Personal Travel Manager Experiences Boutique Luxury with Ponant
TravelManagers’ Lindy Hill experienced PONANT’s version of luxury cruise travel first-hand, having earned a famil aboard their boutique vessel, Le Dumont D’Urville. With an itinerary that centred on the ‘Ancient Wonders of the Mediterranean’ including Greece, Turkey, mainland Italy, Sicily and Malta, Hill says she was delighted to see for herself exactly what her clients have been raving about for years.
“I have had a number of clients travel with PONANT, and they have always raved about their experiences,” Hill explains. “I knew that travelling with PONANT would be a first-class experience, and that both the ship and the ports of call we visited would be stunning, but it was the staff that really amazed me.”
PTM Lindy Hill exploring the Old Town of Rhodes
Hill compares her time with PONANT with cruising aboard a five-star luxury boutique hotel, noting that the ship’s more intimate scale made it possible to call at smaller ports that are inaccessible to larger ships.
“The smaller size of our ship, compared with many cruise ships, made it easy to connect with fellow travellers,” she notes, “but with two restaurants, two lounges, a pool deck and an underwater bar to choose from, there were still plenty of areas where you could seek out solitude when necessary.”
From cruising through the Corinth Canal, with mere metres to spare on either side of the ship, to sailing into Malta at sunrise on the final morning of her cruise, Hill says her time with PONANT was packed with memorable highlights.
“It was an outstanding opportunity to experience onboard life and visit some incredible destinations – the ultimate reward for supporting and selling PONANT product,” she confirms. “I had high expectations before boarding, but these were well exceeded. Nothing was too much trouble for the exceptional crew, and I would love to return and spend more time exploring these incredible places.”
Featured image: Onboard Le Dumont D’Urville for “White Night”. From left to right: Ebony Manwaring, Marketing Co-ordinator at Ponant, Kristina Sambaher, State Manager NSW & ACT for Ponant, Jenna Lewis Travel Associates, Laurie Head and Lindy Hill, TravelManagers.
