Cruise ships asked to leave Mississippi Coast amid coronavirus pandemic, port says
The cruise ships docked on the Mississippi Gulf Coast over the last three weeks have been directed to leave by the close of business on Friday by Gov. Tate Reeves.
The announcement of the decision follows Reeves’ shelter-in-place order that is set to go into effect at 5 p.m. Friday and last until 8 a.m. April 20 due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
Port of Gulfport executive director and CEO Jonathan Daniels told the Sun Herald on Thursday that he first got word of the order on Tuesday.
“There was was leeway that was developed so cruise lines had time to make arrangements through the end of the week before the order went into effect,” he said.
Daniels, who admitted he had some tough calls to make to inform the companies of the order, believes that everything was done to make sure there was as little contamination as possible while the ships were docked.
“When we set out to do this mission three or four weeks ago, it was a very different world than the environment we’re in right now,” he said. “We feel what we did what was necessary. We had to decide to first allow the vessels to come. Those decisions were not made in a vacuum. The world we stand in is very different than when the first vessel was tied up. Between health professionals and state officials, the decision was made to remove the ships from the port and we support the decisions based on that information.”
Daniels hopes that cruise ships will eventually make Gulfport their home port.
“We have been honored to assist Carnival and Royal Caribbean during this time of uncertainty and we thank them for the opportunity to show our capabilities,” he said. “We understand that this decision puts our cruise partners in a difficult position, but we fully support the governor and state health leaders in the decision to move the vessels from the port to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved, and to properly align with the stress on our healthcare resources and first responders.”
The four cruise ships docked at the Port of Gulfport during the industry shutdown were the Carnival Glory, Carnival Valor, Carnival Freedom and Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas.
The Port of Gulfport remains open to commercial traffic and the port’s administrative office has limited personnel until further notice.
The arrival of the ships on the Coast took place after four major cruise companies decided to suspend operations because of concerns about the new coronavirus outbreak. The Port of Gulfport has been in communication with the cruise companies for years. When there was a need for extra dock space, they reached out to Gulfport.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and state health officials all gave their approval to allow the ships to use the port in mid March.
On March 8, the state department warned Americans from traveling on cruise ships after COVID-19 cases started showing up on many ships — including some of those that docked in Gulfport.
A man from Ohio tested positive for new coronavirus after cruising on the Carnival Valor shortly before it was sent to Gulfport.
Also last month, Royal Caribbean emailed customers who had been on Majesty of the Seas to say that two people on the Feb. 29 cruise have since tested positive for coronavirus.
Passengers on the Carnival Freedom, which left Galveston, Texas, for a six-day cruise on March 8, were asked to quarantine for two weeks after a crew member tested positive for COVID-19, according to a letter sent to passengers.
This week, the U.S. Coast Guard directed cruise ships to prepare to treat any sick passengers and crew on board while being sequestered offshore during the coronavirus pandemic. The new rules apply to ships in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Puerto Rico.
Dozens of cruise ships are lined up at Port Miami and Port Everglades in Florida, waiting offshore during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Associated Press, officials have been negotiating over whether Carnival’s Holland America cruise ships, the Zaandam and Rotterdam, would be allowed to dock at Port Everglades this week. But the company’s Coral Princess is also coming with what that ship’s medical center called a higher-than-normal number of people with flu-like symptoms.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 12:39 PM.
