Edie Rodriguez is now with PONANT

COMPAGNIE du PONANT announced it has hired Edie Rodriguez as its new Americas Brand Chairman and Corporate Special Advisor.

Ediue Rodriguez - courtesy AP / PONANT

PONANT was founded a group of adventurous Philippe Videau, Jean-Emmanuel Sauvé, and other officers of the French Merchant Navy. Ponant started out with one ship, LE PONANT, a three masted Barque built in 1991. LE PONANT still operates with the company today.

by Earl of Cruise

Eight years later in 1999, PONANT inaugurated its second newbuilt, LE LEVANT, a yacht style cruise vessel. After 13 years in service with PONANT, LE LEVANT was purchased by PAUL GAUGIN CRUISES in 2012 and became TERE MOANA. The name TERE MOANA translates into `Ocean Traveller´ in Tahitian. In August 2015, PAUL GAUGIN CRUISES sold the TERE MOANA to GRAND CIRCLE CRUISES. The ship was renamed CLIO and began sailing for GRAND CIRCLE CRUISES, under the flag of Malta in July 2016.

LE PONANT in the port of Bonifacio, Korsika - courtesy PONANT

In 2004, PONANT purchased LE DIAMANT, a luxury cruise ship. LE DIAMANT transferred to QUARK EXPEDITIONS in 2012 to become OCEAN DIAMOND. The once top rated cruise ship started its life as freight vessel BEGONIA in 1974. 1985 FEARNLEY & EGER bought the Ro-Ro freighter to be rebuild in Bremerhaven into EXPLORER STARSHIP. In 1986 she emerged as expedition cruise vessel in the 5star market. In 1989 she was sold to SKAUGEN MARINE in Oslo, who renamed the ship in SONG OF FLOWER. SKAUGEN chartered the ship out to RADISSON later REGENT SEVEN SEAS CRUISES. 2003 to PONANT. 2011 the ship was sold to EXPLORER PARTNERS Ltd. in Marseille. Since October 2012, after a refreshment, the ship, now registered in the Bahamas, has been managed by QUARK EXPEDITIONS under the name OCEAN DIAMOND.

PONANT initially was based in Nantes for the first 18 years. In 2006 the company headquarter was moved to Marseille, following its acquisition by CMA CGM. In 2012, CMA CGM sold PONANT to Bridgepoint Capital. With the new owner a fleet restructuring started, selling off the older cruise vessel, except the sailing vessel LE PONANT. The new ships of the LE BOREAL class apeared in the market. The yacht styled expedition cruise vessels with their fresh and contemporary interiors found very easy their market and followers in the luxurious expedition market.

Within a short time period they dethroned the self claimed top luxury expedition cruise company HAPAG-LLOYD KREUZFAHRTEN, now HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES, to get lost of the German language image and to open up for the international market.

On October 9th, 2015, PONANT announces its acquisition by ARTÉMIS, the holding company of the Pinault family. In March 2016 Ponant ordered four new ships with about 10.000 GT at VARD, a subsidiary of FINCANTIERI. They will be delivered in 2018 and 2019. The ships will be named after French explorers: LE LAPÉROUSE, LE CHAMPLAIN, LE BOUGAINVILLE and LE KERGUELEN.

LE LAPÉROUSE, LE CHAMPLAIN, LE BOUGAINVILLE and LE KERGUELEN, the four new VARD ships- courtesy PONANT

Jean Emmanuel Sauvée, CEO of PONANT and Navin Sawhney, CEO of PONANT Americas said in a statement they pleased that she is joining the team. Rodriguez was most recently president and CEO of CRYSTAL CRUISES.

She will be responsible for increasing PONANT´s brand awareness in the Americas, especially with professional networks including travel agencies, media and prospective passengers.

With her more than 30 years of experience in the cruise industry, she will act as a corporate advisor for the company, PONANT said.

