Carnival’s Queen Mary 2 Set to Reach Port, Cutting Ships at Sea

(Bloomberg) -- Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 ocean liner is set to reach port Wednesday, potentially cutting to two the number of Carnival Corp. cruise ships waiting to disembark passengers, after the coronavirus prompted the industry to shut down.

The ship is scheduled to arrive in Southampton, England, with 264 passengers, the company said in an email Tuesday.

An ill crew member was airlifted off the ship in Durban, South Africa, but the company said it wasn’t related to Covid-19 and there are no confirmed or suspected cases of the virus on board.

Cruising was suspended in mid-March after a series of coronavirus episodes on ships led to concern about their safety during the pandemic. But several ships were caught at sea and struggled to find ports willing to take them in, including many operated by industry leader Carnival.

Here is an update on other Carnival ships:

• P&O Cruises’s Arcadia reached port Sunday in Southampton with 1,375 guests
• Princess Cruises’ Pacific Princess -- a name familiar from TV’s “The Love Boat,” which featured an earlier incarnation -- is en route to Los Angeles to disembark 115 passengers
• Costa Crociere’s Costa Deliziosa, with 1,815 guests on board, has obtained approval to stop in Barcelona to disembark 168 Spanish nationals between Sunday and Monday
  • The company is still working with French and Italian authorities to arrange for disembarkation of guests of other nationalities
• Holland America Line’s Rotterdam was at anchorage off Grand Bahama as of Tuesday, with four guests from Argentina and one from Uruguay
  • The ship previously disembarked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but the remaining guests weren’t permitted to fly home due to travel restrictions in South America
• Princess Cruises’ Coral Princess has reached port in Miami, but as of the company’s last update, 13 international travelers were still on the ship due to complications in arranging homeward travel

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