coronavirus

[letsdive]

We arrived Papeete last night. Obtained the required medical certificate in the US but no one requested it. At the airport in Papeete, we had to complete a very brief health questionnaire and were checked for fever. 
We board the PG tomorrow - March 7 

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

3 minutes ago, letsdive said:

We arrived Papeete last night. Obtained the required medical certificate in the US but no one requested it. At the airport in Papeete, we had to complete a very brief health questionnaire and were checked for fever. 
We board the PG tomorrow - March 7 

See you tomorrow

[DavidTheWonderer]

You may recall that a major epicenter of the SARS crisis in 2003 was Toronto, where we live. We managed to fly out and do a cruise on the Paul Gauguin during the crisis.  On board we got a notice to go see the ship's doctor, and when we walked into his office on the ship, all the Canadians on board were there.  So it was a nice mixer as we got to know each other.  The doctor took everybody's temperature and sent us on our way.

[Tahitiancruise]

Hello Moderator.   Can I post content on this roll call list?   Marc

[SWFLAOK]

On 3/9/2020 at 3:11 PM, Tahitiancruise said:

Hello Moderator.   Can I post content on this roll call list?   Marc

I'm not the Moderator, but this isn't the roll call list, it's the board, so you can post and ask what you want about corona virus.

 

For those of you on cruises through the end of July, there's an update on the PG website today about policy updates. As you might have noticed, no one on the current cruise had anything to say about their cruise being a French Polynesia only itinerary, or what that cruise entails. Is this a non-disclosure situation, or just people onboard who don't really care that others were asking them about it. Maybe the ship has turned off the WiFi. But, I'll keep their lack of posting in mind before participating on this board in the future.

 

For those of us who are unfortunate enough to be on the March 28 and June 11 sailings,  we've decided that we're going unless we want to lose a lot of money. We would get a future cruise credit (minus a 10% penalty, and an unknown loss for airlines and hotels that they booked)  that can only be used on the PG, and not other Ponant cruises.The only reason we booked this cruise was for the stops that we made between Fiji and Bali. Today's update says that the itinerary for the March 28 and April 11 sailings are unknown,  but we can trust them to do their best, but that situation is fluid.

 

Having kept track of the situation so far,  the March 28 sailing will not stop in the Cook Islands since they have closed their ports until the end of April. Tonga is also closed and has been for some time,  but having been there in September on PG to Fiji, it's no loss. Cruise ships should just avoid Tonga in the future. In the past few days, Fiji allowed a last minute stop by Silver Whisper on it's World Cruise, with last minute stops arranged at Suva, SavuSavu and Laveu Island before their scheduled stop in Laukota. Kudos to Silver Sea for arranging this, and for Fiji keeping their country safe enough for smallcruise ships to travel to. Silver Whisper was supposed to stop in the Cook Islands (and announced onboard that they would stop at Rarotonga instead of Atutaki, apparently not knowing that they were both part of the same country and under the same restrictions), and several very small islands in Tonga. They were not allowed to stop in these places despite having only spent port time in Papeete, Bora Bora, Moorea, and Pitcairn Island (population 50 with no airport), in the last 2 weeks.

 

We hope to make it from Florida to Fiji where we have 3 nights at the Pullman. From there, we would be surprised if we stop anywhere on our way to Bali,but hope to spend a few nights at the IC, including a significant Birthday celebration. If we need to be quarantined in Bali, we have credit cards for that. We had a cruise scheduled on a different cruise line later in May. They reached out to us an offered the ability to reschedule within the next 2 years. There was no penalty for the cruise, and no penalty  for airfare or the pre or post hotel.   We rescheduled at no cost to us so we have no worries about getting home.

 

According to today's update, the Captain is responsible for arranging alternate stops. That does not instill any confidence in me since that is not part of a Captain's job. I'm watching fo Silver Whisper stopping in an alternate port in Vanuatu. If they make it, we might. Papua New Guinea has no cases of corona virus, so they may not allow any crew shiip entry if that's still the case. Bali has had passengers with corona virus passing through their airport. So far, none of them stayed in Bali, and tourists who were on those flights have been quarantined.

