Ships still at sea are on cruises to nowhere
It's been five days since CLIA member lines declared a suspension of cruise operations due to the Covid-19 crisis, but several cruise ships are still at sea with passengers, and some are having trouble finding ports to disembark.
CLIA said that as of March 17, about 20% of ships were completing final itineraries.
Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Jewel, currently on a 23-day Australia and French Polynesia itinerary, was supposed to disembark in Auckland, New Zealand, on March 20. Due to multiple port closures in the area, the ship is now scheduled to disembark in Honolulu on March 22.
Holland America Line's Maasdam this week had to forego plans to dock at Hawaii Island because it has closed to cruise ship calls. The Maasdam does not have any known or suspected cases of coronavirus, and now plans to disembark in Honolulu on March 20.
Holland America said the Zaandam had not been allowed to disembark in Punta Arenas, Chile, on March 16, so it left the port and headed for San Antonio, Chile, to pick up fuel and other supplies. The ship is not in quarantine and has no known or suspected cases of Covid-19, the company said. The ship had been on a 14-day sailing in South America scheduled to end March 21. Holland America said it does not currently know where it will disembark.
