Arrivals & Departures Get a glimpse below the waves with Ponant's world-first underwater lounge

Have you ever wondered what’s happening beneath the surface when you're cruising? Passengers with luxury French cruise line Ponant will be able to get a glimpse when it installs an underwater lounge aboard some of its Explorers series small ships.

The passenger lounge, called Blue Eye, will be within the hull beneath the water line. Integrated digital screens will project live images from three underwater cameras, allowing guests to witness spectacles like dolphins playing in the bow waves.

Architect Jacques Rougerie designed the lounge with the sea as his inspiration. Its shape, furniture and fittings evoke whales, dolphins, and jellyfish, while two portholes, shaped like the eyes of a dolphin, look out to the sub-aquatic world.

Guests will be able to listen to the underwater world through hydrophones capturing the sounds of the sea across a 5km radius and transmitting live to the lounge.

Complementing the sonic experience will be Body Listening sofas, which vibrate in unison.

The sound experience will also be offered through on-board concerts and in the swimming pool.

Blue Eye will be installed on Le Laperouse and Le Champlain, which will join the Ponant fleet in 2018, followed by Le Bougainville and Le Dumont-d’Urville in 2019.