Four deaths onboard while
10,000 Passengers are stuck on Cruise Ships
At least 6 cruise ships have been denied entry in ports for the last weeks. Both passengers and crew are facing a dramatic situation. Without Covid-19 test kits onboard no one knows how many are or may get contaminated.
At the time of writting, four passengers have already died on board the Zaandam, a Holland America Line cruise ship, two guests have tested positive for covid-19 and close to 200 report flu-like symptoms.
There are around 10,000 passengers and around to 3,000 crew stranded at sea. A large percentage of the over 300,000 crew, staff and officers that regularly work on cruise ships is still on board the 300 cruise ships, which are docked or anchored, on stand by, all over the World.
How Ships Got Stranded
After all cruise operations were suspended on March 13, an overwhelming majority of cruise passengers (and some crew members) were allowed to disembark ships in major ports of the United States, Australia and Asia.
However, as many as 30 ships were stranded at sea for over 10 days, after March 15, because cruise ports didn't allow passengers and crew to disembark. Most of these have managed to disembark passengers, but almost all crew was left on board the overwhelming majority of over 300 cruise ships.
Cruise Ships Still looking for a Port
Amazingly, more than two weeks after the suspension of operations, a handful of cruise ships is still struggling to disembark passengers. Here are some of the cruise ships facing the most dramatic situations.
Zaandam - Holland America Line
- en route to Ft. Lauderdale (USA), due to arrive on April 1
- Since March 14 the Zaandam has been denied entry in ports on the West Coast of South and Central America. On March 25, there were 13 passengers and 29 crew with flu-like symptoms, but without testing kits onboard and without being allowed to dock it was impossible to say if any were contaminated with Coronavirus.
- Zaandam was running short of supplies and finally met with the Rotterdam (another Holland America cruise ship) on Thursday, March 26, off the coast of Panama. The Rotterdam does not have any passengers on board and supplied the Zaandam with food, staff, and Covid-19 test kits. By the time the Rotterdam met with the Zandam, four elderly passengers died on board
- Close to 200 people on the Zaandam are suffering from flu-like symptoms. So far, two have tested positive for coronavirus. The Zaandam is sailing with 1,243 passengers and 586 crew members on the ship, including 305 Americans, and is due to arrive in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) on April 1.
Coral Princess
- en route to Ft. Lauderdale (USA), due to arrive on April 5
- After Brazil denied the disembarkation of guests, including those with confirmed outbound flights, the Coral Princess is en route to Ft. Lauderdale (USA), due to arrive on April 5. Both internet and guest stateroom telephone service remain complimentary so that guests can stay in touch with family. There remains no known risk of COVID-19 onboard.
P&O’s Arcadia
- en route to Southampton (UK), due to arrive on April 12.
- After waiting for two days, the Arcadia was allowed to enter the port of Durban (South Africa), on March 26. Passengers and crew were not allowed to disembark. Arcadia took enough fuel and supplies in Durban so that she can sail nonstop to Southampton where it is due to arrive on April 12.
TUI - Marella Explorer 2
- awaiting orders at sea
- TUI's ship Marella Explorer 2 has been awaiting orders at sea, in the Caribbean. Many passengers were disembarked and flown back to the UK on Tuesday, March 24. However, some have been refused permission to fly as they are showing flu-like symptoms although none have been tested positive for Covid-19.
Pacific Princess
- en route to Los Angeles (USA), due to arrive on April 13.
- The Pacific Princess was sailing a 111-day World Cruise and successfully disembarked guests in Fremantle (Australia) directly from the ship to the airport for homeward flights on March 21. HOWEVER, 115 guests who did not meet the International Air Transport Association (IATA) fitness standards for air travel are sailing back to Los Angeles, which will take an estimated 23 days. All guests have been offered complimentary internet for the remainder of their journey.
Azamara Pursuit
- Arrived in Miami
- Azamara Pursuit has been turned away from every port in South America. On March 24 the Azamara Pursuit was at sea for a week. After 3 days docked in Valparaiso (Chile), with passengers and crew not allowed to disembark, the Chilean government allowed the Pursuit to refueled and re-provisioned. Azamara Pursuit arrived in Miami on March 29.
