Candlesmith

This is way past the expiration date for this thread, but may be helpful for someone in the future:

We have had excellent luck with EcoCar.  The flight from Honolulu arrives at 9:15 PM and they are standing in the airport with our name on a sign to take us to our rental.  Last time they met us at the pier on embarkation day to pick up the car.  Price was reasonable, car was nice enough (Dacia Logan), and the people were great!
 

This trip we arrive Tahiti 21 March and embark the 28th....maybe.  We will rent from EcoCar, stay in Tahiti five days then take the car to Moorea by ferry for two nights, returning on the 28th in time to return it and embark the PG.

You need reservations to take the car on the ferry!  Terevau has instructions in English. They will ask for an email giving type and size of car, so reserve the car first.....it’ll be <4.3m.

They reply very promptly. You don’t need reservations for yourselves.  
 

No, you can’t rent the car on Tahiti and leave it on Moorea; not with EcoCar anyway.

Hope this helps someone.

Take the ship’s tour and don’t ever miss a Port Talk!  They are invaluable.  Lots of good enrichment opportunities go on all day in the Star Theater and the Jupiter has a Planetarium and resident astronomer (Hi, Lou!!) as well.  Be certain to sign up for all the Planetarium shows (3 of them) and don’t miss the star gazing on Deck 9 on a clear moonless night.

Try the Chef’s Table Restaurant early in your cruise; if you like it as much as we did, you can then get multiple reservations (the menu changes every three days).

The detergent dispenser, by the way, is around the corner, almost behind the first washer, next to the door.  You have to load your clothes, start the machine, then go push the button that pertains to your machine in order to get detergent to add into the wash.  It’s (semi) automatic.

 Bon Voyage!

FYI, you can get around the lack of desktop space for your paperwork by taking several of those strong kitchen clips with magnets in the back.  The walls of a ship stateroom almost invariably contain enough metal for a magnet to stick.  The clip can hold your Viking Daily, invitations, excursion tickets, etc.

3 hours ago, cruisin' honeys said:

Candle Smith we are also on the march 28 sailing - we have a messenger group of you would like to join. Give me your FB name 

Great; I’d love to!  I’m Corky L. Smith on Fb. (American Flag and sunset as Profile photos). We will be two couples traveling.

32 minutes ago, bottomfeeder said:

Doesn't the virus spike a high fever usually though?  I have read of people having 104 degree fevers.  I think 100.4 is conservative, and if you have no other symptoms and are under that you should be fine even if you usually run a little cooler than 98.6.

 The truth of the matter is that the taking of a single temperature, once, at an isolated point in time, is of no help at all in indicating whether an individual is incubating the virus or is likely to come down with it during an upcoming cruise, especially one of two or more weeks duration!

This is a “comfort measure” in that it gives comfort to everyone who thinks it’s making them safer.

18 hours ago, tsakishuman said:

On 3/6/2020 at 9:01 AM, Clay Clayton said:

 

Any idea what happens if, God forbid, somebody has a temperature pre-boarding? I understand they will not be allowed to board but do they just get left at the dock and have to figure out how to get home?

My understanding was that the temperature of 100.4° F (38° C) cutoff was in conjunction with a history of travel to or through . . . , or of one of the other things we are now all familiar with.  If the history is “My plane landed an hour ago, I ran for a taxi, loaded my own luggage and then had to dash to the gangway at this end.”, and the passenger presents with a temp of 100.6, but hot, disheveled, and with a sweaty brow, the medical officer will likely look at that individual differently than if his skin is dry and hot, his eyes are glazed and he was in Italy ten days ago!

Just postulating from a statement on the Paul Gauguin website.  No telling if it’s going to be universal practice.

16 hours ago, Seabiscuit68 said:

We're booked on Ponant Le Soleal Mar 20th Tahiti to Fiji cruise.  Due to COVID 19, 5 (Aitutaki, Palmerston, Apia, Matu Utu and  Alofi Island) of our 9 ports of calls are not permitting entry to cruise ships.  I've sent emails to Ponant but have heard nothing.  What is the likelihood of finding alternate ports?   It seems all islands from Bora Bora to Fiji are closed to cruise ships.  Will be very upset if our 13 day cruise ends end with 7 sea days!!  

 

We sent emails to Ponant but have not heard anything back.  There is a Paul Gauguin leaving Easter Island tomorrow to Tahiti.  Will be watching to see their itinerary changes. 

We’re booked on the Paul Gauguin “Society Islands, Cook Islands, Tonga & Fiji” cruise that leaves Pape’ete on March 28 & likewise has planned stops throughout French Polynesia in ports that have announced closure to cruise ships.  There WAS a Travel Advisory across the top of their website until today, (when it disappeared from our tablets and laptop!) but we have received nary an email from PG Cruises.  There hasn’t been one word from them about the fact that:

1. Several ports are now closed to cruise ships
2. They (PGC) now require a health questionnaire filled out and brought to embarkation.

Or even...

