Cruise ships on coronavirus: Do not board if you've been to China

Passengers explore the deck of the Carnival Freedom. Passengers explore the deck of the Carnival Freedom. Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Cruise ships on coronavirus: Do not board if you've been to China 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Several cruise lines, including Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International, which depart from Galveston, are not allowing passengers or crew to board if they’ve been to mainland China two weeks before their sail date.

The Cruise Lines International Association said its members are responding to the coronavirus pandemic by suspending crew movements from mainland China and turning away guests or crew members who have recently traveled to, from or through mainland China.

“The safety and health of passengers is the number one priority of CLIA members,” the trade association said in a statement.

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The ban comes as one association member, Princess Cruises, has a ship quarantined in the wake of a health screening in Yokohama, Japan, that identified 10 people who tested positive for coronavirus. The 10 — which included guests from Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, the U.S. and a crew member from the Philippines — will be taken ashore and treated in local hospitals. The ship’s more than 2,600 guests and 1,000 crew members will remain on the ship for at least 14 days, the period in which coronavirus symptoms can appear.

The Port of Galveston is not expecting incidents such as this, as its cruises typically sail to the Caribbean or Bahamas and roughly 70 percent of its vacationers live in Texas or nearby states and drive to the port, said Galveston Port Director and CEO Rodger Rees.

“We’re not expecting an impact,” he said, “but we’ll be ready if there is one.”

Brett Milutin, director of port operations, said the port’s stakeholders will have a phone call Friday to coordinate their response and clarify which organizations — the U.S. Coast Guard and Galveston County Health District — will lead that response should an issue arise.

The call will also engage best practices and lessons learned from 2014, when a cruise ship returning to Galveston had one passenger onboard who’d come from a region affected by the Ebola outbreak. There was initially some confusion on what organizations would lead the response to that, but the Coast Guard and Galveston County Health District ultimately kept the vessel off the coast while a sample was taken from the individual, who was not showing any symptoms of the illness. The results came back negative and the vessel was allowed into port in a process that lasted about 24 hours.

“If something happens, we’ll be ready and everyone will understand their role,” Rees said.

Royal Caribbean Cruises, the parent company of Royal Caribbean International, which is building a third cruise terminal in Galveston, said it would deny boarding to any individual who has traveled from, to or through China, Hong Kong or Macau in the past 15 days. In addition, passengers with a passport from China, Hong Kong or Macau will have mandatory health screenings. Guests denied boarding due to these restrictions will receive full refunds.

“These steps are intentionally conservative,” Royal Caribbean Cruises said in its statement. “We apologize for the inconvenience created by these precautionary measures.”

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Carnival, which became the first cruise line to sail from Galveston in 2000, said it’s following the Cruise Lines International Association’s guidelines by prohibiting guests who have traveled to, from or through mainland China within 14 days. Affected guests will receive a full refund, a credit equal to 20 percent of what they spent booking the original cruise (for instance, someone who spent $1,000 on the original cruise would receive a $200 credit) and travel expenses to return home.

“Although the risk to our guests and crew is low, we are closely monitoring the evolving situation with respect to coronavirus,” Carnival said in its statement. “Our medical experts are coordinating closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to implement enhanced screening, prevention and control measures for our ships, guests and crew.”

Health screenings conducted by cruise lines could include non-touch temperature readings, according to the CLIA trade group.