MY Le Ponant

On board, Le Ponant has two restaurants. The Karukera Dining Room provides French cuisine and the outdoor Le Diamant restaurant is for more informal meals. There are two lounges; the Emeraude Lounge which is the main entertainment lounge, and the Saphir Lounge, a lecture hall with internet computers.[3]

On 4 April 2008, Le Ponant was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden while en route from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean. The ship carried no passengers at the time of its capture, but all 30 crewmembers were taken hostage; 22 French, 6 Filipino, 1 Cameroonian and 1 Ukrainian.[4] French forces, including the aviso Commandant Bouan, and a Canadian CH-124 helicopter from HMCS Charlottetown were monitoring the yacht after its seizure.[5] The hostages were released without incident on 12 April.

Following the release, French helicopters from the Djibouti military base tracked the pirates to the village of Jariban. French commando marine and GIGN operating from the frigate Jean Bart and the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc moved in when the pirates attempted to flee in the desert. A sniper disabled the get-away vehicle, and the commandos were able to capture six men. Local officials claimed that three people died in the raid, with a further eight wounded, but France denied this. Troops also recovered some of the ransom money paid by the owner of the yacht for the release of its crew.[6] The six captured pirates were flown to Paris, where they faced trial in 2012.[7][8]

• "Le Ponant". Worldwide Resorts & Cruise Associates. Archived from the original on 2008-04-04. Retrieved 2008-04-06.