Ponant's Cancelled Cruise List Updated for January - February 2022

[schnapperin]

So far only one is postponing the season yet - but I wonder if it might be covid (obviously) or as Quark mention operational reason because of staff shortage because of the spike in cases in Argentina. 

[AussieBoyTX]

Good News... Le Bellot is now returning to Seychelles.

[cboyle]

Ponant's cancelled cruise list was updated again on January 14.

https://fr.calameo.com/read/000132423cf461dcaf716?authid=BIZNrwBnxZY5

[schnapperin]

Looks like Austral is missing two trips now 

[cboyle]

A person in the French-speaking Ponant FB group is reporting that his Jan. 20 cruise on Le Boreal has been cancelled due to COVID. His comments (translated by Google) are below:

 

Comment 1: And yes, except that my trip to the Boréal that was leaving tomorrow from Ushuaia was canceled due to Covid cases on the boat. I am desperate

 

Comment 2: I was due to board on the 19th for Buenos Aires and I was advised on the 17th at 18:09pm A few hours before my flight to Paris I only got a text from them to tell me the cruise was cancelled following the discovery of covid-19 on the boat on the 17th in the morning of the 18th my agency was warned of the situation They will reconnect in the week I find it very light and I'm really disappointed that I can't make this trip but I understand that Ponant is not there for nothing and that's kind of reassuring to say they are taking all the precautions but I can't understand with all the procedures how Covid showed up at the end of another cruise I really don't understand.

 

Comment 3: Excuse me it's a mistake I was supposed to board on the 18th to RCD for Buenos Aires

 

[ethan1171]

I called Ponant to get an update and indeed seems Boreal has cases and will cancel the next trip.

 

Lyrial has had no cases - and will proceed as planned.

[mediaprohi]

Just got a call yesterday from my TA.  Smithsonian Colon-Puerto Caldera (24 jan-31 Jan.) cancelled due to "numerous cases" on the previous cruise.  We were scheduled for PCR test tomorrow.  Cancelled all flights, hotels, etc.  Curious that Ponant knew about the "numerous cases" (their words in the letter emailed), but did not call the cancellation until two days before our departure to Panama.

[ethan1171]

Not that I want to excuse Ponant - but this is the current reality with the unpredictability of managing covid across the cruise industry.

 

Actually Ponant seems to be doing much better canceling two days before. There are multiple postings with Oceanwide and Quark and Atlas etc canceling the day of the cruise is scheduled to depart

[Sitti]

This short notice wouldn't be good enough for me. My cruise is upcoming up on Feb 16 from Punta Arenas. I have to fly Bankgkok > Dubai > São Paulo > Santiago. Takes nearly 2 days to go from Thailand to Chile or Argentina. Had I booked to sail on Boreal, I'd have found out about cancellation while I was connecting in Dubai😬

 

Since covid cases have been surging like crypto in Argentina, I guess risk of getting cancelled is naturally higher for sailing from Ushuaia. Hopefully Charcot from Punta Arenas will do better. It has got 2 more voyages on Jan 22 & Feb 2 until my turn.  Let's see how it goes this Saturday.

 

Good luck Commandant Charcot!!

[schnapperin]

It’s more a case of passengers been infected and less local COVID cases as most will only fly in shortly before the cruise

 

and this is currently the risk when cruising - the cruise company will only know for sure two days or so before the next sailing is the that needs to be cancelled because that’s when the requirements COVID test is been done (unless of course their are cases with symptoms on board) 

 

The Ushuaia port is looking crowded at the moment - but HL cruises ships are also on anchorage and I know a lot of cruises are cancelling short noticed around the world 

 

According to a german site Ponant did rebook on their other ships - so with them having more then one ship currently down there there might be a bit more flexibility to at least get into Antartica.

 

Also if I would be already in SA and willing to risk a cruise at the moment I would look into a last minute offer on any other cruise (might be more difficult from Chile) to not have wasted flight & vacation time ..there might be some good deals out there at the moment (which was what I planned to do but decided because of Omicron and high Argentina cases against any travel at this time) 

Edited January 21, 2022 by schnapperin

[Sitti]

 

2 hours ago, schnapperin said:

It’s more a case of passengers been infected and less local COVID cases as most will only fly in shortly before the cruise

Yes I was talking about that. Once you're in Argentina, you're naturally going to be in close contact with locals at various places. There have been numerous cases of guests got on the plane with negative PCR test and then tested positive after boarded the ship. They could have contracted covid on the plane or while in Buenos Aires. High cases there impose greater risks too. 

 

I just bought LG PuriCare Wearable airpurifying mask (not cheap but it does work). Hope this helps me when I'm going to be in close contact especially at the airports and on the planes.

 

When I booked this cruise last November, who could have imagined there would be Omicron a month later. Talk about bad timing. Next time I better consult with a crystal ball when I plan my next trip lol 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Sitti

[schnapperin]

Sorry to say it Sitti but in November parts of the world were in a Delta wave so it doesn’t come as a total surprise compared to people who booked earlier in the summer or got rebooked from the last cancelled season

 

And I doubt people got infected on the flight or on Argentina as there were some positive cases on trips with direct charter flights from the US and it can still take up to a week for a positiv test result (which would be after all the local tests) but then of course travel those increase contacts and risk.  PCR Test are also usually taken around 48 hours before a flight - that’s enough time to catch it and it won‘t show then on the arrival test in SA.
 

for travel I would wear a N95 mask and try to limit time spend taking it off for eating me drinking to a limit - I didn’t take off my mask for example for any flight this year but that’s not possible for long distance flight needed to reach South America 

Edited January 21, 2022 by schnapperin

[PACruiser5]

We are booked on the Boreal for the Feb 4 sailing so watching anxiously what is happening. The cancellation of the Jan 20 departure is worrisome, especially as Austral cancelled 2 in a row. TA is checking into it but appreciate any info anyone has. 

