Regal Princess pulled into Florida port late Sunday night, March 8, after being held off the coast for hours while awaiting results for 2 crew members who eventually tested negative for COVID-19 (Coronavirus).
The Regal Princess ship was originally scheduled to dock in Port Everglades FL Sunday morning but spent most of the day sailing up and down Florida's coast. The Coast Guard (CG) delivered testing kits to Regal Princess. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCD) issued a “no-sail order” for the liner.
The crew members in question had transferred over 2 weeks ago from Grand Princess in California where nearly 2 dozen onboard tested positive for the deadly virus, including 19 crew members, Princess Cruises said in a statement. The cruise company announced earlier Sunday that the crew of Regal Princess shouldn’t pose a risk to anyone onboard because they "did not exhibit respiratory symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and were well beyond the advised 14-day virus incubation period."
A Princess Cruises statement issued early today said the CDC had issued the clearance after the test results had come back negative. The first passengers were let off the ship about an hour after she pulled into port.
The next cruise of the 3,560-passenger Regal Princess scheduled to leave Port Everglades for a 7-day Caribbean trip on Sunday was also cancelled. The cruise company said guests would receive a full refund and offered US$300 reimbursement for one night’s hotel costs.
For other Regal Princess accidents and incidents see at the ship's CruiseMinus page.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.