The Carnival Fascination cruise ship has been cleared by the Barbados authorities after a crew member tested negative for the COVID-19.
Carnival Fascination Given the All Clear After Coronavirus Scare
The Fantasy-class vessel operated by Carnival Cruise Line has been given the all-clear after a coronavirus scare yesterday. One of the crew members was tested for the deadly COVID-19 virus yesterday as a precaution and the test results have come back negative which was expected. You can read our original news post right here.
Carnival Cruise Line provided Cruise Hive with the following update:
Guests on Carnival Fascination have been cleared to disembark in Barbados after a precautionary COVID-19 test on a crew member came back negative, as was expected.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley personally delivered the news to the ship’s captain, guests and crew during a visit late Thursday evening.
The ship remains in Barbados until Friday evening, when it will depart for San Juan, as part of its planned itinerary. Carnival Fascination arrived in Barbados a day early after it canceled the call scheduled for St. Lucia when officials there were not equipped to address a crew medical issue. The crew member in question did not meet the criteria for COVID-19 set by public health experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Barbados officials worked closely with Carnival to accommodate the change in the itinerary, but requested a COVID-19 screening in an abundance of caution with which Carnival complied.
Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy thanked Prime Minister Mottley for the cooperation of her government and her concern for the health and safety of the residents of Barbados as well as Carnival guests and crew. She also expressed her appreciation for the Carnival Fascination guests for their patience over the course of the day on Thursday.
Carnival Fascination’s next cruise will depart from San Juan as scheduled on Sunday, March 1.
The Carnival Fascination is now docked in Bridgetown, Barbados and guests have been allowed to spend time ashore. The ship will depart later this evening and head to her homeport in San Juan, Puerto Rico as normal.
The vessel was originally scheduled to call at St. Lucia yesterday but the island was not prepared to deal with the situation for testing the 48-year-old crew member after having some kind of flu-like symptoms. The ship was not allowed to call at the Caribbean port and instead headed for Barbados earlier than expected.
The government there had the capability of testing the crew member just as a precaution and all passengers had to remain onboard during the process. Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy has thanked the Prime Minister of Barbados and for passengers being so patient.
The ship is coming to an end of a 7-day Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan. She also called at St. Thomas, St. Maarten and St. Kitts during the voyage. The next scheduled sailing will depart on March 1 as normal.
This comes after fears across the cruise industry and cruise ships being blocked at cruise ports. The MSC Meraviglia was just cleared with guests being allowed to disembark in Cozumel after the vessel was previously denied entry in Jamaica and Grand Cayman. A Costa cruise ship was also denied entry in Tortola as there were sick passengers onboard.
As of writing this, there are more than 83,000 coronavirus cases around the world and the death toll stands at 2,800. There are a sharp increase of infections in parts of Italy and in South Korea and cruise lines have implemented strict travel restrictions in line with advice from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
