Friscorays
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Posts posted by Friscorays
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A survey of a group of over 500 epidemiologists and infectious disease experts indicates nearly 2/3rds think it will take over a year before life is back to normal enough to attend a sporting event, concert or play (corresponding to time frame of hoped for vaccine development).
Cruising was not on the survey but is at least as risky as the above activities.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/life-return-to-normal-covid-19/
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Got an email from ATN. They are currently offering round trip LAX to PPT for $676. Not too bad.
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Ah, to be young and optimistic again.
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There is a corridor that allows access at a right angle to the main corridor; just forward of cabin 4569.
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I'm not saying I necessarily buy it, just passing on the info.
I personally don't see cruising again until an effective vaccine is hopefully developed. Even if cruises in general do start back up as an activity, the experience may be so perverted as the result of safety measures that doing one is effectively just an exercise in going through the motions.
As an example watching what going to theme parks is currently like, I am not sure that fun is the first descriptor that comes to mind.
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We are not happy with Ponant, and neither is our TA. However, being on the Paul Gauguin is amongst some of our favorite things.
Assuming the PG experience remains essentially the same (as it did when Regent moved on), abandoning the ship because we don't like the current operator / ownership seems to us like cutting off our noses to spite our faces.
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Per e-mail:
WELCOME BACK TO CRUISING Dear Guests,
We hope you and all of your loved ones are well. We are pleased to announce that we are resuming our Tahiti and French Polynesia voyages starting in July 2020, and look forward to welcoming you aboard for your upcoming voyage with us.
French Polynesia is officially re-opening to international tourism on July 15, 2020, and more information on their travel policy can be found here.
As always, the safety and security of guests and crew members remains Paul Gauguin Cruises’ top priority. The small size of the m/s Paul Gauguin, the medical infrastructure and teams on board, protocols and professionalism of crew, ensured that there have been no cases of Covid-19 contamination.
To prepare for the resumption of activity, Paul Gauguin Cruises and PONANT are collaborating with the IHU (Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire) Méditerranée Infection of Marseilles, one of the world's leading centers in the field of infectious diseases, as well as with the Battalion of Marine Firemen of Marseilles.
The "Covid-Safe" health protocol has been developed by Paul Gauguin Cruises and PONANT and is based on health standards that exceed international regulations. This protocol is built on the principle of double protection: 100 percent monitoring of people and goods before boarding, then once on board, strict health protocols are applied.
In addition to strict cleaning procedures advised by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), implementation of social distancing requirements and enhanced employee training, Paul Gauguin Cruises’ new measures include:
Pre-Boarding- Prior to boarding, all guests and crew members will have to present a signed doctor's medical form, complete a health questionnaire and undergo a health check and screening by the ship's medical staff.
- All luggage will pass through a disinfecting zone by sanitizing mist or UV lamps.
- Surgical and cloth masks, disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer bottles will be provided to all passengers.
Onboard experience- 100 percent fresh air in staterooms, through non-recirculating air conditioning systems. Ventilated air will be renewed in the common areas at least five times per hour.
- Restaurant layouts have been redesigned and will only offer contactless a la carte dining options.
- Public spaces, such as the fitness room and Grand Salon will be capped at 50 percent occupancy.
- Hourly disinfecting of high-touch points, such as doors, handles and handrails, with EcoLab peroxide, which eliminates 100 percent of germs, bacteria and protects against biological contamination.
- Crew members are required to wear a mask or protective visor when in contact with guests. Guests will be asked to wear a mask in hallway corridors and it will be recommended in public spaces.
- The Gauguin is equipped with advanced hospital equipment, including laboratory terminals that enable testing on site for infectious and tropical diseases. Advanced diagnostic equipment such as ultrasound, radiology and blood biological analysis is available, and one doctor and one nurse are present on every sailing.
Shore excursions- Zodiacs will be thoroughly disinfected after each stopover.
- Re-boarding after shore excursions will only be permitted after temperature check and disinfection procedures (individuals and personal belongings).
The complete "Covid-Safe" manifesto that has been developed is available online here.
