The Coast Guard won't allow Princess Cruises' Coral Princess, which has 12 people aboard who've tested positive, to dock in Port Everglades.
The U.S. Coast Guard won’t allow Princess Cruises’ Coral Princess, which has 12 people aboard who’ve tested positive for the new coronavirus, to dock in Port Everglades for the time being, a port spokeswoman confirmed Friday.
Miami-based Carnival Corp., which owns the ship, had already decided not to head for Broward before the Coast Guard decision, said Port Everglades spokeswoman Ellen Kennedy.
The decision comes a day after two Holland America ships, the Zaandam and Rotterdam, were allowed to dock in Broward County, with scores of passengers reporting flu-like symptoms and 14 rushed to area hospitals once they came ashore. The new coronavirus was blamed for the deaths of two Zaandam passengers as well as the illness of many others.
For days, the county and the public wrestled with the humanitarian crisis on board while South Florida, the disease’s epicenter in the state, stretches its limited resources for those already here.
Broward County Mayor Dale V.C. Holness said Friday that the Princess cruise has no formal request to arrive in Fort Lauderdale and had not submitted a plan for disembarking its 1,898 passengers and crew.
If they decided to appeal to Fort Lauderdale, he said, it’s likely the county will expect the same conditions negotiated with Holland America, which shares the Princess’ corporate ownership. Holland America booked charter flights for hundreds of passengers who live outside Florida and private car service for those who live in the state. The process continued Friday without a glitch and was expected to finish up on Saturday, Holness said. Passengers praised the efficiency.
“The cruise line ushered one couple at a time off the ship — we collected our suitcases — and were put into a COVID-sterilized limo — with a driver to our condo,” said Zaandam passenger Valerie Myntti, who has a home in Boca Raton. “Yes — this process will take multiple days! Absolutely! No one at all is just walking off that ship loose and on their own.”
Guarding the passengers and crew from the public was part of a detailed plan worked out between the county and Holland America. Passengers and crew members who are ill are remaining on board for treatment.’The Coral Princess has seven passengers and five crew members who tested positive for the coronavirus after exhibiting symptoms. ‘
The ship departed from Santiago, Chile, on March 5 for a 14-day South American cruise that was supposed to end March 19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For hundreds of passengers who booked a 32-day journey, Fort Lauderdale would have been the final destination this weekend.
At the time the ship first left Chile, coronavirus was not recognized as a threat that would affect any of the planned ports of call, one passenger said.
Since March 31, passengers have been isolated in their cabins, according to the cruise line.
“Communication has been pretty awesome,” Coral Princess passenger Susie Schaefer, of Wasilla, Alaska, said in an email Friday. “They don’t fill us with a lot of maybes or speculations. They and we all know that everything is subject to change on a dime.”
On Friday, Schaefer said the Coral Princess had a rendezvous at sea with the Regal Princess, a sister vessel. “They sent a tender to us with additional medical supplies and personnel,” she said. “Another of their tenders was full of crew waving banners and cheering us. … Regal tooted her ‘Love Boat’ theme over the ship horns, and her crew were all outside waving towels and cheering us.”
It was not clear late Friday afternoon how long the Coral Princess, which is registered in Bermuda, will be at sea.
“Dave and I are both retired,” Schaefer said of she and her husband. “We don’t have jobs to get back home to. But we do have some friends and pets we miss an awful lot.”