French luxury line Ponant has the green light to do seven cruises around New Zealand from early February – the first foreign-flagged cruise ship to return to the Tasman region since the pandemic forced their expulsion more than six months ago.
Some cruise industry leaders feared that the New Zealand and Australian governments would hold out on restarting cruises until a vaccine becomes widely available after the debacle of March and April, when multiple ships were left stranded at sea for weeks with COVID-19 cases on board.
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Fiona Carruthers has written and edited travel for the Financial Review for almost a decade. She has held senior roles with ABC Radio National, Deutsche Welle Radio, TIME and The Australian, and was deputy editor of Traveller. Email Fiona at fcarruthers@afr.com
