Making cruises cool: A trip on L’Austral is the hippest way to see the …

By
Sarah Turner

PUBLISHED:

08:24 EST, 13 October 2013

|

UPDATED:

08:24 EST, 13 October 2013

Can a cruise ship ever be hip? They’re often expensive, sometimes exclusive, but a cruise is rarely hip in a glossy magazine sense of the word.

However, the French firm Compagnie du Ponant puts up a remarkably good effort of making the cruise experience trendy. With a fleet of just four ships, this year it became part of the Virgin Hip Hotels chain.

Making a splash: Innovative design makes L’Austral feel boutique and trendy

The ship I travelled on, L’Austral, certainly feels boutique and trendy. There are 132 chic cabins with white leather headboards, curved mirrors and masses of wardrobe space.

During the summer, L’Austral was mostly in the Mediterranean (its winter haunt is Antarctica, where passengers are provided with, one assumes, very stylish parkas).

On my summer voyage it was difficult tell passengers and crew apart, given that everyone seemed to have a penchant for wearing navy blue and white, most often in a jaunty Breton stripe pattern.

The swimming pool area was packed until 1pm when everyone headed to the restaurants for lunch. It was probably the best food I’ve ever had on a cruise – nothing particularly fancy, just great ingredients beautifully cooked. Oh, and copious amounts of wine were served at no extra cost. C’est la vie!

Size matters: L’Austral dropped anchor at ports where larger ships aren’t able to, including the island of Symi

L’Austral’s small size has one huge advantage – we dropped anchor at ports where larger ships aren’t able to; islands such as Symi, Patmos and Limnos, which were full of shaded tavernas.

All announcements and guided excursions were in French and English. The guides were erudite and we managed to notch up visits to see an El Greco painting and the cave where St John saw his Revelations. But it wasn’t all high culture – also on board was the French cast of Mamma Mia! It surely doesn’t get trendier than that?

Seven nights on board L’Austral with Virgin Holidays + Hip Hotels, including return flights from London and all-inclusive accommodation, starts at £2,279pp. Visit vhiphotels.co.uk.

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