Princess Cruises has confirmed that its vessel Coral Princess will arrive in Port Miami on Saturday, with disembarkation of guests expected to take several days due to limited flight availability.
A statement from the line was issued on Saturday afternoon UK time, following earlier uncertainty after the US Coast Guard reportedly barred the ship form entering US territorial waters.
Coral Princess has 12 cases of Covid-19 on board, with guests requiring shoreside medical care prioritised for disembarkation.
The statement said: “Disembarkation for guests who are fit to fly is anticipated to begin on Sunday, April 5. These guests will transfer direct from the ship to Miami International Airport for flights home.
“Those with any respiratory symptoms, or who are still recovering from being ill previously, will remain on board until medically cleared by the ship’s doctors.
“There are 1,898 people onboard including 1,020 guests and 878 crew members.
“Coral Princess departed March 5 from San Antonio (Santiago) for a South America voyage which was scheduled to end in Buenos Aires on March 19. In response to the global spread of COVID-19, Princess Cruises announced a voluntary 60-day pause of operations on March 12, becoming one of the first companies in the leisure travel industry to take this proactive measure.
“We appreciate that the operations under way for Coral Princess would not be possible without the coordination and resources of many federal, state and local government agencies. We thank all those involved for their assistance in managing this very complex and fluid situation.”