The Ruby Princess cruise ship is finally on the move. Tug boats were seen pulling the liner away from the dockside at Port Kembla (Wollongong, NSW Australia).
The arrival of Ruby Princess in Sydney Australia, first on March 8 and then again on March 18, is linked to over 600 Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. 21 of her former passengers died. The debacle surrounding the vessel is the subject of a special inquiry with about 10% of Australia’s Coronavirus cases linked to the ship.
According to the ship’s operator (Carnival Australia, subsidiary of Carnival Corporation), Ruby Princess is heading to the Philippines.
A spokesman for the company said that around 370 crew members had disembarked today for a Princess Cruises chartered flight to The Philippines (Manila). Around 500 crew remained onboard, ~50% of whom are essential (needed for the vessel's safe operation).
The spokesperson added they "could have disembarked more crew in Port Kembla but they would have needed to stay in shoreside accommodation for a few days before joining a flight and authorities here wouldn’t allow this. A small number have remained on board because at this stage there were no flight pathways to get them home due to factors such as closed borders to their home countries."
For other Ruby 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.