3. That FP is requiring a health certificate for boarding a plane to fly to the Pape’ete for    
           embarkation! 
 

I called Paul Gauguin Cruises this morning when the missing Travel Advisory meant I couldn’t even download their (required) Questionnaire.  The agent implied that they, and they alone, were responsible for French Polynesia extending the required date for the medical certificate to March 9 (from March 2) and that they were “working with the governments” of the various islands that have closed their ports to cruise ships.  The implication, of course, being . . . .  There was no answer to my query about plans - or cancellation/refunds - in the event that a significant number of ports did not agree to allow the ship to call.

Of note, Viking leads the industry with an extremely generous cancellation policy (right up to 24 hours before embarkation & for cruises booked until 4/30/2020) with two years to use vouchers.....and were the first to announce that they were doing so.  We have received an email for every cruise we have booked. Regent’s “Reassurance” is less generous (30 days before embarking and vouchers good for one year) but they’re out there with something. From Paul Gauguin, who tout themselves as “World’s Best”, nothing.

4 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

After a near disastrous incident where Sky lost engine power, almost ran aground and passengers were airlifted off via helicopter in the midst of a storm,Viking provided great assistance to passengers in getting replacement clothes, travel arrangements home and compensated the passengers with what amounts to three free cruises. 

WOW!  I guess our instincts are pretty good.  After only one Viking Ocean Cruise (South America and the Chilean Fjords 12/2-12/26 with an added five day post cruise extension to the Galápagos Islands), we booked three more cruises with Viking; two ocean and one river.

We had no idea about the Sky misadventure nor that Viking would lead the industry in their response to the fear and uncertainty surrounding the current Coronavirus situation.

Thanks for the information, OTJ, it is enlightening.

8 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

...and yet so like Mr. Hagen to go above and beyond for Viking customers. I know all about this firsthand from how well the March Sky guests were treated. 

This is the...third?...reference to the Sky incident and how well it was handled.  Could someone give those of us in the dark a thumbnail synopsis?

On 2/27/2020 at 2:37 PM, philw1776 said:

Finding Viking insurance much LESS $$$ for older folks. That said, in this scenario be sure that you do NOT have purchases OUTSIDE Viking.  In other words if you bought you own airfare, or pre or post hotel, of course Viking does NOT cover this.

We have done exactly that, and though it’s a complicated mess, it may turn out all right.

We Live in Hawai’i, and a trip to Europe, much less Egypt, is, effectively, the other side of the world!  So we try to put together a trip that combines more than one adventure.  Thus, in fall of 2020, after we agreed to join friends in Cairo on December 5th on UniWorld’s “Splendors of Egypt and the Nile” with a post cruise excursion to Jerusalem, we added Viking’s Western Mediterranean Explorer (November 21- December 3) to the front end.  The post cruise stay in Lisbon brought it right up to time to meet up with our group in Cairo.

We insured the Viking cruise with Viking, and the UniWorld Cruise through UniWorld, which works out okay since UniWorld is providing all the air travel except the leg from Lisbon to Cairo (?? We don’t understand it either!)  I insured leg that through TravelGuard.  They insisted on insuring the entire trip (which also includes a week on our own on the Amalfi coast from 11/14-11/21).  I was prepared to accept the exposure for $2000 of airline tickets rather than pay the same amount for all that insurance when she told me it was only $166!  For both of us!  Since the rest of the trip is already insured and I really only care about the airfare, I smiled and gave her my card number.  The hotel in Italy can be cancelled until 24 hours before arrival, and we haven’t rented a car, so we’re covered, although in a patchwork fashion.  
 

However, this serves to prove your point, Phil.  DON’T DO THIS!*  If you are putting together a trip that includes activities beyond the cruise itself, get insurance from a company other than  the cruise line!  Alliance is good and several people have named others that have come through for them.  And....I can attest to the reminder not to forget that you have trip insurance!
We once let an airline foist a piece of ugly purple Skyline luggage on us in place of the lovely   “merlot” Samsonite they destroyed!  We forgot our travel insurance covered our luggage....Actually, we forgot we HAD travel insurance until we bought it for the next trip! 
 

*ETA  We only did because we had already accepted the insurance from one cruise before we booked the other so the damage was done and this was the best way out.

On 1/18/2020 at 5:08 PM, Heidi13 said:

With the exception of the medical component limit, I find Viking's insurance acceptable

We have have recently purchased MedJet Assist, a global air medical transport and travel security membership product - NOT insurance.  (But, they say, “insurance gets you to the nearest acceptable facility, MedJet gets you home.”)

Although we are active and in good health, we are in our 70’s, and this serves to calm our concerns about any less than reassuring limits on medical care and evacuation.  
MedJet Horizon, slightly more expensive, covers crisis response and evacuation for terrorism, natural disaster, political threat, violent crime, kidnapping and (taDA) pandemics. 
 

medjetassist.com

On 2/11/2020 at 5:25 AM, chirk said:

”And, since you declined the Viking trip insurance, aw, tough luck.”
 

I believe you are still within the window to purchase trip insurance - 120 days - IF YOU HURRY!