour that stops first at the studio of an expert mask maker and then meanders through the Dorsoduro district to one of the city’s few remaining gondola workshops (squeri), where you’ll meet and observe the artisans practicing their craft.

If gardens and horticulture are more your thing, scores of blooming green spaces dot the city behind the walls of palazzi, in monastery cloisters, and greenhouses—all manner of concealed environments. With so many, it’s fortunate there’s an excursion that takes you to two of the finest examples.

Revel in white nights on the Baltic Sea

Courtesy of Ponant

Another voyage in Ponant’s new portfolio is A World Affairs Cruise in the Baltic aboard Le Lapérouse. The itinerary visits four world capitals as well as historic and culturally significant coastal and island ports in six countries: Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Denmark, and Norway. With so much to see and experience on board and ashore, cruisers can count on the long hours of midsummer daylight to take advantage of the many opportunities.

Explore Nobel Prize history in Stockholm

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Before embarking on your Baltic discovery voyage, visit to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, the birthplace of the renowned honor. A new permanent exhibit, These Things Changed the World, shines a spotlight on Nobel laureates and their contributions to humanity through the lens of more than 250 personal artifacts, including letters from Albert Einstein and a scarf worn by Malala Yousafzai while addressing the United Nations at age 16.

Or pay a visit to where Stockholm began, the Royal Palace. Emblematic of the baroque era, this compound on a hill in the Old Town includes no less than 608 rooms. Today, Stockholm Palace is the king’s workplace, while the UNESCO-listed Drottningholm Palace is the permanent home of the Royal Family. Check out the State Apartments to see the magnificent baroque and rococo interiors.

Afterward, head to the Cathedral (Coronation Church), the city’s oldest church and the coronation site of Sweden’s royalty. The exterior reveals little of the beauty of the late Gothic inside, which houses a larger-than-life sculpture of St. George and the Dragon.

Check out Baltic history at UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The military Fortress of Suomenlinna at the entrance to the port of Helsinki extends over six islands in the harbor. Constructed in the 18th century, when the territory was still Swedish, it was seized by Russia in 1808 and only became part of Finland in 1917 when the country gained its independence. Today, it’s no longer a military garrison. However, it is home to the Naval Academy and a community of several hundred residents, among them several artists and craftspeople who you can support by buying their work.

Courtesy of Ponant

When cruising into the port of Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn, the first landmarks to come into view are the medieval Toompea Castle, the seat of the national parliament, and the magnificent, late-19th-century Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the Old Town. The city’s lower half has always been its commercial heart and its living, breathing center is Town Hall Square. Here you’ll find Town Hall Pharmacy, which has been operating continuously in the same spot since 1422, making it Europe’s oldest pharmacy.

In addition to its memorable name, the Maritime Museum in Fat Margaret Tower is noteworthy for its model ship collection and the recovered wreck of a 700-year-old traditional ship used for trade between member states of the Hanseatic League.

The Swedish town of Visby sits on Gotland, the largest island in the Baltic Sea. It’s still possible to scale the original 13th-century ramparts of the old town and climb the remaining towers. The meandering cobblestone streets, picturesque cottages, and profusion of roses and other blooms add to the fairytale setting.

Meet a modern-day hero in Gdansk

In Gdansk, guests hear from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Wałęsa. // Courtesy of Ponant

Midway through the voyage, the ship calls at Gdansk, another Hanseatic jewel that’s a vibrant city to this day and noted for its amber. The highlight of this stop—perhaps of the cruise itself—is a presentation by the former president of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Lech Wałęsa, in Le Lapérouse’s auditorium.

Best known as the driving force at the head of Solidarity, the pro-democratic movement that successfully ended Communist rule in Poland and led to the end of the Cold War, he’s among the world’s living authorities on “World Affairs in the Baltic.” Guests have the privilege of hearing his first-hand account and analysis of the past and present history of the region in an enriching, rewarding experience that embodies the spirit of cruising with Ponant.