[schnapperin]

23 minutes ago, PACruiser5 said:

We are booked on the Boreal for the Feb 4 sailing so watching anxiously what is happening. The cancellation of the Jan 20 departure is worrisome, especially as Austral cancelled 2 in a row. TA is checking into it but appreciate any info anyone has. 

Could you make the earlier Austral departure if a rebooking would be possible? With 2 cancellation it could be a higher change of departure 

[ethan1171]

@Sitti - many airlines would only allow a cloth or medical mask -check on the one you have because i have seen incidents of people not allowed on the plane if they have a mask with valves

 

Also - omicron seems to have peaked and is coming down rapidly both in US and EU - and seems Argentina should follow in the upcoming weeks. I do not have a crystal ball to know exactly what would happen but not all is lost yet.

[schnapperin]

25 minutes ago, ethan1171 said:

@Sitti - many airlines would only allow a cloth or medical mask -check on the one you have because i have seen incidents of people not allowed on the plane if they have a mask with valves

 

Also - omicron seems to have peaked and is coming down rapidly both in US and EU - and seems Argentina should follow in the upcoming weeks. I do not have a crystal ball to know exactly what would happen but not all is lost yet.

Sadly counties in Europe are still recording record numbers daily - UK‘s number are coming down but Europe is more than the UK

[Sitti]

20 minutes ago, ethan1171 said:

@Sitti - many airlines would only allow a cloth or medical mask -check on the one you have because i have seen incidents of people not allowed on the plane if they have a mask with valves

 

Also - omicron seems to have peaked and is coming down rapidly both in US and EU - and seems Argentina should follow in the upcoming weeks. I do not have a crystal ball to know exactly what would happen but not all is lost yet.

Thank you Ethan for the warning. I wasn't aware of it. Just did quick google search and learned many US airlines are not allowing N95 mask with valves or openings on the front.

 

I'll be flying with Emirates and Latam. I hope they won't have any issue with this mask. It doesn't have any valve or opening on the front. But I'll have my "backup" mask in case they won't let me use it.

 

 

[PACruiser5]

Ponant says that they are pretty confident that the Feb 4 Boreal sailing will proceed as planned. They have more than 2 weeks to do a deep clean with no passengers aboard. Good to know.

[schnapperin]

 

12 minutes ago, PACruiser5 said:

Ponant says that they are pretty confident that the Feb 4 Boreal sailing will proceed as planned. They have more than 2 weeks to do a deep clean with no passengers aboard. Good to know.

Any mention of crew is in isolation with COVID or in quarantine? 

[ethan1171]

 

4 hours ago, schnapperin said:

Sadly counties in Europe are still recording record numbers daily - UK‘s number are coming down but Europe is more than the UK

 

Yes - but trends are coming down. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/weekly-trends/#weekly_table

 

+12% for all of Europe vs. +50% last week. Clearly it is slowing down - for now. Same for Argentina.

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/argentina/

 

 

[gtrekker]

Just got off the phone with my TA.  The Le Boreal expedition scheduled for February 4 has been cancelled.  He said that Ponant is adding an additional 5% for the inconvenience.  That's really all I know.  I don't know if I get the 5% if I take a cash refund (which I'm doing) and, if I do get the 5% in any instance, whether it will be cash or a voucher.  While I'm bitterly disappointed (we were originally on the Quark solar eclipse sailing in late November that was cancelled) I'm very thankful that we didn't find out after we'd gotten to BA.

[PACruiser5]

I feel your pain, as i got the same unwelcome call from my TA. Her understanding is that if you want a refund you get 100%, but if you want a future cruise credit they are offering 105%. And agree, at least we didn't get to BA, or worse to Ushaia! More info i am sure when we get the official letter from Ponant.

[Sitti]

2 hours ago, PACruiser5 said:

I feel your pain, as i got the same unwelcome call from my TA. Her understanding is that if you want a refund you get 100%, but if you want a future cruise credit they are offering 105%. And agree, at least we didn't get to BA, or worse to Ushaia! More info i am sure when we get the official letter from Ponant.

 

I'm so sorry to hear your trip got cancelled. After they told you they were pretty confident that the Feb 4 Boreal sailing will proceed as planned, they now decided to cancel it. I'm anxious to know what exactly lead them to cancel. Now I really curious what is going to happen with Chartcot supposed to sail today from Punta Arena.

[schnapperin]

5 hours ago, Sitti said:

 

I'm so sorry to hear your trip got cancelled. After they told you they were pretty confident that the Feb 4 Boreal sailing will proceed as planned, they now decided to cancel it. I'm anxious to know what exactly lead them to cancel. Now I really curious what is going to happen with Chartcot supposed to sail today from Punta Arena.

Since Boreal returned on the 20th my personal guess is that Ponant got noticed yesterday when the ship would be released and that wouldn’t work with the 4th February departure 

 

[AussieBoyTX]

According to CruiseMapper.com, Le Lyrial apparently left Ushuaia yesterday, entered the Drake Passage and turned around. It's almost back to Ushuaia.