Sawhney said: "For the last several years now, PONANT has been building a solid strategy for the American market and has the means to achieve its objectives. Given our strong ambitions and the real potential of this market, I am happy to see our team strengthened by the arrival of Edie Rodriguez."

Sauvée added: "With two great seasoned Cruise Industry Experts like Navin and Edie in our team, I’m convinced that PONANT in the USA will achieve its full capability in terms of market share. PONANT should not only be known as a French luxury expedition cruise line, but for what we really are: The World Leader in Luxury Expeditions and the Best Cultural International Cruise line with that special French touch!"

Edie Rodriguez (formerly Edie Bornstein, born August 29, 1961) an American businesswoman Until September 2017, Rodriguez was the CEO and president of CRYSTAL LUXURY CORPORATION, Ltd. - CRYSTAL CRUISES. The World’s Most Luxurious Hospitality and Lifestyle Brand Portfolio™ whose holdings include CRYSTAL CRUISES, The World’s Most Awarded Luxury Cruise Line™, CRYSTAL YACHT EXPEDITION CRUISES, CRYSTAL RIVER CRUISES, The World’s Only Luxury River Cruise Line™, CRYSTAL LUXURY AIR, a private jet charter service, CRYSTAL AIRCRUISES featuring lavish 15 to 29-day global adventures in the extreme comfort of a Boeing 777, and CRYSTAL Exclusive Class™ ships with CRYSTAL RESIDENCES. Following the acquisition of CRYSTAL CRUISES by GENTING, Hong Kong, in May 2015, she was promoted to CEO and President of CRYSTAL CRUISES.

L´AUSTRAL and LE BORÉAL of COMPAGNIE du PONANT - courtesy PONANT

Edie Rodriguez unveiled the blueprint for a major brand and fleet expansion for CRYSTAL, which has been dubbed by the travel and hospitality industry as the largest expansion in history for any luxury brand.

Knowing Edie Rodriguez as a manger eho brings a company to new standards, or implement new technologies and opening new markets, I would predict that in first place HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES will finally become a me-too product, as the company has lost its position as the leading luxury expedition cruise company lang ago, and the newbuilds won´t help, only to step further down the luxury ladder.

Rodriguez noted: "I have known PONANT for the last 10 years as they have led the global expedition cruise industry expansion and I have always thought that their ships are perfectly appointed to deliver an unmatched cruise experience. I am proud to help the PONANT brand achieve recognition and realize its ambitions for growth in USA and the Americas at the level it deserves. As well, the passion of PONANT´s founder, coupled with the strength in the global Luxury marketplace of their ownership ensures the brand’s success going forward."

Discovery Deluxe - PONANT names his new expedition vessels after famous French explorers

Expedition - PONANT´s world first undersea lounge

Discovery Deluxe is going head to head

Edie Rodriguez is leaving CRYSTAL CRUISES she resigned for new opportunity

Comments

Ocean Liners in Movies or Films at Sea (updated Nov 2017)

For liners and the shipping companies movies and films had been a top marketing tool Movies or Films and liners at sea, had been intriguing me since I have read about in my youth in LUXUSLINER - BILDER EINER GROSSEN ZEIT by Lee Server ( THE GOLDEN AGE OF OCEAN LINERS ). But earlier, mot only since my first crossing, I was keen watching movies with liners in it, and disapointed, which was an understatement, when I realized the films have been made in a set ashore in some movie "factory". That was after my first crossing. by Earl of Cruise an essay in progress `Sabrina´, Humphrey Bogart in the office, while LIBERTÉ is sailing out of New York harbor - screenshot Ocean liners, especially those of the luxury category, had been the location of dramas, love stories, thrillers, suspense and catastrophies sinde film was born, or nearly. In this list, the most descriptions are taken from Wikipedia, as I guess no one can expect having seen all these films ... otherwise I w

Thank You 500,000 readers

HISTORY - Traveling with airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG was the most luxurious airtravel

