Early in 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease spread to a number of cruise ships, with the nature of such ships – including crowded semi-enclosed areas, increased exposure to new environments, and limited medical resources – contributing to the heightened risk and rapid spread of the disease.[1]
The British-registered Diamond Princess was the first cruise ship to have a major outbreak on board, with the ship quarantined at Yokohama from 4 February 2020 for about a month. Of 3711 passengers and crew, around 700 people became infected and 9 people died.[2][3]
Governments and ports responded by preventing many cruise ships from docking and advising people to avoid travelling on cruise ships. Many cruise lines suspended their operations to mitigate the spread of the pandemic.
By June 2020, over 40 cruise ships had had confirmed positive cases of coronavirus on board. The last cruise ship with passengers aboard during the first wave of the pandemic, Artania, docked at its home port with its last eight passengers on 8 June 2020.[a][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In addition, over 40,000 crew members still remained on cruise ships, some in isolation, in mid-June 2020.[12] Many could not be repatriated because cruise lines refused to cover the cost,[13][14] and because countries had different and changing rules. The condition was stressful to many of those stranded;[15] multiple suicides were reported.[16]
Domestic UK cruises, confined to ports of call in the British Isles, began to resume in May 2021.[17] United States cruises restarted in June 2021.[18]
: On 24 March 2020, the ship docked at Limassol, Cyprus, and a crew member suspected of having the coronavirus was taken to hospital. Several other crew members were also reported to be ill. Costa Diadema was sailing from Dubai to Savona, Italy, without passengers.[382]
Costa Diadema
: At least three passengers have been quarantined by the ship's doctor, according to local health officials. It was en route for Melbourne on 18 March 2020.[383] As of 1 April 2020, it was docked in Melbourne.[78]
Golden Princess
: Several passengers and crew members were quarantined after an American passenger who have travelled in the ship in Brahmaputra River in Assam, India, was tested positive in Bhutan.[384][385]
Mahabaahu
: On 28 March 2020, it was announced that a crew member of MS Marella Dream had died on 27 March with coronavirus-like symptoms.[386] The crew member was a 48-year-old Indonesian national.[387] A spokesperson for TUI Group, owner of the ship, stated that "[t]he crew member had underlying health issues and had not tested positive for Covid-19 and there are no positive cases of Covid-19 on board the ship", leading sources to conclude that either he had not been tested,[cu][388][389] or that he had died of the virus.[390]Marella Dream had spent the week prior anchored near Gibraltar when the crew requested permission shortly before sunset on 26 March to disembark a sick crew member for medical treatment.[386] It was decided to transfer the crew member during daylight hours, around 07:30 the next morning, but the crew member's condition worsened overnight and he died at 04:47.[386] Subsequently, public health officials refused permission for the disembarkation of the body and the government asked the ship to leave British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.[386][391] A spokesperson for the Gibraltar government stated that any inquiry into the death of the crew member was the responsibility of Malta, the ship's flag state.[386] At the time of the crew member's death, there were 560[cv] crew members and no passengers aboard.[386]Marella Dream later docked in Málaga, Spain, on 28 March, to disembark the deceased crew member.[387]
Marella Dream
MSC Magnifica anchored off the coast of Western AustraliaMSC Magnifica: Premier of Western AustraliaMark McGowan claimed that there were 250 suspected cases on board, while MSC Cruises' claimed that all aboard were in good health.[392][6] It was later conjectured that this was a result of miscommunication, as 250 passengers had "visited the medical room in the past two weeks", for issues such as painkillers and dressings, by 23 March 2020, when the ship was heading for Fremantle, Australia to disembark patients to hospitals and isolation.[393][392] Before reaching Fremantle, MSC Magnifica had been able to let a few hundred passengers off in Sydney and Melbourne, "under strict conditions", but the cruise ship was denied entry into Western Australia.[394][393] The ship was subsequently denied entry to Dubai and was still in the Perth area on 25 March.[395] It eventually set sail for Sri Lanka, where, on 6 April, the vessel made a "technical stop" in Colombo.[393] Here, a 75-year-old female German passenger with heart problems who needed urgent care and a Sri Lankan chef was allowed to disembark.[396] The German passenger subsequently died.[393] On 20 April 2020, MSC Magnifica docked in Marseille, France, letting out all its passengers and terminating the cruise.[397] MSC Cruises stated that no passengers and no crew members had shown any coronavirus symptoms.[397]
: On 2020.04.29, A Tribuna reported that a 32-year-old Indian crew member of MSC Musica had tested positive for the coronavirus.[398] The crew member was initially admitted to hospital for emergency care due to anaemia, and had tested negative for the virus upon admission.[398] However, when the crew member was scheduled for discharge, another test was performed, which returned positive.[398] It is unclear if the virus was contracted aboard the ship or after disembarkation, but MSC Musica, which had been moored at the Port of Santos, was placed under quarantine as a preventative measure, with the standard 14 days of quarantine beginning on the day the crew member had disembarked.[398]
MSC Musica
Norwegian Gem in 2008
[467]
[469]
New Zealand: New Zealand banned all cruise ships from entering New Zealand from 14 March 2020 to at least 30 June, with ships already in New Zealand waters allowed to complete their itinerary.[60]
[472]
Seychelles: The government of Seychelles put all authorisations for cruise ships on hold until at least 2022.
[473]
Singapore: Singapore ceased port calls for all cruise ships on 13 March 2020.
