Holland America Cruise Passengers Stranded After Ports Turn Away Ships

Table Of Content

• Multiple cruise ships have been denied entry to port and are stranded at sea — some with coronavirus cases on board
• Stranded Holland America cruise ship where 4 died amid coronavirus outbreak granted Panama Canal passage
• Watch: 'This is it for me and my children': 3 coronavirus patients share their stories from quarantine
• The Silver Explorer remains docked in Chile after a passenger tested positive

The company’s statement said there are now four doctors and four nurses aboard the Zaandam and two doctors and four nurses on the Rotterdam. The number trebled from 20 last night after test results for 171 passengers came back and showed 41 new cases. There are also stringent checks on who will be allowed to board the ship, although it is unclear when that will next happen. 'We are quickly working to develop alternate plans and are keeping guests updated on board as information becomes available,' a Holland America statement said. Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and the US territory of Guam have all denied permission for the MS Westerdam to dock.

Multiple cruise ships have been denied entry to port and are stranded at sea — some with coronavirus cases on board

From there the ship will head north, and Holland America Line is currently working on finalizing the details for the best place for guests to disembark as soon as possible and return home. Complimentary internet and phone service has been provided for all guests to communicate with their families. "We were allowed to dock at a commercial port for fuel, food, and water but no one could get on or off. Their workers and ours wore masks and stayed apart," Hayden told CNN. The British Foreign Office said they are doing “all they can” to help citizens on board and are in close contact with the cruise operator and authorities in the region. But when contacted by the Guardian, Broward County authorities in Florida said it had not yet received a formal request for docking from Holland America, nor has a plan been worked out with the federal and state health officials.

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Stranded Holland America cruise ship where 4 died amid coronavirus outbreak granted Panama Canal passage

Holland America said this week it had dispatched support in the form of another cruise ship, the Rotterdam, carrying 611 extra staff, supplies and coronavirus test kits to meet up with the stricken ship. Transport minister Kazuyoshi Akaba later went further and said Japan had asked the cruise ship not to call at the country's ports. However, cruise operator Holland America said last night that 'the ship is not in quarantine and there are no known cases of coronavirus on board'. Now aboard a cruise with no end in sight, Chuck said that the mood on the ship is relatively calm. With the ship heading north, he expressed concerns for passengers not from the United States, like the citizens of Britain, Australia, Canada, and France he met onboard.

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As the Rotterdam pulled alongside the Zaandam in darkness Thursday night, passengers exchanged photos and cheered each other on a Facebook group created for the ship. Australian passenger David Holst said today that the ship's captain had not yet revealed where the Westerdam was going next. Zaandam will make a service call on March 20 in Valparaiso, Chile, for fuel and provisioning.

But the pandemic has even led to the un-mooring of outbreak-free cruise ships, where no indications of an outbreak have been detected so far. The story of passengers on board the Holland America ship give a glimpse into what it's like to be trapped on an aimless "mystery cruise" during an international pandemic. As of Thursday, the Guardian had identified five ships in the Americas that were unable to unload nearly 6,000 passengers. At least three other ships were having trouble off the coast of Australia, including one which sought urgent medical attention for an outbreak of respiratory illness.

Passengers on a cruise ship stranded off the coast of Panama have issued a desperate plea to be allowed to dock after four people died during a covid-19 outbreak on board. Meanwhile a report from the US Centers for Disease Control this week laid the blame on cruise ships for spreading the virus in the crucial early weeks of the outbreak, linking hundreds of cases to the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess. Sailing around Cape Horn and cutting through the Panama Canal were both on the itinerary for passengers, along with a number of day trips at ports throughout South America.

CNN listed a fleet of stranded vessels, from lines like Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Costa Cruises. According to the Guardian, thousands of Australian citizens have been left stuck abroad after departing on cruise ships during the pandemic. Three passengers on board the Costa Luminosa were disembarked in Spain's Canary Islands after displaying respiratory problems, the Miami Herald reported. Although Spain banned all cruises from its ports on March 12, the health department made exceptions for the three Costa passengers. Panamanian authorities have refused to let the Zaandam cruise liner pass through the canal in Central America to attempt dock in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Chile and Argentina have also refused to let the cruise ship enter port, which departed Punta Arenas in Chile on 14 March.

