Following a 6-month "around the world voyage", the last cruise ship still carrying passengers finally disembarked its 8 passengers. The Phoenix Reisen-owned liner MV Artania tied up in Port Bremerhaven Germany on Monday, June 8.
The cruise ship (max passenger capacity 1260) set sail on a 140-day world cruise from Hamburg Germany on December 21, 2019. In March 2020, 36 passengers tested COVID-positive following a check from Australian health officials when the liner arrived in Fremantle-Perth, Western Australia.
The patients were immediately quarantined in local hospitals. 3 people on the ship died - 2 male passengers (aged 69 and 71) and one 42-year-old male crew. Hundreds of healthy tourists opted to take repatriation flights back to Germany from Australia.
A total of 8 passengers decided to sail back to Germany on Artania, rather than via airplane, thus becoming the world's last cruisers at sea. The ship left Australia on April 18, making technical stops (for provisioning and refueling) in Southeast Asia, where were also disembarked all the non-essential crew. A total of 75 crew (including the Captain) stayed onboard until Bremerhaven ensured the vessel's smooth operation.
For more Phoenix Reisen accidents and incidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.