Princess Cruises reports that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health authorities have collected samples for coronavirus testing from 45 people, both guests and crew, on Grand Princess. The results of the tests are expected Friday, March 6, the cruise line said.
The cruise ship is being held off San Francisco, as reported by our sister publication Travel Agent, after a passenger on the ship’s previous cruise was found to have the virus. There are 3,533 people currently onboard, including 2,422 guests and 1,111 crew representing 54 nationalities.
Following CDC guidelines, all guests have been asked to stay in their staterooms while test results are pending. Guests are receiving meal deliveries in their staterooms by room service, and additional television and movie options have been added to in-room programming. Guests have also been provided complimentary Internet service to stay in contact with their family and loved ones, and the ship’s Internet bandwidth has been increased.
The Grand Princess had been sailing a roundtrip Hawaii voyage out of San Francisco when the cruise line was notified by the CDC that the organization was investigating a cluster of coronavirus cases in Northern California connected to the ship’s previous voyage, a February 11 – 21 Mexico sailing that also operated roundtrip out of San Francisco. All guests who had sailed on that previous voyage and were still onboard were asked to remain in their stateroom.
The immediate family of guests onboard the Grand Princess can call the appropriate number of their region for assistance:
- U.S. and Canada: +1 888-358-8055
- International: +1 872-201-6779
Another Princess Cruises ship, the Diamond Princess, was placed under quarantine in Yokohama, Japan, for two weeks in February due to a coronavirus outbreak onboard. The ship has since disembarked all guests, Travel Agent reports.
This article originally appeared on www.travelagentcentral.com.
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