'Stranded at sea': cruise ships around the world are adrift as ports turn them away

The Guardian was also contacted by an NHS doctor whose mother and aunt are on the Zaandam, who was scared her loved ones were being left “stranded at sea” while she cared for people back in the UK. “People are being screened on the basis of a medical questionnaire and if anyone has had a cough, cold, fever, runny nose, breathing problems, headaches or sore throat within the last 10 days, then they fail the medical. Lots of people are bound to have had non related coughs, colds, etc., during this time, so many are failing the medical,” one woman on board explained.

Japanese leader Shinzo Abe yesterday said his country would not allow foreign passengers to disembark, saying there were suspected virus patients on board. Zaandam is not in quarantine and there are no known or suspected cases of COVID-19 among the 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board. Since Sunday evening, the passengers have been ordered to remain in their cabins for the remainder of the journey.

For other passengers, the cruise would end on April 7 in Fort Lauderdale, according to guests who spoke to Business Insider. A St. Patrick's Day celebration broke out in the piano lounge of the MS Zaandam, as the Holland America cruise ship drifted along on its uncertain course. The bar's French piano player broke out the handful of Irish tunes he knew offhand while guests clinked glasses of Guinness and shared worries about their loved ones enduring the coronavirus pandemic back at home. Chile had just blocked Zaandam passengers from disembarking, over concerns of a coronavirus outbreak. A mandatory ship-wide temperature-check failed to uncover any signs of fever  — a tell-tale symptom of COVID-19. But there are fears that sick, elderly passengers and crew members will be left stranded at sea during a global pandemic, with some on board isolating in small, humid cabins with no natural light or fresh air.

The ship is steaming up the coast of South America, hoping to make it through the Panama Canal and on to the US. But the Florida port, where many of the passengers had planned to disembark on the final leg of the cruise, has refused to confirm that the ship can dock. Four other ships are scheduled to arrive in Japan this month, and would also be asked to turn back if infections are reported on board, Abe said. But Japan wrecked those plans yesterday by announcing it would use immigration laws to block the entry of foreign passengers from the ship. The vessel then sailed to Japan, with the cruise operator saying that passengers would disembark in Yokohama rather than Shanghai as initially planned. The Westerdam left Hong Kong on February 1, with 687 passengers remaining on board from a previous voyage.

"We are sincerely sorry that your voyage has come to such an abrupt end," the letter read. "If you have cruised with Holland America Line before you know this is absolutely not how we endeavor to treat our guests or have their cruise experience go." The Silver Explorer has been in quarantine off the port of Castro after a British citizen onboard the ship contracted COIVD-19. While it is unclear when the vessel will depart, traveling through the canal will allow it to reach Florida two days sooner. In a statement, the Panama Canal said that all journeys through the system required their staff to board ships and restrictions on ships with Covid-19 outbreaks were in place to protect workers.

Some cruise ships have been denied docking at ports altogether over coronavirus fears, while others have docked with quarantined passengers on board. But Ross Klein, a professor at St John’s College in Newfoundland who has written four books on the cruise industry, said companies should have acted weeks earlier to cancel trips and refund customers. He noted that cases of cruise ships being turned away from ports as a result of coronavirus fears began as early as January and escalated in February, with passengers being quarantined on the Emerald Princess in Japan on 3 February. In the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, countries have been implementing restrictive measures to curb the spread of the novel virus, leaving multiple cruise ships stranded at sea. Three of those ships have been left in limbo with confirmed coronavirus cases on board. The ship was denied ports of entry amid the global COVID-19 outbreak and has been anchored off the coast of Panama with 138 passengers and crew reporting flu-like symptoms.

The Zaandam is one of at least 10 ships around the world – carrying nearly 10,000 passengers – still stuck at sea after having been turned away from their destination ports in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Guardian analysis. One passenger, Bev Thurbin, said the ship had been denied entry to the Philippines and then to Taiwan over virus fears. Princess Cruises announced on March 12 it would pause its global operations for 60 days. "Current voyages that are underway and extend beyond March 17 will be ended at the most convenient location for guests, factoring in operational requirements," read a statement on Princess Cruises website.

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Bessler said she has struggled to get information from either the cruise company or from US government officials. She worries that Florida may become overrun by Covid-19 cases by the time the ship arrives there in two weeks. Any guests who suffer breathing problems will be screened for coronavirus, the company said.