 

PG booked us through Hong Kong on the way back from Bali, and would not change it when we expressed concern about it. We had to book our own flights back through Sydney, and get a refund from PG. If we cancel and reschedule in the future, we could lose that entire business airfare, and that's a significant amount of money.  We did purchase insurance for the trip, but it doesn't cover everything we would lose.

 

If we were cruising in June or July on the PG, which might be a much better situation at that point, we could cancel and get a future cruise credit valid through 2021, without a penalty, and that's what we would do.

 

Sorry for the long rant, but it's been very frustrating with no information from PG, or this board,  and the cruise I looked forward to a year ago now keeps be awake at night.

[Karensan]

We are booked on the Fiji to Bali PG cruise, leaving on April 11 from Fiji.  Would like to correspond by email with you if you are booked on the same cruise.  It will be our fourth cruise with PG.  Email is karensan@aol.com. 

 

[poolechick]

It's truly disappointing that those currently onboard aren't reporting. Evidently there is a large group traveling together with a host, so it's questionable how truthful their assessments would be anyway. We can follow the ship and see that they have altered the itinerary completely. The Cook Islands are currently closed, which the PG knew before departure, yet they boarded their passengers and set sail. Deceptive.

[sita]

Deceptive seems like a strong word. Cook Islands restriction announced on the 5th, cruise started on the 7th. Of course the PG reserves right to change itinerary... as any cruise line does. Current situation is unique and all cruise lines scrambling. 
 

Recent (post Ponant) reviews have been favorable, agree with your assessment on reviews from current cruise. Just booked for the fall.

[cruisin' honeys]

23 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

I'm not the Moderator, but this isn't the roll call list, it's the board, so you can post and ask what you want about corona virus.

 

For those of you on cruises through the end of July, there's an update on the PG website today about policy updates. As you might have noticed, no one on the current cruise had anything to say about their cruise being a French Polynesia only itinerary, or what that cruise entails. Is this a non-disclosure situation, or just people onboard who don't really care that others were asking them about it. Maybe the ship has turned off the WiFi. But, I'll keep their lack of posting in mind before participating on this board in the future.

 

For those of us who are unfortunate enough to be on the March 28 and June 11 sailings,  we've decided that we're going unless we want to lose a lot of money. We would get a future cruise credit (minus a 10% penalty, and an unknown loss for airlines and hotels that they booked)  that can only be used on the PG, and not other Ponant cruises.The only reason we booked this cruise was for the stops that we made between Fiji and Bali. Today's update says that the itinerary for the March 28 and April 11 sailings are unknown,  but we can trust them to do their best, but that situation is fluid.

 

Having kept track of the situation so far,  the March 28 sailing will not stop in the Cook Islands since they have closed their ports until the end of April. Tonga is also closed and has been for some time,  but having been there in September on PG to Fiji, it's no loss. Cruise ships should just avoid Tonga in the future. In the past few days, Fiji allowed a last minute stop by Silver Whisper on it's World Cruise, with last minute stops arranged at Suva, SavuSavu and Laveu Island before their scheduled stop in Laukota. Kudos to Silver Sea for arranging this, and for Fiji keeping their country safe enough for smallcruise ships to travel to. Silver Whisper was supposed to stop in the Cook Islands (and announced onboard that they would stop at Rarotonga instead of Atutaki, apparently not knowing that they were both part of the same country and under the same restrictions), and several very small islands in Tonga. They were not allowed to stop in these places despite having only spent port time in Papeete, Bora Bora, Moorea, and Pitcairn Island (population 50 with no airport), in the last 2 weeks.

 

We hope to make it from Florida to Fiji where we have 3 nights at the Pullman. From there, we would be surprised if we stop anywhere on our way to Bali,but hope to spend a few nights at the IC, including a significant Birthday celebration. If we need to be quarantined in Bali, we have credit cards for that. We had a cruise scheduled on a different cruise line later in May. They reached out to us an offered the ability to reschedule within the next 2 years. There was no penalty for the cruise, and no penalty  for airfare or the pre or post hotel.   We rescheduled at no cost to us so we have no worries about getting home.

