A cruise ship operated by German cruise line AIDA Cruises has been refused entry at the port of Castries, Saint Lucia, with some passengers on board having respiratory issues.
On February 1, 2020, the AIDAperla, carrying about 3,000 passengers, was not authorized to enter the Caribbean port as some guests were suffering upper respiratory tract infections.
The 125,572 GT ship was turned away amid the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
However, AIDA Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation, denied the possibility that any of AIDAperla’s passengers was affected by the deadly disease.
“There was no suspicion of cases of the novel coronavirus on board the vessel at any time,” the cruise company stressed.
After AIDAperla could not call the port of Castries, Saint Lucia, on Saturday, February 1, 2020, the ship visited the port of Fort-de-France, Martinique, yesterday, February 2, 2020, AIDA Cruises told World Maritime News.
Today, AIDAperla is in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, and will continue the Caribbean route from there as planned, calling at St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, and La Romana, Dominican Republic, in the coming days, the company added.
On January 30, over 6,000 passengers onboard another Carnival Corporation’s ship, Costa Smeralda, were held all day in Italy amid fears that one of the passengers might have been infected with coronavirus. After a female passenger underwent medical tests that were negative for coronavirus, guests were allowed to disembark.
World Maritime News Staff