FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Cruise ship passengers still are dealing with fevers, arranging travel to their home countries or waiting for their loved ones who are ill at South Florida hospitals.
They’re the final passengers of a cruise ship docked at Port Everglades, and it’s taking longer than anyone expected to get them home amid the coronavirus crisis.
Meanwhile, at PortMiami, another cruise ship with sick passengers and two deaths was having its own evacuation issues Tuesday.
At Port Everglades, the plan was to get everyone off two Holland America ships, the Zaandam and Rotterdam, in a matter of days after they docked at the port. There were 1,250 passengers aboard the Zaandam and Rotterdam. Many of them were moved off the ships last week, including 14 who were taken to hospitals.
But 43 people still were on the Rotterdam ship Tuesday, five days after their arrival. It’s “taking longer than they expected,” said County Administrator Bertha Henry.
Among the issues getting everyone evacuated: Passengers trying to leave must have their temperatures taken and if anyone has a fever, they are sent back to the ship, said Ellen Kennedy, spokeswoman for Port Everglades. As a result, some have missed their flights.
“People get sick really fast,” she said. “They recover or they get worse.”
Of those still aboard the ship, five could be flying home as early as midweek, Kennedy said. Seven of the people come from “places that aren’t accepting anybody” because they have closed their borders, primarily South America. “We are working with the Rotterdam daily as they try to repatriate passengers,” Kennedy said.
Another 17 can’t leave because their travel partners are hospitalized with the coronavirus, she said. Two South Florida hospitals — one in Broward and another in Miami-Dade — agreed to take in a combined 14 people who needed critical care.
Holland America’s Zaandam ship had a South America itinerary last month. Four passengers died. And throughout the trip, 233 passengers and crew members became ill.
But as passengers and crew aboard the Zaandam became sick, the ship was turned away from Chile, then Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia and Mexico. Other places that wouldn’t help: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Martinique, Guadalupe Island and Barbados.
Hundreds of passengers were moved to a second ship, the Rotterdam.
Eventually, after closed-door negotiations and despite initial calls from some Broward County commissioners to turn the ships away, they were allowed entrance to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday.
A spokesperson for Holland America did not respond to an email for comment.
At PortMiami, two passengers have died as evacuations from the Coral Princess continued Tuesday. The cruise ship docked at the port on Saturday.
The agreement was to take nearly 1,000 healthy travelers — screened and wearing masks — directly to Miami International Airport for flights home; bring four extremely sick passengers (including at least one American) to hospitals in Miami and Tampa; and leave dozens of passengers and crew members with less severe symptoms on board for treatment by doctors and nurses.
On Tuesday, nine charter flights were scheduled. Still, 90 international passengers will remain onboard “given current international travel restrictions. Homeward travel arrangements will be made for these guests as soon as arrival clearance is obtained by each country,” according to a statement from Princess Cruises.
Coral Princess departed March 5 from San Antonio for a South America voyage, which was scheduled to end in Buenos Aires on March 19.
———
©2020 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.