Hi Viki,
We regret that you feel let down by us; we have contacted both yourself and your booking agent about your requests.
We are following all governmental guidelines with regards to the Coronavirus. Your trip is still going ahead because Thailand is not banning entry to travellers. We understand it is disappointing to have to rearrange your travel plans but the circumstances are outside our control.
We take health and safety very seriously and have implemented the following measures:
· Purchase and install sufficient hand cleaning dispensers and fill with alcohol based hand sanitiser for use in all public areas OR purchase sufficient bottles of sanitiser to issue to all guests on embarkation.
· Purchase sufficient tissues and alcohol based hand wipes to be given to all guests.
· Inform housekeepers of the importance of cleaning and disinfecting all common points of contact such as door handles, stair rails etc.
· Where possible purchase sufficient face masks (preferable N95 standard) for guests to be issued should there be a suspected infected person aboard, though given the features of this virus it would probably be too late. However please have them available should guests request them.
· Where possible immediately isolate suspected infected personnel away from contact of all other guests.
· If there is a suspected infection on board the cruise should be terminated immediately and medical authorities notified. The yacht should be quarantined until the ‘all clear’ is given by suitably qualified medical personnel, follow local government guidelines.
We do hope that you will be able to dive with us in the future.
Best regards,
Worldwide Dive & Sail
We regret that you feel let down by us; we have contacted both yourself and your booking agent about your requests.
We are following all governmental guidelines with regards to the Coronavirus. Your trip is still going ahead because Thailand is not banning entry to travellers. We understand it is disappointing to have to rearrange your travel plans but the circumstances are outside our control.
We take health and safety very seriously and have implemented the following measures:
· Purchase and install sufficient hand cleaning dispensers and fill with alcohol based hand sanitiser for use in all public areas OR purchase sufficient bottles of sanitiser to issue to all guests on embarkation.
· Purchase sufficient tissues and alcohol based hand wipes to be given to all guests.
· Inform housekeepers of the importance of cleaning and disinfecting all common points of contact such as door handles, stair rails etc.
· Where possible purchase sufficient face masks (preferable N95 standard) for guests to be issued should there be a suspected infected person aboard, though given the features of this virus it would probably be too late. However please have them available should guests request them.
· Where possible immediately isolate suspected infected personnel away from contact of all other guests.
· If there is a suspected infection on board the cruise should be terminated immediately and medical authorities notified. The yacht should be quarantined until the ‘all clear’ is given by suitably qualified medical personnel, follow local government guidelines.
We do hope that you will be able to dive with us in the future.
Best regards,
Worldwide Dive & Sail
I was dealing with the Phinisi (aka The Junk) recently on the coronavirus outbreak and the risk of customers travelling from high-risk territories. On a few incidents the staff was unprofessional in their responses and it is showing the company is valuing income more than the health and safety of the customers:
- When I asked about their policy/special measures in response to coronavirus, they copied and pasted language (e.g. wash your hands) that the US CDC posted (because they have "CDC" in their reply). The CDC has nothing to do with the measures in Thailand - they are not even quoting their own local disease("DDC") or heath authorities. That is to say they are not doing anything - their reply is providing less confidence than more confidence in the operator knows what they are doing.
- When the Thailand Health Minister announced a temporarily quarantine measures on travelers from high risk regions, again they won't respond to the risk of customers being stranded in a foreign country.
- When I attempted to continue the conversation about my concerns on the risk and the failure of the operator to acknowledge those risks, the staff simply cut off the conversation (a staff contacted me via whatsapp), referred me to the liveaboard.com agency and concluded with a "cheers" and disappeared - which they should perfectly understood the agency's protocol is always only to send any queries back to the operator. So they are pretty much sending me to a black hole. I couldn't do anything because the staff simply ignored any follow-up messages. I found the experience very rude of the operator.
The whole experience is not inducing confidence that the boat operator - The Phinisi (same operator as The Junk) is taking health and safety seriously. The poor customer service is disappointing - and this has triggered me to follow up with posting this on the forum - so I can inform fellow divers for their future consideration.