Coronavirus restrictions: Cruise passengers trapped by new guidelines

Thousands of cruise passengers are stranded in the US after new guidelines banned them from further travel on planes, buses or cars.

Phoebe Loomes with wires

2 min read

April 7, 2020 - 6:59PM

Cruise passengers in the US now face fresh difficulties as they disembark ships, after new guidelines were announced restricting how they travel.

The guidelines, which stop cruise passengers from being able to travel on planes, buses or in cars with others, mean getting home for many passengers has become complex and means many remain stuck on docked ships with infected fellow passengers.

Frustrated trapped passengers said they feel the strict new guidelines have left them with no options.

“It sounds like they want Scotty to beam us home or to go home in a bubble,” Shirley Buckler told the Washington Post. “They won’t let us drive home.”

Cruise passengers have been told they cannot get on flights or other transport as they try to get home. Picture: Chandan Khanna/AFP

The guidelines announced by the US Centre for Disease Control now mean passengers can’t get on commercial flights or buses in the US.

One cruise ship, the Coral Princess, has attracted attention in the US, as two passengers died before it reached its port of Miami on Saturday.

The ship, which had more than 1000 passengers on board, had been given permission to take five of its sickest passengers to hospital while having to keep 65 other unwell passengers on board. The rest were otherwise free to travel home, before the new guidelines were announced, according to reports.

As the ship approached Florida 12 people were diagnosed with the virus, and two people died.

“Princess Cruises continues to work tirelessly to adjust the repatriation plan to meet the new CDC requirements. This will unfortunately result in further delays in disembarkation and onward travel for many guests as we work through this complex, challenging and unfortunate situation,” the company said in a news release.

But disembarkation was limited on Sunday to passengers cleared for charter flights to California, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The Coral Princess had been on a South American cruise that was due to end March 19 in Buenos Aires. The ship subsequently encountered obstacles to docking because of various port closures and cancellation of airline flights, the cruise line said.

Last Thursday, Princess Cruises spokeswoman Negin Kamali had said seven passengers and five crew members on the ship had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Passengers were self-isolating in their staterooms and meals were being delivered by room service, while crew members were remaining in their quarters when not working.

Princess Cruises is a brand of Miami-based Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise company.

The cruise line industry announced a voluntarily suspension of most ship operations from US ports on March 13 amid the global pandemic.

The next day, the CDC announced a “no sail” order to all cruise ships that had not suspended operations.

—with AP