TPG’s Gene Sloan accepted a free journey from Ponant Cruises to sail on Le Commandant Charcot. The opinions expressed under are solely his and weren’t topic to evaluate by the road.
I lastly obtained a take a look at Ponant Cruises’ new expedition cruise ship, Le Commandant Charcot, and it is making me rethink my loyalties.
As common readers know, I prefer to rave in regards to the two hardy new ships that Lindblad Expeditions just lately unveiled for polar cruising: Nationwide Geographic Decision and Nationwide Geographic Endurance.
I’ve known as them the final word vessels for expedition cruises to the best-known polar vacation spot, Antarctica.
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However I’ll now have to separate my devotion to the Lindblad vessels with an equal love for Le Commandant Charcot, too.
After two weeks aboard the vessel, which was particularly constructed for polar cruising, I’m, fairly merely, in awe of it.
Le Commandant Charcot is an expedition vessel able to doing issues that no different expedition ship presently afloat can or will ever have the ability to do.
What’s extra, that’ll in all probability be the case for years to return. No different firm will doubtless spend the big amount of cash it took to construct Le Commandant Charcot — reportedly $430 million for a ship with simply 123 rooms.
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Associated: The last word information to expedition cruising
Certainly, the CEO of one in every of Ponant’s high rivals within the expedition cruise area just lately advised me the corporate regarded into constructing a vessel like Le Commandant Charcot however concluded it might be so costly that it might by no means flip a revenue.
In different phrases, to the extent that Le Commandant Charcot is the brand new queen of the expedition cruise ship world, it may very well be a protracted reign.
The world’s hardest expedition cruise ship
The designers of Le Commandant Charcot got a easy mandate: Construct a vessel able to taking vacationers to the North Pole.
Which may look like a slim focus for a cruise vessel. However it was a mandate that was broader than it might need appeared at first. A ship robust sufficient to achieve the North Pole — a vacation spot far past the attain of some other built-for-tourists vessel — could be robust sufficient to go to only about some other spot on the planet.
It was, primarily, a mandate to construct the final word expedition cruise vessel.
It additionally was a mandate that offered large hurdles. As I noticed just lately on one in every of Le Commandant Charcot’s first sailings to the North Pole, it might require the ship to be robust on a degree that we now have by no means seen earlier than in an expedition ship.
Associated: What it is like touring to the North Pole on Le Commandant Charcot
To have the ability to journey to the North Pole, the 245-passenger vessel needed to be constructed as a real icebreaker of the type that solely governments have operated till now — a vessel able to slicing by the thick multiyear ice that’s discovered throughout components of the polar ice cap.
It additionally needed to be constructed with redundancies in working programs, emergency tools, meals storage and gasoline storage that will permit it to outlive lengthy durations away from resupply and rescue.
To high all of it off, Ponant additionally wished Le Commandant Charcot to supply passengers a degree of consolation not often seen within the expedition cruise area. If the corporate was going to cost passengers tens of 1000’s of {dollars} to journey to probably the most distant components of the world on the vessel (and given the associated fee to construct it, that will be a should), it would as effectively ensure they might get a luxurious expertise.
Right here, a take a look at what makes Le Commandant Charcot so particular.
Le Commandant Charcot is constructed for energy
Among the many sometimes-over-the-top necessities that Ponant demanded from Le Commandant Charcot’s designers was the flexibility to interrupt by a ridge of floating sea ice 15 meters excessive. That is the equal of 49 toes — a peak that icebreakers not often encounter. (On my latest crusing to the North Pole on the ship, we largely encountered ice simply a few meters thick.)
The ship additionally had to have the ability to sail by 2.5-meter-thick ice at a relentless velocity and in addition function in temperatures as little as minus 25 levels Celsius.
To perform that, Le Commandant Charcot needed to be constructed with an extremely thick hull. At its icebreaking bow, the metal measures 6 centimeters thick — about six occasions the thickness of a typical cruise vessel. Even at its sides, the metal is 4.5 centimeters thick — greater than 4 occasions the thickness of a typical cruise vessel.
As well as, the supporting beams for the ship’s hull have been positioned 40 centimeters aside — 5 occasions nearer than is typical on some cruise vessels.
The ship additionally has an influence plant that may produce 34 megawatts of energy — seven occasions the facility of different Ponant vessels that carry an identical variety of passengers, such because the 264-passenger sister ships Le Boreal and L’Austral.
As Le Commandant Charcot captain Patrick Marchesseau famous throughout a chat with passengers on board, that is practically 3 times extra energy than another icebreakers operated by governments, together with a British icebreaker within the Arctic that Le Commandant Charcot aided quickly after its debut.
Associated: I simply snowshoed on the North Pole — this is how one can, too
The British icebreaker may solely produce 11 megawatts of energy, which meant that it could not transfer by ice practically as quick as Le Commandant Charcot.
“She was succesful to proceed within the ice situation the place she was at half a nautical mile per 24 hours,” Marchesseau famous. “After which we went to open a fairway for them, [and] inside two hours we opened a fairway for them of three miles. So, we saved them every week of labor, kind of.”
