QCOSTARICA – The authorities of the port of Caldera prevented passengers from the Norwegian Bliss cruise ship from disembarking this Saturday because of a group of 15 people on board with covid-19.
According to the press office of the Instituto Costarricense de Puertos del Pacífico (INCOP) – Costa Rican Institute of Pacific Ports, the ship had 15 positive cases, though it did not indicate if they were all passengers or there were crew members among those infected.
The ship had 1,306 passengers and 1,677 crew members.
After the alarm was issued, coordination was made with officials from the Ministry of Health to help certify that the passengers had been quarantined.
However, for reasons of keeping the port safe, the concessionaire decided not to allow docking.
Port authorities informed the shipping company that once it complied with the measures, the ship could return to the country. According to INCOP, the ship is headed to Colombia.
This is the third cruise ship, so far this year, whose passengers are unable to disembark due to contagion problems.
The two previous cases were reported at the beginning of the year. One occurred in the port of Puntarenas. It was the ultra-luxury cruise ship Seabourn Ovation, whose docking was not authorized.
The other case occurred in the port of Limón, with the MSC Divina, which canceled its arrival in the country in advance because they were dealing with people sick with the virus.
Costa Rica began the cruise ship season last October, after a year and a half of not receiving tourists due to the pandemic.
