In March of 2023, our Co-Director Martin Johnson and his wife Sarah lived the polar dream with PONANT aboard their magnificent Le Commandant Charcotflagship, which sailed from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula. Read on for Martin’s personal take on the many plus points of expedition cruising on this unique vessel, as well as their memorable days in the Antarctic sun spotting penguins, whales, and seals amongst the stunning vistas.
Le Charcot’s bow viewing platform
I first visited Le Commandant Charcot at its launch event in 2021, in a cold and windy northern French port called Le Havre. Despite the less-than-illustrious surroundings, from the minute I stepped on board, I could tell this ship was something special. As you enter, you’re greeted by a soaring 5-storey atrium space, with cool lines, stylish furniture, and a huge digital art installation that runs the full height of this space, I had never seen anything like it before on an expedition cruise ship!
The enormous blue-lit atrium
As the launch event progressed, I discovered the rest of the ship’s spaces flowed with the same finesse, I experienced the exquisite fine dining overseen by French celebrity chef, Alan Ducasse, and my every whim was taken care of by the attentive staff, who were always in the right place, at the right time! I went on to learn about the ship’s incredible conception and design including its credentials for the ice.
Well-placed mirror wall in the dining room for added scenery viewing
The hull of Le Commandant Charcot is not just strengthened for the polar regions, it’s a super strong ice breaker and capable of reaching the furthest corners of the polar world including the Geographic North Pole, which it had already successfully visited as part of its maiden test voyage! If that wasn’t enough, I also learned the ship also uses the latest hybrid and LNG technology to offer one of the most carbon-efficient propositions in the market. It was more than enough to convince me that the next time I went to Antarctica, it had to be on this ship!
I have just been fortunate enough to have that dream fulfilled as my wife and I joined Le Commandant Charcot in Ushuaia for an expedition cruise following in Shackleton’s footsteps to the Weddell Seaand South Georgia. However, it wasn’t until halfway through the cruise, that I fully understood just how special this ship really is! We joined the ship in Ushuaia and left 3 other expedition ships in the harbour as we, like a great number of expedition ships that had come before us, headed down the beautiful Beagle Channel and crossed the infamous Drake Passage towards the Antarctic Peninsula. But that is where any similarity ended!
Most cruises head down the Western side of the Antarctic Peninsula towards places like the South Shetland Islands and the beautiful Lemaire Channel, but we were charting a different course to head around the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and explore deep into the Weddell Sea on the Eastern side. For the next 5 days, not only did we not see another ship, we were the only ship for hundreds of nautical miles around! The main reason for this is the Weddell Sea can be difficult to navigate because it’s full of ice and conditions often cause problems with reaching where you want to go, so most other expedition ships don’t take the risk. But none of this is a problem for Le Commandant Charcot and our hugely experienced captain Patrick Marseuix, in fact, he absolutely loves it!
We spent the first 4 days in the area making landings at Brown Bluff and Bald Head on the continent, circumnavigating James Ross Island and even stopping at Snow Hill Island where the Emperor Penguins have their huge colonies in the breeding season. Sadly, the Emperors had long departed by now, but that was expected, and all was not yet lost on that front! On one of the days, we made a landing at a place so remote, no other ship had ever visited it before and we had to chart the seafloor ourselves because no navigation maps existed! We saw spectacular colonies of Gentoo and Adelie Penguins.
We walked around jaw-dropping landscapes and encountered so many whales that we ticked off nearly all of the species you could see in Antarctica, including the incredibly rare Sperm, Fin, and Southern Right Whales. Our expedition leader was convinced they were attracted to the ship to see what this mysterious thing was doing in this area! This part of Antarctica became our own private playground and we revelled in exploring it as well as watching the Captain deal with any challenge that was thrown at us.
Spouting Fin Whales amidst the icebergs
However, it was the fifth day when we really got to see Le Commandant Charcot’s full capabilities. This was the day we were going to exit the Weddell Sea and head toward South Georgia. I had assumed we would head back up close to the Peninsula, before then heading across to the open sea. But our Captain had other ideas and chartered a course that took us to South Georgia almost as directly as the crow flies. This took us straight across pretty much all the ice that the Weddell Sea could offer us, including sailing right past the colossal D30A iceberg which had once belonged to the continental ice shelf. We carefully navigated our way through the lees and openings in the ice, using the onboard helicopter to fly ahead and guide us like a star at night. We used the hull to move huge pieces of ice out of our way and took advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves to us, which turned out to be some of the most memorable moments of the entire trip!
We saw the forming of the winter sea ice, which appeared like glistening icy pancakes floating on the surface, reflecting the sunlight and mirroring the birds that were swirling around the ship. We watched a pod of Orcas working in harmony as they hunted for food and later sized up a humpback whale, which I am pleased to say they must’ve decided was too big of a challenge!
We continued to head deeper into the ice and in the late afternoon received the announcement that I had secretly hoped for, but never truly expected. “We are looking at some Emperor Penguins just ahead of the ship!” We grabbed our cameras and ran to the bow as Le Commandant Charcot slowed to a snail’s pace, turned off all engines, and used its battery power to silently edge closer to the 12 Emperor Penguins who were sitting on an ice floe and looked genuinely bemused to see this unusual spectacle coming towards them!
We spent over 20 minutes with the Emperors, close enough that you could take all the pictures you wanted on a basic iPhone and leave plenty of time to just stand and observe. Finally, the penguins decided they’d had enough of us and jumped into the water, swam right past the ship almost waving us goodbye as they set off into the blood-orange sunset. Le Commandant Charcot had delivered my greatest ever day of expedition cruising, and we hadn’t even set foot on land! But most importantly, I am certain this day would never have unfolded like this, on any other expedition ship in the market today.
So, while I liked Le Commandant Charcot from the first time I set foot onboard, it would be fair to say only now do I truly understand Le Commandant Charcot! The market of expedition cruises has grown significantly in recent years and many other expedition ships offer their own very strong USPs. But there are areas of the polar regions where a number of ships are vying to visit the same areas, including particularly the Western Antarctic Peninsula.
Thanks to the careful controls and regulations set by the Antarctic Treaty and IAATO, there can only be one ship in one location at any one time. Many sites also have a daily capacity of visitors allowed and a recent speed limit of just 10 knots has been imposed in many areas as well. This means there are occasions when ships in that area that have to adapt their plans due to weather or conditions, struggle to find worthwhile alternative landing spots because of availability. But Le Commandant Charcot actively goes out of its way to boldly go where no one has (recently) been before… in 5* luxury and with an infectious ‘joie de vivre’!
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