On February 29th H and I left on a long planned (and fully paid/non-refundable) trip to French Polynesia. The trip involved staying in hotels and a cruise. I had severe hesitation and anxiety about the rapidly changing virus situation and would have been willing to stay home and take the loss. H, and the other couple with whom we were traveling, were rather unconcerned. FP had no reported cases of COVID-19. They had implemented very early travel restrictions from China et.al. They were requiring ‘health certificates’ for anyone who had visited or transited thru any of the affected countries since January 1,2020.
So off we went.
First stop SFO. NO controls, no checking, no questions. UA did grill us about previous travel and reiterated the need for a ‘medical certificate’ if we were at all part of the group which was required to present one as per the FP government.
The first real shocker was the ladies restroom in the international terminal. Seven of the nine sinks were out of soap. Add to this the water flow restriction devices which have been mandatory in CA for seemingly forever, (the amount of water is a trickle that would make a urologist cringe and prescribe Flomax) empty paper towel dispensers and the dirty toilets and we had the makings of a perfect COVID-19 distribution system. I brought the problem to the attention of an SFO employee and was told ‘oh, we have some issues with that particular janitoress’. WOW.
On the flight the medical certificate / hot spot country restrictions were announced at least 4 more times. At one point we were blatantly told, if you don’t have this you WILL be returning on this air craft tonight.
Off we went. Thermal scanners and questions at the Tahiti airport. Lots of tourists from everywhere at the hotel. Light hearted atmosphere.
With increasing trepidation, I boarded the ship on March 5th. We were temperature scanned at initial embarkation and each time we returned from a shore visit. All went well until a few days later when the captain announced they had gone to a level two red sanitation protocol. This was purely precautionary. We were told explicitly that there were no respiratory or other virus issues with crew or passengers. In the meantime, FP issued a ruling that all vessels needed to notify them 48 hours in advance of disembarkation if there were any symptomatic individuals on board. FP also went thru a brief and very confusing few days of requiring everyone to provide this rather mysterious ‘health certificate’. One couple who had flown in from Australia was routed by their gate agent to an airport medical office. There they paid $150/pp for the Dr. to take their temperatures, and tell them bluntly that he was certainly not able to verify their health status and it was all a great way to take in extra $$. FP backed off on the requirement within a few days.
Back to the level 2 red sanitation process. Things changed. Certain public areas like the library, laundry rooms, game room and small meeting rooms were closed. All table clothes were gone as were the nicely preset tables. Instead, after each use each table was sterilized with a fluid which had to air dry for several minutes. Although this cruise line never had the grab and go buffet approach, instead having servers handle plates and all food, they increased this level also. Gone were all the salt and pepper shakers. You were no longer able to even touch a serving tong or get your own coffee. Public area restrooms had entry doors propped open, so you didn’t need to touch them. The normal face sized cotton towels available for hand drying were replaced with paper towels. Luckily, those stupid, germ spreading, hand blow driers were removed several years ago (we need to stop the use of these NOW). Even before the increased sanitization level, elevator buttons had been covered with a large and rather thick piece of plastic, making wipe down easier and more thorough. The crew was working overtime, hand railings, wall panels, bar stools, counters etc. were disinfected 2-3 times a day. Cruise ships exchange entertainers at ports. This stopped. Only the onboard entertainment staff remained.
Three days before scheduled end of the cruise, the Captain announced FP had recalled all cruise ships in the territory back to the main port in Papeete. We were informed we could use the ship as our hotel until the official end of the cruise and then continue with our already established travel plans. We had planned to stay an extra few days at a local hotel. Upon the captains announcement there was contained pandemonium as guests tried to figure out what, if any changes, they needed or wanted to make. With the help of our US based D we were able to book a flight out of FP that evening. It was clearly time to get home ASAP.
Arrived at SFO, we have global entry. No scanning, questioning, or any noticeable type of screening. We did arrive at the same time as a flight from New Delhi. That flight had at least 30 (not kidding, H took a movie) wheelchair passengers with masks. These passengers were lined up two by two in a long line. These were frail looking older individuals. I walked away with the impression that families are getting vulnerable individuals out of a country with very questionable healthcare and bringing them to the US. So, if we are worried that our own system will be over taxed IMO, this needs to stop NOW.
H and I are home. I am grateful to be back. Even though there is no requirement or even suggestion of isolating oneself when returning from FP, we will be doing so for 14 days. Limited trips to the supermarket are about the extent of our new ‘travel plans’.
On another note…A very good friend of mine was visiting her D in Paris. She got on a flight out the moment she got wind of the European travel ban. In spite of the fact that France is a hot spot, SFO did no screening. She (and I) are on the STEP travel notifications system, she did not receive any communication telling her to self-quarantine. She came across that by checking the CDC site directly. She is currently running a fever of 100.1 and has a call into Kaiser.