PONANT WINTER CRUISES A ‘TURNING POINT’ FOR QUEBEC

Photo – Fairmont Hotels

For the first time, an international cruise ship will sail the waters of the Saint Lawrence in the heart of winter when PONANT’s Commandant Charcot, with some 200 winter activity enthusiasts aboard, will make four 12-night sailings between late January and early March 2025.

Ports of call will include Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Gaspé, Sept-Îles, Saguenay and Québec. Embarkation and disembarkation operations will be shared between Québec and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

To enable passengers to immerse themselves fully in regional offerings in winter, the cruises may include longer stopovers of at least one overnight stay, which is infrequent in conventional cruise planning.

The decision comes after an onsite inspection tour conducted in February by José Sarica, Director, Expedition Experience with PONANT and Emerick Le Mouël, first officer aboard the Commandant Charcot.

“For almost a decade, we have repeatedly promoted unparalleled winterscapes and winter season shore activities with expedition cruise operators. Our efforts appear, at long last, to have begun to pay off with the announcement of this exciting North American premiere,” says René Trépanier, Executive Director of Cruise the Saint Lawrence (CSL).

PONANT passengers will be able to take part in Canadian winter experiences such as overnighting in tent in an Innu community, tour on snowmobiles, ride a fat bike on a snow-covered beach, and dogsledding, snowshoeing or ice fishing on the Saguenay fjord.

With luck, there may even be northern lights, as was the case in Sept-Îles for the visiting PONANT team.

When the Commandant Charcot sets out to navigate the ice of the Saint Lawrence in January 2025, she will be embarking on a world premiere journey. A hybrid electric polar expedition vessel powered by liquified natural gas, the Commandant Charcot offers a cutting edge example of a shift to more responsible navigation. The ship’s ice breaking capability enables her to operate safely in polar conditions.

“At PONANT, we are particularly attached to the Saint Lawrence region, a region that our ships have visited in summer for a number of years now,” stated Hervé Gastinel, President of PONANT, adding, “Our market-leading winter cruises will open the doors to totally novel experiences, unrivalled by any operator elsewhere in the world.

“The Commandant Charcot will enable us to navigate the ice in complete safety, while providing passengers with an onboard experience nothing short of exceptional. Working together with Destination Saint Lawrence authorities, we have developed an out-of-the-ordinary itinerary.”

“The launch of winter cruises on the Saint Lawrence marks a turning point in the history of international cruises in Québec,” stated Québec tourism minister Caroline Proulx. “This announcement aligns to perfection with efforts devoted to promoting upmarket and Indigenous tourism, while transforming Québec into a leader in the winter tourism sector,”