A vessel of MSC Cruises with more than 6,100 people on board has been turned away by Jamaica, Cayman Islands and narrowly avoided the same fate in Mexico as fears over the Covid-19 coronavirus spread from Asia to the Americas.
Having departed from Miami on Sunday, the 172,000-gt MSC Meraviglia (built 2017) was scheduled to call at Ocho Rios on Tuesday to give its 4,600 passengers a chance to disembark.
However, the Jamaican authorities said the ship’s entry was denied after one of the 1,600 crew members with a travel history to “a country of interest related to the Covid-19” had cough, fever and associated muscle pains.
According to Geneva-based MSC Cruises, the Philippine crew, who had travelled to Miami via Istanbul from Manila, was diagnosed with type A influenza and isolated from others on board.
“[The person] is in a stable condition, receiving anti-viral treatment and medication, and is now free of fever and nearly recovered,” said the company, which is owned by Mediterranean Shipping Co.
“Out of precaution he was isolated from other crew members and guests from the moment that he showed symptoms and will remain so until he is fully recovered.”
On Wednesday, the Grand Cayman authorities said it rejected MSC Meraviglia’s scheduled call at Georgetown after checking the details of a second crew number “who is not well”.
“In an abundance of caution, in order to provide protection to the health and safety of the residents of the Cayman Islands, the Government has denied permission for the cruise ship to call on Grand Cayman as previously scheduled,” the Cayman Islands’ health minister Dwayne Seymour said.
The rejection prompted a complaint from MSC Cruises, which rebuked: “The decision taken overnight by the Grand Cayman authorities to refuse disembarkation at Georgetown was made without even reviewing the ship’s medical records.”
“No other cases of type A influenza have been reported on board MSC Meraviglia… Moreover, no cases of Covid-19 virus have been reported on board MSC Meraviglia or any other ship in MSC Cruises’ fleet.”
MSC Meraviglia was due to call at Cozumel, Mexico on Thursday and at one point was informed by port authorities that permission to dock had been rescinded.
“Ship’s command and [MSC] management are in contact with local health authorities to ensure that their decision will be based on a factual review of the ship’s medical records,” the cruise line said.
Mexico's Ministry of Health later rescinded the order, saying it was satisfied that there were no COVID-19 cases on board the ship, and its call at Cozumel did not present any potential risk to the local population.
Fears over the pandemic
The incident came after at least three cruiseships saw serious disruptions to their travel schedules in Asia in recent weeks.
Holland America Line’s 82,900-gt cruiseship Westerdam (built 2004) was refused entry by five countries before its passengers were allowed to disembark in Sihanoukville, Cambodia and returned home.
One of the passengers, an 85-year-old American, was later tested positive for the coronavirus in Malaysia. But two subsequent sequential tests on samples from that same person were negative, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dream Cruises’ 150,000-gt World Dream (built 2017) was rejected by Taiwan and held up in Hong Kong for days of extensive checks, after three former passengers were found to have infected with the Covid-19 a week after disembarking from the ship.
The worst case was Princess Cruises’ 116,000-gt Diamond Princess (built 2014), which was quarantined off Yokohama, Japan for two weeks as the virus spread on board, eventually sickening more than 700 people and killing four.
