The cruise port in Antigua has denied a cruise ship from entering due to fears of the coronavirus which is hitting the industry hard at the moment.
Costa Cruise Ship Denied by Antigua
The Costa Luminosa vessel was not allowed to dock at St. Johns Harbour in Antigua today over coronavirus fears according to the Antigua News Room. The Government of Antigua and Barbuda is making sure its citizens remain safe and no doubt as a precaution denied the ship from docking.
The cruise ship submitted its Maritime Health details which is normal when ships visit ports but in this case, authorities were not satisfied.
Apparently a woman was also disembarked from the vessel yesterday during its call in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Health authorities there are doing a COVID-19 test on the woman and the government there is actually implementing new policies for cruise ship visits as a result.
Costa Luminosa is currently at the start of a transatlantic itinerary which departed Fort lauder, Florida on March 5. The voyage has already been cut short with all the calls in Italy cancelled, you can read more about that right here. The next scheduled port of call will be in the Canary Islands, Spain on March 16 which is expected to go ahead as normal but in the current outlook who knows what will happen once the Costa cruise ship gets to Europe.
At the moment the cruise industry is being hit by coronavirus fears and cruise ports and restricting travel including cruise ship vitis as a precaution. All major cruise lines have been impacted and as a response, cruise fares are much lower than normal along with new cancellation policies in place.
Also Read: Cruise Ships Must Prove No COVID-19 Cases Before Visiting Puerto Rico
The deadly virus which first stared in China in December 2019 has now infected more than 108,000 people around the world. The death toll stands at more than 3,800 and countries including Italy and South Korea and struggling to deal with sharp increases.
