Ponant has ordered two new expedition ships from the Ponant Explorer series.
Unique in the market: with a total of 12 small ships (all less than 135 staterooms) and 460 scheduled departures by 2021, Ponant is set to increase its world leadership in luxury expeditions. The expanded fleet will give you the opportunity to enjoy a unique and authentic travel experience covering the four corners of the world!
Le Bellot and Le Surville
Bearing the name of two French explorers, these two new Ponant Explorer ships belong to a fleet of 6 ships offering sophisticated design and the latest technology while respecting the environment.
In keeping with Ponant’s philosophy, each ship combines a limited guest capacity, sleek design, cutting-edge technology, and respect for the environment. They will enable Ponant to offer an ever-wider range of destinations.
All these ships offer a multi-sensory underwater lounge called 'Blue Eye', a major innovation that will allow you to discover and experience the underwater world through 2 portholes shaped like cetacean eyes opening onto the wonders of the deep.
Ponant Cruises' Blue Eye
Ponant, in keeping with its pioneering spirit, is launching a world-first: Le Laperouse will be the first cruise ship on earth to be equipped with a multi-sensory underwater space, called Blue Eye. Le Champlain, Le Bougainville and Le Dumont-d’Urville will be the next.
The design of this technical prowess was entrusted to architect Jacques Rougerie, who is deeply passionate about the sea. Rougerie’s mission is to enable Ponant guests to perceive and feel the underwater universe that has never ceased to amaze and inspire him during his career through three innovative concepts:
Bionic and Biomimetic
The space’s graphical references evoke cetaceans and jellyfish. This inspiration is evident in the lines of the lounge, the positioning of the body, the furniture and the fittings. All focus is drawn towards the two portholes, shaped like the eye of a cetacean and looking out upon the subaquatic world. The lighting in the lounge is developed through touches, disseminated in the space, allowing the spirit and the gaze to dive into the spectacle unfolding outside.
The mural decor disappears to make way for the integrated digital screens projecting the images filmed live by three underwater cameras. Placed at the ship’s strategic points, these cameras enable guests to witness, for example, the spectacle of dolphins playing in the bow waves.
Global Listening
The sound staging has been entrusted to Michel Redolfi, a contemporary music composer and sound design expert. A result of his research into subaquatic music and his own inventions, the sound design of the underwater lounge develops state-of-the-art technology and offers guests an experience in acoustic immersion that is unique in the world.
An immersive sound experience can be felt in the Body Listening sofas, which discreetly vibrate in unison while offering unique sensory listening through corporal resonance. This global listening through the entire body, in harmony with the ocean’s natural cycles, will bring guests closer to the marine mammals they might see and hear behind the giant portholes.
Innovative Underwater Vision
The non-intrusive underwater projectors developed expressly for the Ponant Explorers enable the observation of the seabed and photo-luminescent organisms from the Blue Eye lounge as well as from the outside decks, balconies and the marina-without any risk to the marine biosphere.
