Fabulous cruise on a wonderful ship

Le Laperouse Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 70

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5
Le Laperouse

11 Night Inaugural Australian Cruise Chairmans Voyage Food & Wine Theme (Cairns To Sydney)

Sail date: January 28, 2019

Ship: Le Laperouse

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 312

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

An excellent crew on a lovely ship. Great food (if too much). Crew couldn’t have tried harder to make it memorable. Highly recommended, but not cheap!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Easy, slight wait while Captain welcomed every passenger personally

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Cruise had a food and wine theme, so there were 5 degustation dinners including 2 by a guest chef. Included wines (French) were well matched to meals. Alternative “Grill” buffet was an escape from the very rich restaurant fare.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Activities were mainly off-ship (snorkelling expeditions, winery tours). On board limited to lectures by Expedition crew, and small entertainment crew.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
Small dance troupe did 3 shows, but joined with guests to dance on other nights.

Children's Programs

No children on cruise

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Excellent personal service from multi-lingual staff. Unobtrusive, but attentive, quickly striking a rapport with passengers and remembering their preferences e

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Lovely small ship, with beautiful understated decor. Some novel features like underwater lounge, clear edge pool etc

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
Lovely d3cor, excellent lighting, but small. Balcony had solid facade (higher decks had glass). Separate toilet, good shower. Lots of storage. Big screen TV, coffee maker, minibar (included) were nice touches

Ship tip

Book for meals with officers when they are released. Sign up at Reception

Ports of call

Cairns, Australia

4 out of 5
Lovely spot with lots of tourists options. Terminal facilities are OK for a small city.

Lizard Island, Australia

4 out of 5
Nice beach, weather prevented snorkeling

Cruise Willis Island, Australia

1 out of 5
“Technical” visit (sail by) forced by archaic Australian regulations

Hardy Reef, Great Barrier Reef

4 out of 5
Fun day on a reef platform with snorkeling, semi-submersible ride, underwater observatory. Long zodiac transfer required.

PERCY ISLES GROUP, AUSTRALIA

5 out of 5
Lovely island, great interaction with residents. Finished with beach cocktail party!

LADY MUSGRAVE ISLAND, GREAT BARRIER REEF

4 out of 5
Time restricted by weather but crew tried everything to get us ashore. Excellent snorkeling and glass-bottomed boat tour when we got there.

Newcastle, Australia

5 out of 5
Ship arranged excellent all-day winery tour and lunch in Hunter Valley

Sydney, Australia

3 out of 5
Sydney’s lack of cruise ship berths severely affected our visit. Had to disembark by tender, then loooong wait for Border Force clearance.

Disembarkation

1 out of 5
Terrible, but Sydney’s fault not Ponant.
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