It is the sister vessel of Le Boréal and Le Soléal, being the same weight, length and breadth, along with having 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members like the other two ships.

L'Austral was built in 2010 at Fincantieri's Ancona shipyard, Italy.

On 9 February 2017, L’Austral collided with a stony bank near Milford Sound, New Zealand.

[3] In 2018, Compagnie du Ponant and ship master of the L'Austral, Captain Regis Daumesnil, were charged by both Maritime NZ and the Department of Conservation (DoC) for "or endangering human life and entering a prohibited zone" [4] following the grounding of the cruise ship L'Austral on an uncharted rock near North East Island, the main island of the Snares Islands group, on 9 January 2017.

[5] With damage to the ship's hull, Captain Daumesnil sailed 285km south to the Auckland Islands rather than seek the nearest port in Bluff, New Zealand.