For most individuals reserving cruises, such particulars a couple of ship’s engine energy or hull thickness do not actually matter. You do not choose a cruise ship based mostly on its engine energy. However such attributes are on the coronary heart of what units Le Commandant aside: its capacity to go to extra distant locations world wide than some other vessel.
It is constructed for security
When the top of the world comes, you may wish to be on Le Commandant Charcot. As a result of Ponant deliberate to ship it to a few of the world’s most distant locations, the road constructed the ship with backup security options and self-sufficiency not often seen for ships that are not naval vessels.
For starters, the ship has monumental gasoline tanks that permit it to function in distant places such because the Arctic for so long as 4 months and not using a resupply — many occasions longer than the standard cruise vessel. Its meals storage areas are large, too.
Outsized gasoline and meals storage areas are two of the attributes that outline probably the most succesful expedition ships, because it offers them a variety that ordinary vessels haven’t got.
For security, Le Commandant Charcot was additionally constructed with two engine rooms which might be fully walled off from one another in a method that ought to permit the vessel to outlive even a significant disaster with one in every of them. As well as, in a really uncommon twist, the self-contained motors in every of the ship’s two Azipod propellers, which grasp under the ship, have been cut up into two side-by-side half programs. Even when one of many half-motors blows, the Azipod ought to proceed to run.
Plus, the ship has a battery backup system that may run your complete vessel for a short while if, for some motive, its most important engines go down.
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Maybe the ship’s most spectacular security characteristic is its in depth survival tools, sufficient to maintain the 400-plus passengers and crew on board alive and effectively for 5 days in the event that they needed to abandon ship, even in probably the most excessive Arctic or Antarctic ice situations.
The tools consists of a complete pop-up polar survival camp, together with inflatable polar shelters that may maintain tons of of individuals, survival fits that may maintain individuals alive in freezing water and double as sleeping luggage, and floatable meals and water depots.
As a part of the certification course of for the ship, Ponant did a real-life take a look at of the survivability of such a camp on frozen Arctic ice with dozens of volunteers, which was noticed by coast guard officers from the USA, Canada and Norway.
It is constructed for consolation
Not like some other vessel able to breaking by Arctic ice, Le Commandant Charcot has all the weather of probably the most upscale resorts on land: spacious lodging, elegant lounges, superb eating and a spa.
The cabins and suites on Le Commandant Charcot are among the many most fashionable I’ve seen on an expedition ship, with a glossy, modern really feel. In my cabin — a “deluxe stateroom” that was removed from the priciest lodging on the vessel — pretty mild fake wooden paneling enveloped the mattress space, protecting not simply the wall behind the mattress however the ceiling above with a curvy transition between the 2.
Ultramodern built-in furnishings supplied loads of space for storing whereas additionally giving the room a hip look. The loos have been horny with darkish granite counter tops, grey stone bathe partitions and pretend wooden partitions.
Amongst luxurious touches, my room got here with a high-end Nespresso espresso machine, with pods replenished each day, and a minibar stocked with complimentary drinks, together with mini bottles of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, Gray Goose vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin and Bacardi rum.
As well as, my cabin additionally got here with a balcony, which is not one thing you at all times discover on comparable vessels. Certainly, each cabin on Le Commandant Charcot has a balcony — a rarity for expedition ships.
Amongst different standout options on Le Commandant Charcot is a most important restaurant (Nuna) with a menu designed by Alain Ducasse, the famed French chef. It is among the best eateries I’ve ever skilled at sea. Meals at Nuna are included within the cruise fare, and you may dine there as many nights as you want.
The ship’s spa and wellness space boasts an indoor saltwater pool with plush lounge chairs going through the ocean by floor-to-ceiling home windows, in addition to a sauna, snow room and salon. An onboard health room provides cardio machines going through the ocean. A brilliant-heated outside wading pool beckons behind the vessel.
Service on board is high-level. There are roughly the identical variety of crew members on the vessel (201 once I sailed) as passengers. That interprets into very attentive service.
Le Commandant Charcot’s fares usually are not low-cost
As you would possibly count on for such a high-end, expensive-to-build vessel, sailings on Le Commandant Charcot are costly.
Ten-night sailings alongside the coast of Greenland on the vessel begin at $18,420 per particular person, based mostly on double occupancy (in different phrases, $36,840 or extra per couple for a cabin). The ship’s most unique itinerary, a 15-night crusing to the North Pole, begins at a sky-high $46,450 per particular person, based mostly on double occupancy.
Backside line
Le Commandant Charcot is, fairly merely, the hardest expedition cruise ship ever constructed. It could actually attain locations on the planet that no different expedition cruise vessel can attain, such because the North Pole. It is also a beautiful, upscale vessel with top-notch service. The mixture means it is an awesome selection in case you’re in search of a cruise vessel that may give you an journey like no different. Simply be warned {that a} journey on Le Commandant Charcot will not come low-cost.
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