The Caribbean Princess cruise ship must remain off the Florida coast for COVID-19 tests. The ship has not been allowed to dock.
Caribbean Princess Remains off Florida Coast
Princess Cruises really is suffering at the moment with another one of its cruise ships being held for COVID-19 tests. As a precaution, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are not allowing the vessel to dock back at Port Everglades until two crew members are tested for the deadly coronavirus.
Those two crew members were apparently transferred from the Grand Princess cruise ship which had 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and finally was allowed to dock at the Port of Oakland in California. You can read more about the Grand Princess situation right here.
With a “no-sail order” in place for the Princess cruise ship, it means it will have to remain at sea until authorities are satisfied there are no cases on board. It is believed the crew members in question do not have any symptoms of COVID-19 and once the results come back the ship will be able to dock. Let’s just hope it gets back on time ready for the next sailing.
The cruise ship is coming to the end of a 10-day cruise which departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 1. The ship called at Jamaica, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, and the last call was in Grand Cayman on March 9.
The ship’s next sailing is scheduled to depart Fort Lauderdale tomorrow for another 10-day cruise. This follows the Regal Princess which was also held off the Florida coast by the CDC due to coronavirus concerns last week.
Also Read: 22 Best Port Everglades Hotels for Cruise Passengers
The cruise line which is owned by the Carnival Corporation has been dealing with two outbreaks recently on the Diamond Princess in Yokohama and the Grand Princess on the U.S. West Coast. Crew members transferred from the Grand Princess to other ships have resulted in further tests as a precaution which in turn has delayed and caused disruption to many more ships in the fleet.
This is developing news and will provide further updates as they come. We are expecting more details from the cruise line too.
Caribbean Princess also recently had to cut a cruise short and head directly back to port after a gastrointestinal outbreak on board. Read more here.
