Daily Telegram staff

ONSTED — An Onsted family that was stuck at sea for several days when the cruise ship they were on was denied entry at ports throughout the western Pacific Ocean due to coronavirus concerns returned home Wednesday night.

The Muth family — husband and wife Steven and Jane, their daughter, Kate, and her boyfriend, Erik Deneau — were among the 2,257 passengers and crew of the MS Westerdam that left Hong Kong on Feb. 1 for a western Pacific cruise. Steve Muth said in an email Wednesday that they “escaped” Cambodia and were on their way home after taking a flight from Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They then took flights to Boston, then Detroit.

The excursion was supposed to be a celebration of improved health and a graduation for the family. However, once the coronavirus outbreak began in China, the ship, part of the Holland America cruise line, changed its disembarkation from Shanghai to Yokohama, Japan. Then Japan denied the ship entry — it was already dealing with another cruise ship that had active infections from the virus — and, even though no one on board had reported any symptoms of the flu-like virus, other countries also rejected requests from Holland American and the U.S. State Department to allow the passengers to disembark until Cambodia welcomed the ship on Feb. 13.

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However, the Muths were among several hundred passengers and crew who had not left Cambodia on Saturday when another Westerdam passenger, an American woman, tested positive for the virus after feeling ill while at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Several of the passengers took flights out of Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur. That put the travel plans of those still in Cambodia on hold until they could be tested for the virus.

The Cambodian Ministry of Health confirmed that the 747 crew members on the Westerdam have all tested negative for COVID-19, Holland America announced Thursday.

Holland America said the 25 employees who had been scheduled to leave the ship last weekend will now disembark and make their way home. The remaining crew members will remain on the ship to continue their work contracts.

The news comes a day after the 781 passengers still in Cambodia were cleared to return to their home countries.

The Westerdam, which has been docked in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, for the past week, will remain in port a few days longer until the company decides on its next itinerary. Its next cruise, which was scheduled to begin on Feb. 29, was canceled weeks ago.

USA TODAY contributed to this report.