The upmarket boutique hotel that floats to truly remote places

Maybe you’re a survival specialist, in the special armed forces, or a contestant on TV series Alone. There are people capable of hacking their way across the jungle-tangled hills of Papua New Guinea, paddling canoes down Alaska’s coast, and surviving on foraged grubs in the Kimberley.

Chances are you’re more like me, a product of the flabby First World, scarcely able to survive two hours in an urban environment without electricity, espressos and Egyptian-cotton sheets. You’d like to challenge your horizons, but not your endurance levels.

Well, Ponant puts all those worries to rest. Indeed, this French expedition company will keep you in more comfort than you’re used to, unless you’re a billionaire with a private yacht and a chef who can produce beef Wellington and raspberry-and-almond tart so good he ought to be awarded the Legion of Honour.

Le Soleal is a slender grey shark compared to the whales of regular cruise ships in Cairns, where I board. I’m off to Papua New Guinea, to places I can’t reach by road; where planes don’t land and big ships don’t sail.

Alotau, Papua New Guinea is just 150 kilometres from the Australian mainland, but feels like another world.Credit: iStock

I’ve long wondered what PNG is like, but until now my wonderment has been tempered with worries about being beyond my comfort zone. On this suave expedition ship, my concerns are answered. We’ll slide into the remotest archipelagos and coastlines, and anchor off reefs and isolated villages, taking all our comforts with us.

Like its near-identical sister ships L’Austral, Le Boreal and Le Lyrial, Le Soleal carries 264 guests. Sometimes it seems small as a bath toy against the outsized landscapes of PNG. Amenities are limited to two lounges with bars, two dining venues, a theatre, spa and small swimming pool, but the remote destinations the ship visits are what really count.

Breakfast with splashy views.Credit: Ponant

On this journey, frequent Zodiac excursions take me to places I’d never otherwise get to, like the cut-off Tufi fjords, draped in rainforest with scarcely a sign of human intervention. An expedition team of experts accompanies us, providing insight reinforced by on-board lectures.

Le Soleal may be limited by size, but is no boot camp. It’s an upmarket boutique hotel that floats me to destinations such as Alotau, which has no land connections to anywhere, and the reef-rich Lusancay Islands, where the only other boat is a fisherman’s outrigger canoe.

Guests forgo a casino and yet another bar, but not gushing hot showers, glasses of Beaujolais, L’Occitane toiletries and plump pillows. The chic, understated decor is by French interior designer Jean-Philippe Nuel, who works with posh hotel brands such as Taj and Sofitel. Corridors are lined with attractive, black-and-white art photography depicting ships and yachts casting shadows on silvery seas.

Most impressive is the dining, which almost seems like magic when you’re in places that have all but fallen off the map. Menus are overseen by a company run by legendary Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse. As I watch hornbills flap across rainforest in the middle of nowhere, I tuck into lobster tail, or veal tenderloin with forest mushrooms. I can have my fraisier cake and eat it, too.

Le Soleal has two dining venues. The indoor-outdoor buffet restaurant has inventive salads, good soup, hot dishes and a temptation of cheese and pastries. The main restaurant serves outstanding four-course dinners featuring top-quality dishes such as seared scallops, foie gras, chicken Paillard and outrageous chocolate mousse.

If you want to see truly remote places and can’t face camp-stove cuisine and foraged berries, this is the way to go. Tuck into a lunch of mushroom veloute, and beef Rossini with onion confit as you explore rugged coastlines, or watch whales. Who said adventure has to be a hardship?

This upmarket boutique cruise goes to places other ships can’t reach.Credit: Philip Plisson

THE DETAILS

Le Soleal is near-identical to sister ships Le Boreal, Le Lyrial and L’Austral. Several Ponant cruises take in PNG in October and November and January to April 2025. Ponant also operates expedition cruises in Australia, the South Pacific, Antarctica and across the world. As an example, Ponant’s 16-night New Guinean Odyssey cruise from Darwin to Cairns on Le Soleal, which takes in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, sails on September 21, 2025 and costs from $18,630 a person. See ponant.com

The writer was a guest of Ponant.