 

According to today's update, the Captain is responsible for arranging alternate stops. That does not instill any confidence in me since that is not part of a Captain's job. I'm watching fo Silver Whisper stopping in an alternate port in Vanuatu. If they make it, we might. Papua New Guinea has no cases of corona virus, so they may not allow any crew shiip entry if that's still the case. Bali has had passengers with corona virus passing through their airport. So far, none of them stayed in Bali, and tourists who were on those flights have been quarantined.

 

PG booked us through Hong Kong on the way back from Bali, and would not change it when we expressed concern about it. We had to book our own flights back through Sydney, and get a refund from PG. If we cancel and reschedule in the future, we could lose that entire business airfare, and that's a significant amount of money.  We did purchase insurance for the trip, but it doesn't cover everything we would lose.

 

If we were cruising in June or July on the PG, which might be a much better situation at that point, we could cancel and get a future cruise credit valid through 2021, without a penalty, and that's what we would do.

 

Sorry for the long rant, but it's been very frustrating with no information from PG, or this board,  and the cruise I looked forward to a year ago now keeps be awake at night.

 

Is PG charging a 10% penalty to cancel for credit? 

[Folkfan13]

I was told today that the 10% penalty is only for "cancelling".     Supposedly you will be able to apply your full payment to a future cruise through 2021.    The bad news is that the future prices are much higher then the price I booked my upcoming June cruise for.    Fornutuately, you do not need to make a final decision until a month before the cruise date.    Hopefully things will be clearer at the beginning of May.

[SWFLAOK]

Here is the relevant part of the email we received precisely after the 31 day deadline.

"We plan to operate the Fiji to Bali itinerary as close as possible to the original itinerary. It is a dynamic situation, and the Captain will make changes as necessary as we are notified of any updates from the ports.

With all of this in mind, we have decided to adjust our payment and cancellation policies to offer guests more flexibility and greater assurance. If you prefer to cancel your booking completely, we will issue a Future Cruise Credit for the amount of the cancel fee, less any fees imposed by the airline/hotels. The Future Cruise Credit will be valid for cruises through 2021 aboard the m/s Paul Gauguin. Cancel fees amended to 10% (cruise only fare) for cancellations received 31 days prior to sailing.

We will continue to update our Travel Advisory at this link: pgcruises.com/travel-advisory. Please monitor it for the latest updates.

Thank you for sailing with us and we look forward to making your voyage with us most memorable for you.

Sincerely,"

[SWFLAOK]

BTW this little interesting tidbit popped up within the travel warning....

 

"For Fiji to Bali and Bali to Fiji sailings:

Click here for information from the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu."

 

I take this to mean we will have to apply for visas instead of being processed on arrival. Not good.

 

[Emdee]

The PG website says that all cruise calls in FP are suspended until April 11 th by order of the French State and FP authorities.

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

3 hours ago, Emdee said:

The PG website says that all cruise calls in FP are suspended until April 11 th by order of the French State and FP authorities.

 

Wow!

[letsdive]

I’m currently on the 7 March sailing. The remainder of our cruise has been cancelled immediately. We are heading back to port in Papeete. We are allowed to stay on the ship until the scheduled end of the cruise on 18 March. 
BTW - the entire ship is currently free of the coronavirus. 

[Petoonya]

Excuse me for barging in. I'm an Oceania cruiser.

All of our March/April cruises were cancelled this morning. I was on April 14 Papeete-Hawaii-SF and we were cancelled too.

 

Tahitian Big Kahuna is on PG now. They were diverted back to Papeete this morning six days early so all that time with not a lot to do on the big island he's been to so frequently.

[Friscorays]

4 hours ago, Petoonya said:

….Tahitian Big Kahuna is on PG now. They were diverted back to Papeete this morning six days early so all that time with not a lot to do on the big island he's been to so frequently.

 

Assuming passengers not required to stay on ship, easy enough to take the ferry back and forth to Moorea for day trips.

[SWFLAOK]

Hopefully no one currently on board the PG picks up coronavirus while in Papeete. The French Polynesia MP picked it up in Paris from another MP, and brought it home to Papeete. I doubt she went there alone, or flew back on a private charter, so plenty of other people were exposed. It's ironic that they were so worried about the tourists, and that's not where it came from.

