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REPATRIATION
Cruise guests still at sea as Ashford asks countries for “grace and compassion” Holland America Line president delivers heartfelt appeal as ports refuse access Holland America Line president Orlando Ashford has accused countries of turning their backs on thousands of people “left floating at sea” after cruise ships were denied access to ports. In a video message, he called for “compassion and grace” after four people died and eight people tested positive for Covid-19 on the Zaandam. As March 30, 76 guests and 117 crew on board have influenza-like illness, while a number of healthy patients had been transferred to Rotterdam. There are believed to be a number of British guests on board both ships. Zaandam and Rotterdam have been granted access to pass through the Panama Canal, but Ashford added: “We need confirmation from a port that is willing to extend the same compassion and grace that Panama did, and allow us to come in so our guests can go straight to the airport for flights home. “We have seen a notable and steady decline in cases of the last 48 hours, which shows the immediate actions
we took have helped contain spread. However, there are also 1,167 healthy guests and 1,130 healthy crew across these two ships,” he added. Both ships are travelling towards Florida, but the state’s governor, the Republican Ron DeSantis, said on Monday that guests cannot be “dumped” in his state, dismissing those on board as mostly “foreigners”. Coral Princess is also heading to Florida after being refused disembarkation in Brazil; Princess Cruises confirmed to cruise adviser that there are 374 British guests on board. In a statement, Princess said: “Despite continued efforts from consulates, Anvisa [the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency] has denied the disembarkation of Coral Princess guests, including those with confirmed outbound flights.” It added: “There remains no known risk of Covid-19 onboard.” Meanwhile, Cruise & Maritime Voyages performed a remarkable mid-ocean transfer between two of its ships, Columbus and Vasco da
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Gama, after it was denied access into Thailand. Columbus is now undertaking a 7,842 nautical mile voyage directly back to the UK with 907 guests, including 602 British nationals, and 619 crew members on board. The voyage includes a technical call in Colombo, Sri Lanka then travels via the Suez Canal with a final technical call, before arriving back in Tilbury on April 13. Cuba offered a haven to the Braemar, the Fred Olsen ship, after several other Caribbean countries declined to let it dock. Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, said it wanted to “reinforce healthcare, solidarity and international cooperation”. The communist country, which has recently sent doctors to Italy to help fight the spread of Covid-19, has been accused by some of running a PR exercise, but guests, who have since been flown back to the UK, have expressed their gratitude. Continues p6