The real airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG enabled the most luxurious airtravel for decades. Imagine, gliding through the air while the landscape or the sea below can be seen ... LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. On May 6, 1937, the story of civilian airship ended in a tragedy. In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the largest flying object and has been with the similar sized LZ 130 GRAF ZEPPELIN II the most luxurious of all time. How this came about can be reconstructed logically, a series of fatal physics concatenations . The airship LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. It was in its time the fastest and most exclusive traveling object between Europe and America. The challenges of the construction of the giant of the heaven were immense. by Earl of Cruise LZ 129 HINDENBURG, 1936, in Lakehurst - digital copy of a coloured cover photo, originally by Bill Schneider, published in Dan Grossman´s book ` ZEPPELIN HINDENBURG: AN ILLUSTRATED HI

WORLD DISCOVERER Shipwrecked in a remote bay of the Solomon Islands

Hidden in a remote bay of the Solomon Islands, the beached wreck of the German-built Liberian flaged expedition cruise vessel WORLD DISCOVERER slowly rusts away. Built in 1974, it served multiple official owners faithfully for over 25 years. In April of 2000, the ship struck an uncharted reef formation just off the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. by Earl of Cruise WORLD DISCOVERER in Australian waters - own collection, courtsey SOCIETY EXPEDITIONS WORLD DISCOVERER was anew type cruise ship designed for the expedition cruise market, a few years earlier inaugurated by LINDBLAD CRUISES. WORLD DISCOVERER was built by SCHICHAU SEEBECK WERFT, Unterweser , Germany in 1974 as the second purpose built expedition cruise ship ever in the world. During construction the vessel was called BEWA DISCOVERER, the ship was completed 1974 in Bremerhaven , Germany . WORLD DISCOVERER was classified as a Swedish/Finnish 1A Ice Class , allowing the ship to withstand minor ice floe impact

HISTORY - The CUNARD - WHITE STAR Liner rms QUEEN ELIZABETH (1938-1972)

Over years, in my early youth, the QUEEN ELIZABETH was shaping my mind for the perfect ocean liner, despite having made my first experiences with a liner onboard the HANSEATIC (1), ex EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND, ex EMPRESS OF JAPAN. When leaning at the rail of HANSEATIC entering the port, my eyes where every where and I wished to by a camera, I took all in. And when seeing the QUEEN ELIZABETH with my own eyes, the nice behaving young boy turned into a tomboy, that my grandmére was no longer able to tame ... I did draw quite a lot of looks, back then. I found, while on research, this article and thought it interesting publishing in my blog: written and published by John Sheperd at liverpoolships.org editing and comments by Earl of Cruise I ( John Shepard ) joined the CUNARD LINE in March 1962 as an Assistant Purser and sailed the QUEEN ELIZABETH throughout that year, before transferring to the Liverpool-based CARINTHIA in November, where I remained as Crew Purser for the next five

ss NORMANDIE 1935 - 1942 IX

s s / te NORMANDIE starting from cold Owners: COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE BUILDERS: PENH Ö ET, St. Nazaire, France by Stephen Carey © , editing by Earl of Cruise This document is almost exclusively about the engineering aspects of NORMANDIE , mainly on how to start her up from cold. If you are looking for photos of the passenger spaces, there is a plethora of them on the web, in Facebook groups - Admirers of the ss Normandie , ss Normandie photographic file , The French Ocean Liners / Les Paquebots Fran ç ais , ss Normandie , GREAT LINERS OF THE PAST & PRESENT , and others, Pinterest and in articles about NORMANDIE here in the blog, please see at the end of the article. Using "ss" for NORMANDIE is quite incorrect, as NORMANDIE was a Turbo Electric vessel and not a steamship, therefore NORMANDIE should be adressed as "te". by Earl of Cruise te / ss NORMANDIE berthed in Le Havre, Gare Maritime May 29th, 1935 - colouring courtesy

Germany and HAPAG - A Journey through History

HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHEPACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT - HAPAG or HAMBURG AMERICA LINE is reflecting, as Germany, the LLOYD of Bremen, two times of rsing and two times of devasting downfall and a third rise. BORUSSIA , 1856, First Day Cover 1956 of Deutsche Bundespost - own collection Once Germany´s biggest shipping line HAPAG / HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHE PACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT-LLOYD, merged with it former old Hanseatic rival NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD in 1970, to now HAPAG-LLOYD, had its peaks and downs, but rose each time on its own to new hights, without any state subsidies. As German mail subsidiaries did never cover the costs for purchasing or mainting the vessels ordered for the specific German mail lines. by Earl of Cruise In this article I used most German Wikipedia links, as they proved to be mostly of better research quality, and surprisinf to me, some English lines and liners have only German written articles, for the others, English Wiki links are to find

HISTORY - ts / ss BREMEN and ts / ss EUROPA

Germany’s two luxury liners, BREMEN and EUROPA , have not only played an important part in their country’s mercantile revival, but have added also an immortal chapter to the history of transatlantic travel. Copy from Shipping Wonders of the World From part 6 , published 17 March 1936 editing by Earl of Cruise ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: Shipping Wonders of the World/Bundespresse Archiv The PRIDE OF A NATION - the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD quadruple-screw turbine express liner BREMEN . The keel of this ship was laid in June 1927. Her launch took place in August, 1928. In less than a year later, the Bremen made her first voyage to America, when she crossed the Atlantic from Cherbourg to New York in four days seventeen hours forty-two minutes, thus setting up a new record and gaining the coveted “Blue Riband”. During the passage the Bremen attained an average speed of 27.83 knots. ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: W ikipedia For the populac

HISTORY - rms MAJESTIC - Hand in Hand with rms TITANIC

TITANIC and MAJESTIC (1890), both Royal Mail Ships, hand in hand? How so? The review of João Martins will show. by João Martins , editing by Earl of Cruise And WHITE STAR LINE was more than only a shipping line which employed rms TITANIC. WHITE STAR was company with a great heritage and introduced many innovations which became standards. Founded by Thomas Henry Ismay , originally from Maryport, and shareholders amoung whom had been HARLAND&WOLFF . Later the Irish shipbuilder, located in Belfast, built all ships for WHITE STAR. rms MAJESTIC as built by HARLAND&WOLFF - Sour ce: Wikipedia ( original seize ) T he rms MAJESTIC was a 9,965 GRT British ocean liner built by HARLAND & WOLFF for WHITE STAR LINE and completed in 1890. Her career was profoundly intertwined with rms TITANIC. In the late 1880s competition for the Blue Riband, the award for the fastest Atlantic crossing, was fierce amongst the major shipping lines. At the time the prize belonged to CUNA RD

HISTORY - AUSTRO AMERICANA the Austro-Hungary shipping line into the new world

Not many know about the Austro-Hungary shipping line, AUSTRO AMERICANA , which sailed out of Trieste to the Americas. Austro-Hungary and shipping? You may ask ... you may have heard about Vienna Walz, coffe house culture, Hotel Sacher and its famous chocolate cake, the Prater, chateau Schönbrunn, the Fiakers - the famous horse carriages and such things. But passenger shipping lines? There has been AUSTRO AMERICANA and ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD , renamed in LLOYD TRIESTINO after 1918 and after purchased by EVERGREEN renamed in Italia Marittima. The actual company ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD is a new formed management company situated in Austria. by Earl of Cruise KAISER FRANZ JOSEH I. the biggest liner of AUSTRO AMERICANA - own collextion Parts of my family lived for a long time in the Austro-Hungary empire, which can be qualified as a "United Nations of the Balkan". Having traces into Austria-Hungay, the realm of Hungary in special, it is a pleasure for me making thes

Search This Blog

Thank You 500,000 readers