The final Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ ship is set to return to the UK after repatriating passengers to Australia due to the coronavirus crisis.
Vasco da Gama is due to arrive at its home port of London Tilbury today (Friday) at the end of a return voyage to with no passengers on board.
The vessel sailed from Phuket in Thailand on March 18 to Australia to repatriate passengers before heading back to the UK.
Vasco da Gama was sailing to the UK after departing from Fremantle in Western Australia on February 12 when CMV announced the suspension of cruise operations a month later due to the global outbreak of Covid-19.
CMV has recorded no Covid-19 cases among passengers or crew on board Vasco da Gama or any other ship in the fleet.
Vasco da Gama repatriated 798 Australian and 108 New Zealand passengers back to Fremantle before sailing on the 6,098 nautical-mile return to the UK on March 30.
There are 552 crew members on board, including eight Britons.
The voyage included a technical call for fuel in Cape Town on April 13.
All other ships in the fleet have already returned to their home ports.
The company said: “CMV’s top and overriding priority is the health and safety of all our passengers and crew.
“Vasco da Gama remains under heightened levels of hygiene protocols and crew were regularly screened for symptoms during the voyage.
“CMV crew who are not British nationals will remain on board whilst quarantine measures remain in place. The eight British nationals will return home.”
Chief executive Christian Verhounig said: “We are tremendously proud of our onboard and shoreside teams for their fantastic job with the repatriation voyages and the return of Vasco da Gama to the UK.
“On behalf of the directors, staff and especially our hard-working crew, CMV would like to thank all of our passengers for their support, patience and understanding at this time.”