MS Paul Gauguin is a cruise ship that was completed in 1997. It primarily operates in the South Pacific. 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.[1]
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,[2] The capacity was stated to be 318 guests plus a crew of 216. The ship had been modified to use a "cleaner" fuel — low-sulphur marine gas oil (LS-MGO) — and the company planned "to offset 150 percent of its carbon emissions". The company's web site discussed renovations that had been completed.[3]
Paul Gauguin is 504 feet (154 m) long with a beam of 72 feet (22 m) and a draft of 17.1 feet (5.2 m). The cruise ship has a gross tonnage (GT) 19,200 and is powered by a diesel-electric system giving the vessel a maximum speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). 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.[3]
The vessel was constructed by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in St. Nazaire, 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.[4] The ship was christened at Port Everglades, Florida on 18 December and sailed for the Pacific the following day.[5]
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 thus returning the ship to sail under the flag of France.[6]
On 1 August 2020, Polynésie la 1ère reported that a case of SARS-CoV-2 had been found aboard Paul Gauguin.[7] 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.[7][8] All the passengers were requested to stay in their cabins while food was brought to them.[8]
The ship had left Tahiti on 30 July, 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.[a][11][2] 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.[8]
Once Paul Gauguin arrived back in Papeete on the morning of 2 August, all 148 passengers and 192 crew members were placed in confinement.[11][9]
