The ships are French-flagged with a largely French crew, and the operation is bilingual with French and English throughout. Announcements, guiding and materials come in both.

On most sailings the passenger mix leans French, with a substantial international minority. Some people love this and some find it isolating, and I would rather you knew before you booked than after.

What it definitely means is the food is better than expedition food has any right to be. Proper bread, proper cheese, a wine list somebody has thought about. On a two week polar voyage that turns out to matter a great deal.

Ponant operates a hybrid electric polar icebreaker capable of reaching the geographic North Pole and the more difficult parts of Antarctica.

This is not a marketing term. It is a genuine icebreaker built for the purpose, and it goes to places conventional expedition ships cannot reach at times of year they cannot sail.

It is extremely expensive and the voyages are long. Not a first expedition purchase, but if somebody in your family has a serious polar ambition, this is the vessel that fulfils it.

Antarctica, the Arctic, Greenland, the Kimberley in Australia, the Pacific islands, Patagonia, and a substantial Mediterranean and Northern Europe programme on the smaller ships.

The Kimberley itineraries deserve a specific mention. Remote northwest Australia, waterfalls, gorges, crocodiles and rock art tens of thousands of years old. It is one of the great expedition regions and very few operators do it well.

They also run more conventional cultural itineraries where the ship is small enough to enter harbours that larger vessels cannot.

The language mix. I will say it again because it is the most common source of disappointment. Confirm the expected passenger split on your specific departure.

Polar voyages are physically demanding and weather-dependent, and the itinerary is genuinely provisional.

And the price is high. Ponant is competing with the luxury expedition operators and is priced accordingly.