[474]
[475]
World Dream was turned away from Taiwan on 4 February. Zaandam was turned away from Chile on 14 March, then was delayed passage through the Panama Canal and had to negotiate to disembark at Port Everglades, United States.
Germany: The crisis management team of the German federal government said on 4 March 2020, following several actual and suspected outbreaks on cruise ships, "The Federal Foreign Office has included in its travel advice that there is an increased risk of quarantine on cruise ships."
[402]
New Zealand: New Zealand advised against all nonessential travel, including on cruise ships.
[472]
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
United States: The remarks that "[o]utbreaks of COVID-19 on cruise ships pose a risk for rapid spread of disease beyond the voyage" and that "[a]ggressive efforts are required to contain spread".[480] They recommend that "cruise ship travelers with no symptoms or mild symptoms disembark as quickly and safely as possible at US ports of entry", disallowing the usage of "[c]ommercial flights and public transportation", and requiring the usage of "chartered or private transportation" instead.[480] A US Coast Guard report on 4 April 2020 stated that "there are 114 cruise ships, carrying 93,000 crew members, either in or near U.S. ports and waters. ... Another 41 cruise ships, with 41,000 crew members, are underway and close to the U.S".[481]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
International rules proposal
In response to the delayed action over the coronavirus outbreak aboard Diamond Princess and the confusion over the outbreak aboard Costa Atlantica, Japan has budgeted about 60 million JPY for research into developing a set of international rules to govern outbreaks of infectious diseases aboard cruise ships.[482] Since countries would be dissuaded from allowing ships with outbreaks on board from docking if they were entirely responsible for a ship docking in their ports, and jurisdiction is unclear when a ship docks in a country other than its flag state,[de] the Japanese government believed that a set of rules should be drafted to address such issues.[482] The government hoped to have the rules adopted by other countries as well as international bodies such as the International Maritime Organization and the World Health Organization.[482]
Cruise line suspensions
On 11 March 2020, Viking Cruises suspended operations for its 79-vessel fleet until the end of April, cancelling all ocean and river cruises, after it was revealed that a passenger on a cruise in Cambodia had been exposed to the virus while in transit via plane, placing at least 28 other passengers in quarantine.[483][484]
Similarly, on 12 March, Princess Cruises, owner of virus-stricken ships Diamond Princess and Grand Princess, suspended operations for all future cruises on its 18-ship fleet for 60 days.[485][486]
All cruise lines suspended departures from the United States on 14 March.[487]
On 30 June 2020, Celestyal Cruises announced that it was voluntarily extending its suspension of all cruise operations until 6 March 2021.[488][489]
: On 15 May 2020, about 400 crew members protested because their scheduled repatriation date had been rescheduled for a fifth time.[dg][497] Crew members have been stuck aboard the ship for at least 60 days.[497][498] One sign erected by the protesters read "How many more suicides do you need?!",[dh] referring to the deaths of a Polish engineer aboard Jewel of the Seas and a Chinese assistant waiter aboard Mariner of the Seas.[498] Another read "Do you sleep well M. Bailey?!",[dh] referring to Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley, who received around US$25,000,000 in compensation over the past four years, while a spokesperson for the CDC had stated that cruise line officials had complained that arranging private transportation for the crew was "too expensive".[498][446]
Majesty of the Seas
Norwegian cruise line was the first ocean cruise line in the world to resume cruise operations, with Otto Sverdrup sailing from Bergen to Kirkenes on 16 June 2020.[361][362] The first large outbreak of coronavirus on a cruise ship after the resumption of cruise operations was also aboard a Hurtigruten ship, with 36 people that were aboard Hurtigruten's Roald Amundsentesting positive after docking at Tromsø as of 1 August 2020.[167]
resumed cruise operations with the departure of Mein Schiff 2 from Hamburg on 24 July 2020 for a three-day roundtrip voyage in the North Sea, making no intermediate stops.[502] About 1200 passengers were aboard, although TUI Cruises had set a quota of 1740, and the ship's capacity was around 2900.[502] Passengers were required to fill in a health questionnaire prior to boarding, and were not allowed to serve themselves from the buffet table.[502] Another cruise aboard Mein Schiff 1 was cancelled, ostensibly because a crew could not be assembled in time due to coronavirus travel restrictions.[163][355] TUI Cruises later admitted that it was because five crew members of Mein Schiff 1 had tested positive.[164]
TUI Cruises
A cruise ship sailed in November 2020 from and to Singapore on a three-day roundtrip voyage in the Malacca Strait, making no intermediate stops. On 9 December it was reported that an 83-year-old had been diagnosed with COVID-19, which led to that "cruise to nowhere" being cut short.[504] After retesting the original sample, and taking a second sample, the case appeared to be a false positive.[505]
[503]
Spain announced on 29 May 2021 that it would allow cruise ships dock in its ports beginning on 7 June, hoping to salvage the hard-hit tourist industry and considering the low incidence of the virus and the high level of amongst tourists and in the country itself.[506]
COVID-19 vaccination
Average age of cruise passengers
A report from Cruise Lines International Association from 2019 states the average age of cruise passengers is 46.9 years, while the largest age bracket is 60–69 years (19%) followed by 50–59 years (18%).[510] Research from 2001 studying the epidemiology of passenger mortalities on two cruise ships, indicated a median age of 65 years of cruise participants. It also stated, that between April 1995 to April 2001 "there was an average of one death every six months per ship", with an average of 800 passengers on each ship.[511]
