Source: The Points Guy
Summary
Ponant Explorations, a small luxury cruise line, offers a loyalty program with multiple tiers and benefits. The Ponant Yacht Club provides discounts, onboard credits, and laundry services. Members can earn points through sailings on Ponant or Paul Gauguin Cruises. The program has four tiers: Major, Admiral, Grand Admiral, and Commodore. Each tier offers increasing discounts and perks, including cabin upgrades and onboard spending credits. Status is based on the number of sailings and does not expire.
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The escape is carefully planned.
Ponant Yacht Club members earn status through sailings. Discounts range from 5% to 12.5%. Onboard credits vary from 50 to 200 euros. Laundry services and cabin upgrades are available. Status matches with other cruise lines. Loyalty is based on sailings, not days or cabins.
Travelers can access perks on Ponant and Paul Gauguin Cruises. Discounts apply to future bookings. Onboard spending benefits have restrictions. Status is permanent. Some perks are limited to specific ships.
Commodore members get the highest discounts and credits. Priority boarding and dedicated support are available. Changes to sailings are allowed with fees. The program is designed for frequent cruisers.
Escapes are structured, not spontaneous. Loyalty is measured in sailings, not experiences. Perks are tied to status, not destination. The journey is curated, not discovered.
Author: Evan Null
Ways to earn points
The Ponant Yacht Club points-earning system is about as straightforward as can be. Every time you sail on one of the line’s 13 vessels, no matter how long the voyage, you will get credit for one sailing. Your status level in the program depends entirely on your total number of sailings and nothing else.
Unlike on some lines, your status level will not be affected by how many total days you sail or the type of cabins you book.
That said, there is also a not-so-obvious way to accumulate more credits for sailings than you might think possible. You can also get credit for any sailings you take with South Pacific cruise specialist Paul Gauguin Cruises.
This is one of the happy results of the two lines becoming part of the same company in 2019, after the Ponant Explorations Group purchased Paul Gauguin Cruises.
In fact, the Ponant Yacht Club loyalty program is now the official loyalty program for Paul Gauguin Cruises as well, as that brand no longer has its own separate loyalty program.
Program tiers and benefits
There are four tiers to the Ponant Yacht Club loyalty program:
Major (after your second sailing)
Admiral (after your fourth sailing)
Grand Admiral (after your seventh sailing)
Commodore (after your 20th sailing)
You are awarded status after you complete the sailing needed to reach the sailing count needed for each of the tiers. For instance, you become a Major in the program after completing two sailings and will be a Major during your third and fourth cruises with the line. You then become an Admiral after completing your fourth cruise and will be an Admiral for your fifth, sixth and seventh cruises.
The elite level that makes a difference
We’re fans of both the first two tiers of the Ponant Yacht Club loyalty program for the quality of their perks. But the Grand Admiral tier of the Ponant Yacht Club is where we think your loyalty to the line really starts paying off.
For starters, as a Grand Admiral, you get a bigger 10% discount on your cruise fare. Given that the line’s cruises often start at around $500 per person, per day, this can add up to hundreds of dollars of savings per cruise.
At the Grand Admiral level, your onboard credit will rise to 150 euros (about $174) per person, which is more real money in your pocket. You can use it to cover the costs of, say, pampering yourself at one of the relaxing spas found on all Ponant ships.
Best elite perk
It’s a tough call on the best elite perk of the Ponant Yacht Club loyalty program. Unlike some frequent cruiser programs, there isn’t one clear standout perk, such as the free cruise that Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society members get after reaching the top Pinnacle Club level.
That said, at the top Commodore tier of the Ponant Yacht Club program, passengers get an even bigger 12.5% cruise fare discount. In addition, upon reaching the Commodore tier, you’ll get a more hefty onboard spending credit than at other tiers: 200 euros (about $233) per person.
Ponant Yacht Club status match
Do you have high-level status with another cruise line? The good news is that Ponant is one of only a handful of cruise lines that offer a status match feature that will instantly catapult you to a high level in the Ponant program, too.
The Ponant Yacht Club Status Match Program allows guests who hold loyalty status at any of a dozen or more cruise lines, including Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn and Silversea Cruises, to match their status to equivalent tiers in the Ponant Yacht Club before sailing.
