Viral cruise ship is likely headed to S.F.
The Grand Princess cruise ship that docked in Oakland on March 9 with 3,500 passengers, including 21 people known to be infected with coronavirus, is anchored in the bay but likely headed to San Francisco.
“It’s got to dock somewhere,” said Jeff Cretan, spokesman for Mayor London Breed.
According to city officials, the cruise ship will sit in the bay with a skeletal crew while it is being cleaned and disinfected. It is then expected to dock at a pier south of the Bay Bridge.
“The vessel will only lay berth after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declares the quarantine of all crew is completed and the ship is sanitized,” Port of San Francisco spokesman Randy Quezada said. Quezada said the quarantine and disinfection “does not pose any risk to the health and safety of the public” and will take approximately two weeks.
The crew still on the ship, which has been home ported in San Francisco for 13 years, will not be allowed to leave the vessel.
Over the weekend, about 250 Filipino crew members were taken off the ship by boat and taken to a dock near San Francisco International Airport, where they were put on buses and taken directly to a remote part of the airport.
“Two chartered aircraft left from a remote area of SFO with
crew — one on Saturday, one on Sunday,” SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said.
The planes were chartered by the Philippine government.
In a statement on its website, Princess Cruises applauded the “humanitarian” airlift and pledged “to pay for the ground transportation and flight costs to get the crew members home.”
“Crew members who are not symptomatic but for whom no charter flight is currently available will stay under quarantine on the ship,” the statement said.
What happens after the ship is cleaned up and arrives in San Francisco remains to be seen.
“That’s up to the cruise line and the federal authorities,” one City Hall official familiar with the situation sad.
In a statement, Princess Cruises said: “At this time, the situation for Grand Princess is still fluid, and future plans are still in development. We will provide updates as they become available.”
And it’s not just the Grand Princess that may be coming to San Francisco in the coming days.
Sources at the Port of San Francisco say other cruise lines that have suspended operations during the coronavirus pandemic are in talks with the port about berthing their luxury liners here.
Given the financial losses brought on by the drop in tourism along the waterfront, the port could probably use the money.
Emergency: In an ironic twist, San Francisco’s emergency management center has moved out of its Turk Street facility and into Moscone Center, the massive — now empty — convention hall that has become a symbol of the city’s lost tourist business.
“There are no shortage of ironies with this situation,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin said after touring the new setup in Moscone North exhibition hall.
“Picture two football fields of space set up for the various city departments, so that everyone can keep their distance,” Peskin said.
The Turk Street building, which served as the city’s command center following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attack, doesn’t have the space for workers to keep the required 6 feet of “social distance” from each other that is being recommended for everyone in San Francisco.
“They thought of a lot of things when they built the center, but apparently they never thought of how we would manage a viral outbreak,” Peskin said.
Moscone Center recently underwent a $500 million expansion and renovation to accommodate the city’s growing convention business, but conventions have been canceled until midMay, for an estimated loss of $200 million in business.
Outta here: It’s official that the Raiders won’t play the upcoming season in Oakland, but the team is holding on to its Alameda headquarters and practice facility — at least for now.
In a onepage letter sent to the OaklandAlameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority, the Raiders said, “We hereby decline to exercise the 2020 option” on their lease to play at the stadium.
There had been talk that the team’s new stadium in Las Vegas was having trouble with its roof and might not be ready by next season.
“We weren’t hearing anything official, so I asked if the Raiders would clarify their plans, and they did,” JPA President Larry Reid said.
But while the Silver and Black will be leaving the playing field, they’re staying put at their taxpayerowned headquarters in nearby Alameda, where the team still has a threeyear lease option.
“We have enclosed a check payable to the authority in the amount of $43,750” for March, the letter stated.
“It’s real sad. I knew it was coming, but I was holding out hope, like all Raider fans,” said former JPA member Chris Dobbins.
“This year I’m buying Cal season tickets,” Dobbins said. “Cal is never going to win, but they are never going to move, either.”
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGOTV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 4157778815 or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier