MS ''Paul Gauguin'' is a cruise ship that was completed in 1997. It primarily operates in the
South Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
. Paul Gauguin Cruises is headquartered in
Bellevue, Washington.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ship did not sail for some time but resumed operations on 18 July 2020 for local residents and on 29 July for international guests, with reduced occupancy.
A news report on 3 August 2020 stated that COVID-19 virus had been detected on the ship while it was in Papeete, Tahiti; passengers were required to stay in their cabins. As of that date, the ship was operated by the Ponant Company under the branding Paul Gauguin Cruises,
The capacity was stated to be 318 guests plus a crew of 216. The ship had been modified to use a "cleaner" fuel: LS MGO – Low-Sulphur Marine Gas Oil and the company planned "to offset 150 percent of its carbon emissions". The company's web site discussed renovations that had been completed.
Description
''Paul Gauguin'' is long with a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a
draft of . The cruise ship has a
gross tonnage
Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...
(GT) 19,200 and is powered by a
diesel-electric system giving the vessel a maximum speed of . The ship has seven passenger decks and capacity for 318 guests. ''Paul Gauguin'' has a crew of 216. In 2019, it was announced that the vessel would be renovated to use
low-sulphur marine gas oil instead of
heavy marine fuel.
Career
The vessel was constructed by
Chantiers de l'Atlantique
Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river and ...
in
St. Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...
, France. The cruise ship was
launched on 25 April 1997 and completed and delivered on 1 December 1997 to Services et Transports Tahiti of
Mata-Utu, French Polynesia. The ship was
christened at
Port Everglades
Port Everglades is a seaport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, located in Broward County. Port Everglades is one of South Florida's foremost economic engines, as it is the gateway for both international trade and cruise vacations. In 2019, Port Eve ...
,
Florida on 18 December and sailed for the Pacific the following day.
Originally registered in
France, the ship's registry was changed to
The Bahamas until July 2020, when new owner
Ponant re-registered the ship in
Wallis & Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji ...
thus returning the ship to sail under the flag of France.
[https://www.tahiti-infos.com/%E2%80%8BLe-Paul-Gauguin-passe-sous-pavillon-francais_a192620.html]
Coronavirus pandemic
On ,
Polynésie la 1ère
Polynésie La Première (), also known as Polynésie la 1ère, is a French public television channel based in Faa'a which broadcasts in French Polynesia.
History
In return for the installation of nuclear testing center in Mururoa in French Poly ...
reported that a case of
SARS-CoV-2 had been found aboard ''Paul Gauguin''.
The passengers were told about the case that same day, and the ship immediately turned around, skipping its next port of call in
Rangiroa, and headed back toward
Papeete
Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The Communes of France, commune of Papeete is located on the isl ...
.
All the passengers were requested to stay in their cabins while food was brought to them.
The ship had left
Tahiti on , and had made a stopover in
Bora Bora before Compagnie du Ponant was aware of the presence of an asymptomatic case of the virus in a 22-year-old female passenger.
During the stopover, both the passengers and the crew had been able to disembark and interact with the locals of Bora Bora for two days.
Once ''Paul Gauguin'' arrived back in Papeete on the morning of , all 148 passengers and 192 crew members were placed in confinement.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul Gauguin (Ship)
Cruise ships
1997 ships
Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic