New Luxury Cruise Options for Agents

Compagnie du Ponant, a luxury cruise line with four distinctive vessels, has appointed Miguel Rodriguez to head its Miami-based reservations department, which opened for business last month. Travel agents may call 1-888-400-1082 for detailed information about Compagnie du Ponant’s fleet. To further support agents, the company will relaunch its website, www.ponant.com, this spring with a new dedicated area for travel agents.

The three-masted Le Ponant, the stylish Le Levant yacht and the ice-class expedition ship Le Diamant all sail to ports in Europe and the Caribbean as well as to some of the more remote and unspoiled areas of the globe including Greenland, Antarctica and the Maldives.  Compagnie du Ponant’s newest vessel, the 466-foot mega-yacht Le Boréal, will be christened this spring and its sister ship, L’Austral will debut in the spring of 2011.

Currently the line’s reservations department will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, with plans to extend operational hours to accommodate West Coast time zones as the company expands.  Calls from West Coast agents, after hours, will be returned immediately the following day.

Rodriguez brings almost 10 years experience in the cruise and travel industries to his new position at Compagnie du Ponant. He has held senior sales positions at Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruise Lines.  At Compagnie du Ponant, he will be responsible for managing all incoming requests for reservations, groups and charters.

A modern descendant of France’s sailing tradition, Compagnie du Ponant is heir to the heritage of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (the French line) that was founded in 1861 with its liners the S.S. Normandie and the S.S. France.  Established in 1988 by Jean Emmanuel Sauvée and Philippe Videau, Compagnie du Ponant launched its first vessel, Le Ponant in 1991. Le Levant was added in 1998, and Le Diamant, the former Song of Flower, was purchased from Radisson (now Regent) SevenSeas in 2004. On the French-flagged cruise line, all the captains and officers are French and all speak fluent English, as does the rest of the crew.

Contact [email protected], or visit www.ponant.com.