Eight cruise ships are still currently at sea with positive infections on board. It is feared that more and more people will get the virus as they continue sailing.
Last Thursday, one of the Princess cruises ship, the Coral Princess has 12 passengers who are positive for the COVID-19 disease. Meanwhile, the Zaandam, owned by Holland America Line has dozens of passengers who are experiencing flu-like signs. Unfortunately, four passengers already died on the cruise, which are possibly COVID-19 cases.
The Coral Princess is on its way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they might be permitted to dock and leave the cruise ship on April 4, 2020, reported by CNN. It is not the only ship docked in that port, nearby are Zaandam and the Rotterdam, which docked in Florida in April 2.
Another concern for Princess Cruises is that one of its cruise ships is still at sail, the Pacific Princess. Last March 21, it was located at an Australian port. Some of the passengers were allowed to disembark and go home via flights from Australia. Some were too sick to go home. Because flying home was prohibited due to medical reasons, they need to stay on the ship.
The ship is docking in Los Angeles on April 24. Stat report indicates there are 155 passenger who are not afflicted with COVID-19. Pacific Princess is expected to arrive without any hitches.
Those aren't just the only suspected among the eight coronavirus cruise ships, there are six more! One of them is the Costa Deliziosa, owned by the Italian Costa Crociere cruise line, but this ship is still at sea looking for a port to go to. Bad luck beset this ship when it left Italy on January 5 with a return slated on April 26. But coronavirus surge in Italy and the lockdown will need to wait for a port of call.
"The itinerary of the Costa Deliziosa on her world cruise was modified given the pandemic alert issued by the World Health Organization which brought local authorities to apply restrictions for the disembarkation of our guests compromising their cruise experience onboard," Costa Crociere spokesperson said, according to Newsweek.
"Despite all the efforts made to readjust the program, the only viable itinerary for Costa Deliziosa at present, which is capable to preserve the health of all guests and crew and secure the environment onboard - currently still immune, is to perform only technical calls for fuel bunkering and provisions," the statement added.
Two cruise ships that are still out at sea are the Columbus and Astor which is owned by Cruise & Maritime Voyages.
On the other hand,Queen Mary 2 and the Arcadia will be docking in Southampton, England in the coming weeks. The ship Arcadia will be seeing port on April 12, letting go of 1,375 guests and 836 crew members.
These eight cruise ships with or without the coronavirus are soon going to port.
