New Third Test Required for Tahiti Cruise Passengers

[Mercruiser]

The FP President and the High Commissioner had a press conference Monday night in regards to the Paul Gauguin Covid incident.

https://www.tahiti-infos.com/Les-passagers-du-Gauguin-debarques-et-confines_a193190.html

 

Headline: Gauguin passengers disembarked and confined

 

Here is the translated text from the news article (emphasis mine):

"FP President Edouard Fritch announced, Monday, a future barrier measure intended only for cruise passengers. In addition to the test 72 hours before boarding to Polynesia and the self-test on the fourth day, anyone wishing to go on a cruise to the fenua will have to perform an additional test - at the expense of the country - at the time of boarding.  The objective is to avoid cancellations along the way, like that of the Paul Gauguin."

 

To recap, there will now be three Covid tests required for FP cruise passengers:

1. 3 days or less before flight departure
2. At time of boarding the cruise ship
3. Self-test 4 days after arrival using a test kit distributed at the airport

 

The relative timing of the 4-day and the boarding test will vary for passengers who make pre-cruise hotel stays. Conceivably, the 4-day and boarding tests could even be on the same day. 

 

The FP government is paying for both the 4-day and the cruise boarding tests. I must say that the FP government is showing they are very motivated to get tourism and cruises going in FP.  

 

I wrote in an earlier post:

"... I think it is completely unrealistic to plan on Covid going away any time soon. I am sad to say, the world, and my home country, are currently setting new daily records for infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.  Anyone planning an international trip in the foreseeable future had better be prepared to travel in a world with Covid and Covid testing."

Sadly, this is even truer now than when I wrote it - and now there are three Covid tests.

[capriccio]

52 minutes ago, Mercruiser said:

The FP President and the High Commissioner had a press conference Monday night in regards to the Paul Gauguin Covid incident...

 

 

Thank you for your many updates and translations! 

 

We were due to celebrate my DH's 70th birthday on an October Princess cruise followed by 4 nights at the Hilton Moorea and are still grieving over the understandable cancellation of the cruise so I'm still following this board.  We hope that one day - after an effective vaccine is available - we will plan another cruise to FP.

[crilski]

I received this just after midnight - Pacific TIme from Tahiti Tourisme.  You can sign up to receive their newsletter.  It comes in both French and English.

 

Mr Dominique SORAIN, High Commissioner of the Republic, and Mr Edouard FRITCH, President of French Polynesia, announced this afternoon the results of the sampling of all passengers and crew members aboard the Paul Gauguin cruise ship. The results of the RT-PCR tests are all negative.

As a result, passengers will be able to disembark from the cruise ship within the next hours and join a place of confinement.
Prior to disembarkation, all passengers will be required to sign a declaration to respect a period of quarantine.

They will then be quarantined for a period of seven days, either at home for local residents or in an individual accommodation facility for non-residents.
This quarantine period will be monitored by the Public Health Surveillance Office (PHSO). 
 
In addition, the High Commissionner's sanitary platform will be in daily contact with all persons in quarantine in order to verify the evolution of their state of health, compliance with containment measures and their ongoing presence at the place indicated for quarantine.

In order not to take any risk, at the end of this observation period, each person monitored will be tested one more time by RT-PCR test.

The health protocol implemented and the early measures applied by the cruise liner made it possible to rapidly detect and isolate the confirmed case of Covid-19, limiting the chain of transmission aboard the ship.

Moving forward, this health protocol will be reinforced with the obligation for all cruise passengers to carry out a self-test before boarding the ship.

[bigedwin]

Thanks

 

This is exactly what I tough will be required.

 

It is not a mayor issue to do the extra testing if they want to be able to cruise.

 

I think this scenario gives a stronger case for slowly returning to cruising.

 

It will be a lot easier to implement in small ships like PG and WS.

 

Still hopeful the larger cruise lines are looking at this and learning what works and how many safety nets are needed.

 

 

[Petoonya]

54 minutes ago, bigedwin said:

Thanks

 

This is exactly what I tough will be required.

 

It is not a mayor issue to do the extra testing if they want to be able to cruise.

 

I think this scenario gives a stronger case for slowly returning to cruising.

 

It will be a lot easier to implement in small ships like PG and WS.

 

Still hopeful the larger cruise lines are looking at this and learning what works and how many safety nets are needed.

 

 

@bigedwin

It sounds perfectly logical to me too Big. In the days of Covid if someone isn't willing to put up with a little inconvenience to keep oneself and others safe one shouldn't be traveling. I applaud the government of Tahiti in finding a way for cruises to (possibly) proceed. It also encourages mask wearing and social distancing pre-cruise and  particularly after the72 hour test.

[susiesan]

Does anyone know when and if Windstar resumes cruising in Tahiti if they will be administering this second extra test? There is no information on their web site. When do you take it, at the dock when you board the ship? How long do you have to wait for the results?

 

How will this affect people who fly in on their own a few days before getting on the cruise? Who has to pay for this? What would happen if you happened to come up positive, who pays for the canceled cruise and any other expenses involved with a quarantine and changed flights home?