If you have any questions regarding your upcoming cruise, please contact your travel advisor. Our team is also available to assist you, Monday – Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, at 800-848-6172 and by email at customerservice@pgcruises.com.We look forward to providing an exceptional experience of the South Seas when you sail with us. -
Test four days prior to departure may be problematic.
Sounds like test four days after arrival may be done at random rather than for every traveller.
Most pertinent part for potential cruisers is still absent:
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Cruises
Conditions to be communicated
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We often book our PG trips a year or so before sail date so yes we generally do look forward to our trips long in advance.
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April 29 update is out. Not a whole lot of much use but here it is:
https://www.pgcruises.com/travel-advisory
April 29, 2020, Update
Ia Orana!
We hope that you and your family are safe and in good health during these unprecedented times.
As you know, the current pandemic situation has led us to temporarily suspend the operation of the company’s entire fleet. Our vocation as sailors is to take you traveling the seas of the world, and we know your cruise is an important event that you look forward to with pleasure and anticipation long in advance.
We look forward to resuming our voyages in the near future and continuing to offer our guests exceptional cruise experiences in Tahiti, French Polynesia, Fiji, and the South Pacific.
Paul Gauguin Cruises
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
You have a voyage scheduled soon and are inquiring regarding its status.
If you have any questions regarding an upcoming cruise, please contact your Travel Advisor, call us at 800-848-6172, or send us an email at customerservice@pgcruises.com. Our team is at your disposal to assist you Monday – Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Due to the pandemic, if we are forced not to operate the m/s Paul Gauguin, you will be contacted personally in the coming days, and at the latest 30 days before the departure of the cruise, by a member of the Paul Gauguin Cruises Reservation team who will offer you a credit towards a future cruise that is also transferable to a family member.You are booked on a sailing that has not been cancelled, but you do not want to travel and wish to modify, postpone, or cancel your trip, and want to speak to someone about your cruise options.
If you would like to speak to someone regarding your cruise options, please contact your Travel Advisor or call us at 800-848-6172. Our team is at your disposal to assist you Monday – Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.Our dedicated team meets every day to evaluate the best possible options for our upcoming cruises. We are doing our best to get back to everyone as soon as we can, and appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through a high volume of calls.
You are booked on a private charter and have questions regarding your cruise.
If you are booked on a charter, please contact your charter host agency directly regarding your sailing. Contractually, all communication with charter guests must be handled via the charter agency, and if there are changes to your scheduled departure, they will be communicated to you by the charter agency directly. Paul Gauguin Cruises’ policies concerning Future Cruise Credits, cancel fees, and fees concerning airline/hotels are not applicable to private charters.For questions about the evolution of Coronavirus COVID-19, we recommend you consult the CDC or your local government.
This page is regularly updated with new information as soon as it becomes available.
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Ponant isn't the only cruise company pissing off a fair number of folks during this unprecedented time when many lines appear to be struggling to avoid bankruptcy so I am willing to cut them some slack.
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Wife and sister-in-law were booked on a Paul Gauguin cruise that we presume will be effected by the COVID 19 mess.
While we are not particularly happy with how Ponant is handling things, we very much hope that the Paul Gauguin will survive this particular storm as we would still love to have the opportunity to sail on her again.
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7 hours ago, loungelady55 said:
I agree! I work in healthcare front line and it has been rough. 99% of these people never have taken a cruise so do the math. I can not wait to cruise again and put my feet up!
I guess it depends on which math one wants to do.
For me, the pertinent math includes the number of people that get on a ship along with one or two people that are unknowingly spreading the virus and find themselves infected by the end of the trip. If the cruises that were effected toward the beginning of the pandemic are an indicator, the number is high. Although not a cruise ship, a recent example for which numbers are available is the US Navy Aircraft carrier that recently had an outbreak on which one in five sailors ended up positive.
