Coronavirus: cruise passengers stranded as countries turn them away
As countries scramble to close their borders in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of cruise ship passengers are stranded on the high seas while their vessels seek a port at which to dock.
The Norwegian Jewel, sailing under the flag of the Bahamas, has been refused permission to dock in French Polynesia, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, and is piloting to American Samoa to refuel.
No passengers will be allowed off the ship in Pago Pago and it is unclear where they will ultimately be permitted to disembark. Unconfirmed reports are emerging that the vessel may continue to Hawaii, where passengers will be allowed to leave.
There are no suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus on board. The ship, with a capacity of more than 2,000 passengers, left Sydney in February.
Meanwhile, more than 200 British and American passengers are among 609 people on board the Silver Shadow cruise ship, in isolation off Recife in north-eastern Brazil. The vessel was en route from Buenos Aires to Fort
Lauderdale, and has been in quarantine since a Canadian passenger, a man aged 78, tested positive and was taken to a local hospital.
According to a ship’s manifest seen by the Guardian, the 318 holidaymakers include 109 British citizens and 103 US citizens. The 291 crew also includes eight British nationals.
“Two guests aboard the Silver Shadow have been medically disembarked in Recife, Brazil, and one has tested positive for Covid-19,” said a spokeswoman for the vessel’s owners, Silversea, part of the Royal Caribbean group. “We have asked guests on the ships to temporarily remain in their cabins in accordance with our medical isolation protocols.”
Olimar Cardoso,the Pernambuco director of Brazil’s sanitary vigilance agency, Anvisa, told reporters on Saturday that passengers were only allowed to circulate around the ship in small groups and meals were left outside their cabins. “It is a situation nobody likes to go through,” he said.
A spokesman for the British embassy said it was working closely with Royal Caribbean on how best to get British nationals home. A Pernambuco government spokesman said it was having meetings with health ministries, embassies and the navy to find a safe way to return everyone to their countries.