“Le Boreal is LIKE A JAGUAR with it’s SLEEK exterior and DELUXE interior”
Cruises and rechristened her Le Diamant. This 226-passenger expedition-style ship allowed the company to offer in-depth itineraries to Antarctica in the European winter as well as the Arctic, Green- land and Spitsbergen in the summer months. It became evident to the company that expedi- tion-style cruising was a niche they could fulfil, but it was proving difficult to achieve capacity solely from the source French market to ensure economi- cally viability. Consequent charters by American organisations such as Tauck Tours proved so
74 WORLD OF CRUISING I Winter 2010 / 2011
successful that the bold decision was taken to build two €150 million super-yachts. Today, one of the French naval officers who founded the company is Commandant Jean-Philippe Lemaire – launch captain aboard Le Boréal. He was in command during the vessel’s third voyage – a 7-night cruise along the Dalmatian Coast. I was fortunate enough to be on board and, during a convivial inter- view, this effusive Commandant takes up the story. “Our new yachts required an expert maritime
architect and technically-superior shipyard,” says Captain Lemaire. “The competitors were Aker and Fincantieri, but when we increased the ship’s proposed capacity from 180 to 264, it was Fincan- tieri who were the more proactive and therefore we believed they would be the most flexible at all stages of construction. “Consequently, the Fincantieri yard in Ancona
was awarded the contract. The quality and finish met the very demanding requirements of Compag- nie du Ponant. It was a high price but we got the perfect vessels,” adds Lemaire. “The design process took six months. The prin-
cipal architect of the exterior of Le Boréal was Joel Bretecher from the Nantes-based Stirling Design International – who designed Le Ponant and Le
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