The pertinent math also includes the chance of having infected people on any particular ship. The cruise ships that had well documented outbreaks were toward the beginning of the pandemic when the number of people with the virus was relatively low. At that time, the chance of an infected person being on any one cruise ship was relatively small. Fast forward about two months and the US is currently approaching one million cases. The chance of getting on a large cruise ship now or in the immediate future and having at least a few of the passengers or crew positive for the virus is now substantially higher and probably more likely than not. I would be willing to bet that at least one person in a random sample of one or two thousand adult US citizens would currently be found to be positive.
For us, the high likelihood of sharing a confined space with people positive for the virus in an environment where the infection is proven to be readily spread (along with limited medical resources on cruise ships and many distant ports of call) equals a pretty easy mathematical decision to put off cruising for a good while.
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Not until an effective vaccine is developed, not only for personal safety but for safety of other passengers and crew as well as safety of people that don't seem to be given a lot of thought by some cruisers: the folks who actually live at the ports that are visited (some of which are quite isolated and have limited medical infrastructure which would make potential outbreaks devastating).
It is easy to say one has to go out and live life, and of course that is true to a certain extent. However, this disease can cause people of all ages and levels of health to very rapidly decline. Many Doctors describe patients who look relatively stable one minute only to be on the verge of death the next. Cruise ships have medical capacity but to my knowledge none has anything resembling an ICU with ventilators and Physician / Nursing ability to continuously monitor a critically ill patient around the clock. A rapid decline in respiratory capacity at sea or at any distance away from port is likely to equal death.
All in all, some patience does not seem an undo burden to either me or my wife.
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12 minutes ago, FlightMedic555 said:
An absolutely useless update.
An "update" that gives updates a bad name especially when many larger cruise lines are now announcing cancellation of cruises over the next few months (as a starting point for what I anticipate will be a long pause in cruising).
When I try to "Book now" on the PG cruises web site for a cruise in June I cancelled a while back, nothing comes up. I don't know if this is a booking engine glitch or preparation for an actual useful update from them on cruise cancellations.
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8 hours ago, beachcomberbill said:
The chances are slim to none. Until there is a vaccine developed, no ports of call are going to allow thousands of passengers get off the ships. Whatever is left of the cruise industry will come back in one year at the earliest.
We have a winner. Unfortunately, a vaccine is likely still at least 12 to 18 months away.
How will the vaccine be developed? The same way as all the others were: hard work of dedicated scientists.
Will it be effective and safe? Yes, that is the purpose of performing clinical trials before a vaccine is given to potentially billions of people worldwide.
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1 hour ago, SWFLAOK said:
....And Nadi airport is not closed down at all since there have been many international arrivals, as well as domestic arrivals and departures.
Source? I gave one link to Nadi Airport closure above and I'll give another below where one can hear clips of Fiji PM speaking to the issue directly.
Fiji Prime Minister: "From tomorrow, Nadi Airport will be officially shut down to all scheduled passenger travel. There are currently three flights inbound to Fiji carrying Fijians returning home from overseas, these passengers will all be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon the arrival....We’re exploring safe, low-risk evacuation measures to get these folks home. We’re also working closely with embassies here in Fiji to repatriate foreign nationals still on our shores and get them home as well....From this Sunday, the 29th of March, all passenger travel to our outer islands will cease.... Anyone who regularly travels these routes should decide over the next four days where they’d prefer to spend the next few months.”
https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/covid-19/nadi-airport-to-close-shipping-services-end-sunday/
At the beginning of your post you speculated that the hypothetical flight in question did not occur due to weather. I was simply pointing out as a matter of general information for those that might not know that absolutely no leisure travel to or from Fiji is occurring through at least the end of May.
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Your flight into Nadi was not cancelled due to weather.
On March 20 Fiji Airways announced suspension of all international flights until at least the end of May, with the exception of twice-weekly services between Singapore and Nadi due to COVID 19. On March 24, they announced suspension of the Singapore flights as well.
A few days later, Nadi Airport was completely shut down, again at least until the end of May, except for a few repatriation flights.
https://www.fijiairways.com/en-us/flight-information/travel-alerts/?utm_source=browser
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Air Tahiti Nui travel advisory March 20: Effective from March 26th, through April 30, Air Tahiti Nui will undergo a temporary cessation of flights between Los Angeles and Tahiti. This estimated schedule reduction remains subject to change, depending on the evolution of the situation in French Polynesia and of course, worldwide.
Followed by this information posted by mercruiser in the Pacific Islands section: Air Tahiti Nui will suspend all flights to and from French Polynesia as of March 28. "This will effectively end air links out of Tahiti after both Air France and French Bee said they were suspending their flights." https://amp.rnz.co.nz/article/1b7df4d3-bae6-4aec-828f-a441b3d095aa
And for those considering Bali to Fiji charter arriving June 6 or Fiji to Tahiti trip beginning June 6: "Fiji Airways, Fiji’s National Airline, has announced that it will suspend all international flights until the end of May, with the exception of twice-weekly services between Singapore and Nadi…. The suspensions are in place until the end of May, and may be extended further if travel restrictions remain in place." https://www.fiji.travel/covid-19
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Update as of Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 4:00PM PDT
Prohibition of entry into the territory of French Polynesia for all non-residents of French Polynesia.
The Government of French Polynesia has issued an updated travel advisory. Effectively immediately, only Residents of French Polynesia will be granted entry. Accordingly, we regret to inform you that Air Tahiti Nui will only board for travel to Papeete, French Polynesia, passengers showing residency status in the destination. This is a temporary measure, expected to last two to six weeks.
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Air Tahiti Nui update (:https://www.airtahitinui.com/us-en/updates-march-18th-2020-1000am-pdt-0😞
Update as of Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 4:00PM PDT
Prohibition of entry into the territory of French Polynesia for all non-residents of French Polynesia.
The Government of French Polynesia has issued an updated travel advisory. Effectively immediately, only Residents of French Polynesia will be granted entry. Accordingly, we regret to inform you that Air Tahiti Nui will only board for travel to Papeete, French Polynesia, passengers showing residency status in the destination. This is a temporary measure, expected to last two to six weeks.
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My available cabin count came from the PGcruises.com site over the weekend and again this morning and did not include duplicate category types. As I said previously, I don’t know why such a dramatic swing occurred. Wife was planning on flying into Fiji for a prestay and flying out of Tahiti so PG getting creative with an itinerary might be problematic. If they can’t get into or out of Fiji, where do you think the cruise might reasonably start?
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13 minutes ago, azdrydock said:
"....I did a quick count of available cabins and came up with about 60 of 166 cabins."
Something funny is going on with their booking engine. I counted (twice) when I posted 114 number three hours ago but now see that online inventory is down dramatically from then to a number in the range of what you quote. I don't know which represents actual availability reality versus system glitch.
In either case, all ports on the cruise are currently closed to ships and coronavirus problem is not going to disappear between now and early June. The main logistical problem at the moment would be the fact that Fiji is closed to cruise ships in an effort to keep their cases at zero.
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2 hours ago, azdrydock said:
Also on the 6/6 cruise.... Also tracking availability and at the beginning of the month there were about 6 C's available. Jumped to about 30 before they announced suspensions and is now at 20.
Are you talking about a particular cabin category? I am currently counting 114 available cabins on the June 6 trip (out of listed ship capacity of 126 cabins).
I believe some cabins are assigned to guest lecturers / performers but assuming the 12 currently booked cabins are paying passengers and no triples, that means 24 people are currently planning on going. I can't imagine PG going to the trouble of doing the cruise with that number; especially as every port on the itinerary is currently closed to cruise ships.
Additionally my wife is currently talking with TA about cancellation options so the number of booked cabins should be dropping to 11 in the next day or two.
NCL cancels all August and September sailings
in Norwegian Cruise Line
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Still stand by the Florida is fine bit? It seems that things there are actually spiraling totally out of control.
Over 8900 new cases reported in Florida just today! It was just a few weeks ago that there were only 16k known cases in the entire state.
I anticipate Disney will announce delay in planned Orlando park openings shortly (if the government doesn't beat them to it by instituting a statewide lockdown first).
No port in their right mind should let a ship full of folks recently in Florida anywhere near them.