Cruising was halted weeks ago. But 5 ships and 5,000 passengers are still at sea
More than 5,000 passengers on five cruise ships are still at sea waiting to dock — even though cruising was halted in mid-March.
Many of those passengers boarded lengthy around-the-world cruises months ago, before the virus infamously spread on cruise ships like the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess. Only one — Aurora Expeditions’ Greg Mortimer — has publicly reported cases of COVID-19 aboard.
All but two of the ships have plans to dock within the month. Two docked on Sunday: Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ Astor in Bremerhaven, Germany and P&O Cruises’ Arcadia in Southampton, England.
Late Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended a “no-sail” order for cruise ships — first imposed on March 13 — for the next 100 days and admonished the industry for improperly containing the spread of the virus onboard its ships.
The agency gave the cruise industry until April 16 to come up with a new and improved plan to get the final 6,000-plus passengers — as well as tens of thousands of crew members — back on land safely.
The main cruise industry lobbying group, Cruise Lines International Association, called its earlier proposals to contain the virus “far-reaching” in a statement and stressed that there could be unintended economic consequences if the order were kept in place for long.
A Miami Herald analysis found seven ships still at sea with passengers on board and four in or near ports with passengers still on board.
Pacific Princess
The Pacific Princess left Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades on Jan. 5 for a 111-day world cruise. After coronavirus cut it short, most passengers disembarked and flew home when the ship docked March 21 in Fremantle, Australia, Princess Cruises said.
But 115 passengers remained on board. Some did not meet the International Air Transport Association’s fitness standards for air travel,” according to a Princess statement. Others “were unable to return home by aircraft due to individual medical conditions unrelated to COVID-19,” according to Princess.
The Pacific Princess plans to unload four Hawaiian residents in Honolulu on Monday, when the vessel docks to refuel, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported. From there it will sail to Los Angeles to unload the other 111 passengers on April 24.
Princess is owned by Miami-based Carnival Corporation.
MSC Magnifica
Two weeks ago, the MSC Magnifica docked in Western Australia without allowing anyone ashore, according to Australian news site news.com.au. The Australian government said the ship has been “inconsistent” with its reporting of the health of its passengers.
Premier Mark McGowan told the news site at least 250 of its 1,771 passengers are suffering upper respiratory illness, a claim the operator, MSC, denied. The ship departed from Italy in January on a 116-day sailing and originally was due to dock in Rome on April 29. But the line has declined to comment on its final destination to Reuters. An MSC spokesperson did not respond to a Miami Herald request for comment.
As of Saturday, the ship was passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, between Yemen and Eritrea, according to Cruisemapper.
Costa Deliziosa
The Costa Deliziosa, owned by Costa Cruises, left Venice on Jan. 5 with a slated return date of April 26. The company is still working with Italian officials to find a port to disembark in, Newsweek reported. So far its itinerary only includes stops for more fuel and supplies.
On March 13, when Miami-based Carnival Corp., which owns Costa Cruises, stopped sailing, the Costa Deliziosa’s sailing continued.
“The current world tour itinerary will be completed to allow guests to disembark and return home,” the cruise line said in a statement reported by NBC news.
The ship has 1,830 guests and 899 crew members on board at this time, the company told the news outlet. Saturday it was just off the coast of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea, according to Cruisemapper.
Costa did not immediately return a request for comment.
Columbus
The Columbus, owned by Britain’s Cruise & Maritime Voyages, departed Jan. 6 from London for a 120-day world cruise. It plans to dock at London Cruise Terminal on April 14 with 907 passengers and 619 crew members on board, Newsweek reported. Saturday it was located in the Atlantic just north of Portugal.
On April 3, the company told the news outlet no one on board was showing COVID-19 symptoms.
Queen Mary 2
Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 plans to dock in Southampton, England, in the coming weeks, according to Newsweek. Most passengers got off in Fremantle, Australia in mid-March, but 264 guests are still on board. The 113-day New York to New York world voyage began on Jan. 3. Cunard is owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp.
The ship is currently off the southern coast of Morocco, according to CruiseMapper.
Docked ships with passengers aboard
CLIA said there are four cruise ships currently docked in ports around the globe waiting to disembark passengers.
▪ GREG MORTIMER: Before Aurora Expeditions’ Greg Mortimer docked Saturday near Montevideo, Uruguay, more than half the 217 people onboard for an Antarctic cruise tested positive for COVID-19.
On Saturday, more than a hundred Australian and New Zealand passengers disembarked and took a chartered flight home, the Bangkok Post reported. TV cameras caught passengers and Uruguayans alike celebrating. One cruise passenger kissed the tarmac.
The charter flight had both sick and healthy passengers aboard, seated in order of illness, the company told the Post.
Around 20 European and American passengers are still on board, along with 80 crew members. They will have to test negative for the virus before they can return home.
Aurora Expeditions is based in Sydney, Australia.
▪ CORAL PRINCESS: The Coral Princess disembarked hundreds of passengers at PortMiami this week, including 37 who were medically evacuated to Florida hospitals. One man, 71-year-old Wilson Maa of San Francisco, died in a Miami-Dade hospital after waiting hours onboard for an ambulance.
Princess announced Thursday that 13 remaining passengers must stay on board and do a 14-day quarantine at sea with the crew after Miami-Dade barred them from transferring to hotels.
▪ ROTTERDAM: The Rotterdam, a Holland America Line ship that carried 800 passengers from the Zaandam through the Panama Canal and onto Port Everglades, is anchored offshore with 29 passengers on board, a spokesperson for the company confirmed.
Holland America Line, which is owned by Carnival Corp., said it is working to arrange charter flights home for the passengers.
▪ CELEBRITY ECLIPSE: The Celebrity Eclipse, now docked in San Diego, disembarked more than 2,300 passengers on March 30. CLIA confirmed that nine passengers are still on board waiting for travel arrangements home.
San Diego’s KUSI news reported that one former passenger has died of COVID-19 and several crew members with positive test results are quarantined on board the ship.
The ship left from Argentina on March 1 for a two-week voyage scheduled to end in San Antonio, Chile. But when the ship arrived on March 15, the nation had shut its borders, forcing the vessel to head to San Diego instead.
This story was originally published April 11, 2020 at 6:38 PM.