[Petoonya]

8 hours ago, Friscorays said:

 

Assuming passengers not required to stay on ship, easy enough to take the ferry back and forth to Moorea for day trips.

They aren't required to stay on the ship. They can go have fun on Tahiti and eat and stay on the ship. I don't think they are allowed to go to Moorea. They did get a heck of a deal from PG though. Total refund of this cruise and 125% FCC for next 2 years.

[SWFLAOK]

A total refund and 125% FCC for 2 year?. I' am totally appalled by that. We can't even rebook our April Fiji to Bali cruise for another cruise in 2021 without losing all of the money paid to PG for airfare and the pre and post hotels.  Not that they gave us any bargain on either of those items as we could have booked them for much less than we were charged, and would have a chance to get some of our money back ourselves (or a future credit) by being able to deal with the airlines and hotels ourselves.

If we cancelled instead or rebooking, we would lose another 10% off that, and still only receive a FCC that's only good through 2021, and not 2 years.

Something is very wrong with this picture when we compare our offer to those currently onboard. We dont' even know how or if the ship will get to Fiji, and it's unlikely to stop at any port on it's 16 days to Bali. Bali has already had a tourist death, and the hotels have had tourists staying there who have had close contact with corona positive travelers (the family of the tourist who died, as well as travelers who flew to Bali sitting next to people who continued on to Australia and New Zealand and tested positive there). We will be boarding a similar flight from Bali through Australia back to the US, where we have a chance of being exposed. Our airline already has a list of flights on their website identifying flights with coronavirus positive passengers, and the row they sat in, and it's quite long. The PG passengers currently onboard are being well compensated, and the only risk of coronavirus they will have from the French Polynesia PM in Papeete, and at the airports they return home to (and they knew that risk when they left).

[Sailwithbars]

Latest PG Advisory: 

 

March 12, 2020, Update

We were informed overnight that the French State and French Polynesian authorities have decided to suspend all cruise calls in French Polynesia until April 11, 2020. We will be communicating throughout the day with our travel advisors and guests booked on affected sailings and will be sending out notices and updating our travel advisory as our plans are introduced.

[Hutchinj]

More info on FP's first case of coronavirus. Can you say, "brilliant?" (sarcasm intended)...

 

"French Polynesia has announced the first case of Covid-19 in Tahiti, the first confirmed case of the coronavirus across the Pacific Islands. President Edouard Fritch, said that French Polynesian politician Maina Sage had been confirmed with the virus after returning from Paris on 7 March. Sage is resting at home in self-isolation in Papeete. French Polynesia, which comprises more than 100 islands, the largest of which is Tahiti, is a French overseas collectivity. Sage is French Polynesia’s representative in the French National Assembly. During her time in Paris, Sage served on a National Assembly commission with France’s culture minister Franck Riester, who has also been confined in France after contracting Covid-19. Announcing the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Tahiti, President Fritch reassured people about government plans for monitoring, testing and isolation. He stated, however: “I invite the population to avoid travel outside the country."

 

Perhaps a good start would be blocking non-essential travel by your own politicians?

[Friscorays]

1 hour ago, Hutchinj said:

.....Perhaps a good start would be blocking non-essential travel by your own politicians?

 

Sort of like the politicians here in the United States are strictly doing?

[SWFLAOK]

1 hour ago, Friscorays said:

 

Sort of like the politicians here in the United States are strictly doing?

Not sure what you're referring to in the US, but I think this is a political comment that doesn't belong on cruise critic.

[Friscorays]

1 minute ago, SWFLAOK said:

Not sure what you're referring to in the US, but I think this is a political comment that doesn't belong on cruise critic.

Hutchinnj used the word "politicians" and so did I.  If that offends you, I apologize.  However, it seems some folks here seem to be holding government officials in French Polynesia to a higher standard than their own government officials.  No response by any country will be perfect but French Polynesia and other areas in the Pacific seem to be acting pretty proactively.  I think they deserve credit for that; rather than ridicule.