The Last Carnival Cruise Ship at Sea Reaches Port

(Bloomberg) -- Carnival Corp.’s Costa Deliziosa reached port in Italy on Tuesday, ending weeks of drama as the company hustled to get passengers off its ships amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Costa Deliziosa, operated by Carnival’s Costa Crociere unit, arrived in Genoa and plans to let passengers off Wednesday, according to the company’s Twitter feed.

“Despite the current complications due to travel restrictions imposed worldwide to contain the contagion, the company has organized transport to the various countries of residence from Genoa, from tomorrow,” Costa said.

The vessel was originally carrying 1,519 guests and 898 crew members. On Monday, 295 passengers disembarked in Barcelona, Spain.

The cruise left Venice, Italy, on Jan. 5 on a trip around the world. But in mid-March, Carnival and other cruise operators ended cruising after the coronavirus spread on a several vessels. Even then, concern over the virus prompted several countries to turn away cruise ships, leaving part of the fleet in limbo.

Separately, Carnival announced that it added Jeffrey J. Gearhart, a retired global governance expert and corporate secretary for Walmart Inc., to its board. He’ll serve on the compliance and health-and-safety committees.

“This, combined with Jeff’s proven track record of balancing regulatory requirements with the commercial realities of doing businesses, will be a major asset as we shape the future of our organization,” Carnival Chairman Micky Arison said in a statement.

Carnival ships had two of the earliest and most dramatic coronavirus outbreaks at sea, and one -- on the Diamond Princess -- was the largest concentration of the virus beyond mainland China for a time.

The Costa Deliziosa was the last Carnival ship still actively trying to reach port to let passengers off. Another vessel, the Pacific Princess, reached Los Angeles on Monday.

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