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Grand Princess cruise ship hit by double Covid and gastro outbreaks docks in Adelaide

South Australia Health says infections now back to normal levels ‘you would expect on any cruise ship’

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A double outbreak of Covid-19 and gastroenteritis on a cruise ship has been declared over after it docked in Adelaide and passengers disembarked on Monday morning.

South Australia Health said the remaining cases on the Grand Princess cruise ship, operated by Princess Cruises, were “consistent with numbers you would expect on any cruise ship”.

Princess Cruises said there was no current double outbreak on the ship, which had a capacity for 2,600 passengers and 1,150 crew members and was on a four day round trip from Adelaide to Melbourne. A spokesperson said the number of unwell guests with symptoms was in the “single digits”.

The spokesperson said on a previous trip, which was a 14 day round trip from Melbourne to Queensland, a number of people had symptoms of a respiratory and gastrointestinal illness.

“While most guests were unaffected by illness on that voyage, we proactively launched a comprehensive disinfection program, developed in coordination with international health authorities to prevent further spread,” they said.

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The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, said those on board the ship that arrive in Adelaide on Monday and needed urgent care would be transported to hospital facilities in a way that was safe.

“It’s been something we’ve been monitoring pretty closely over the last 48 hours,” Malinauskas told Nine’s Today show on Monday.

“The good news is reports that we’ve got from the cruise operators that the number of cases presenting has actually dramatically decreased over the course of the last couple of days.”

SA Health said in a statement the ship docked in Melbourne on Saturday to undergo a clean and all passengers disembarked while that was undertaken.

Princess Cruises said the ship will again be disinfected in Adelaide on Monday before returning to Melbourne.

Maureen Monk, a passenger aboard the ship, told ABC passengers started reporting feeling unwell on the second day of the cruise. After that, more and more were confined to their rooms.

She said she felt a lack of communication about the outbreaks created an “unsafe environment” for passengers.

It comes amid a new Covid wave in Australia, with 2,493 cases confirmed in South Australia on Friday following 1,700 confirmed cases the previous week. Cases have also risen nationally after a dip following the winter period, according to data from the federal health department.

There have also been warnings over a gastro outbreak in Australia, with cases in the past 12 months more than double the usual number .

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Welcome to Australian Cruising News.com.au

This web site was created by Brian Gaskin who is a Cruise Expert and who has now been on 70 Cruises . I have done inside, outside, balcony and suite cabins on various different ships that have cruised throughout the world. My experience’s to me are very important and I want to share these with you the Australian cruising public.  

I have also done many ship inspections to help me understand better at what a specific cruise ship or cruise line has to offer to a client [potential customer]. To me this is the number one priority and that is why Im here to help educate the Australian cruising public on what ship and cruise might be right for them,  I want help you anyway I can.

My focus is to provide you with the best information on the cruise ships that are based and homeported here in Australian waters every Australian cruising season.

If you are cruising in the future I want to be able to help you by getting the most out of your cruising holiday. I strive to be different from all the other News/ Media outlets and want to provide you with an information source you can rely on.

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I have over 244,000 followers on my website with over 40,000 people who click on and like my website every week. Those who click on my website spend over 6 minutes on the site per visit. I also am a member of 10 major cruising groups on Facebook who have members totalling 4000 members each and I am also a contributor to those sites. I then have my own face book page for my business totalling 4500 members with a weekly engagement reach of over 80,000 people.

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My Audience is made up of 61% of women aged between 25 -55 and 39% men aged between 30-60.

As of April 2020 my return rate on my website is 60% new visitors and 40% returning visitors.

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*Brian Gaskin is a true professional who takes the time and effort to ensure that his clients get the very best resources. He knows the ins and outs of cruising & can offer advise that is priceless. Drawing on a breadth of knowledge and experience, he knows the cruise lines, the ships, and the destination through and through. Brian is also an excellent, conscientious & a creative Writer. He is a consummate professional. His work is consistently excellent and on time. A nice bonus is that he is also a very skilled photographer, with a large sales expertise. He is a great photographer and pays attention to small details.

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For a video of the Inaugral Jelly Bean Cruise watch here : https://youtu.be/G0oDbwYfe_M

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Virgin Voyages Cancels 2024-25 Australia Program

• February 26, 2024

The Resilient Lady will not sail in Australian waters for Virgin Voyages for the 2024-25 season as the cruise company cancelled its program today, citing security concerns in the Red Sea.

“On the heels of these recent changes and based on the regional and government advice we have received, we remain very concerned about potential escalations in the Red Sea over the next 12 months. This significant and ongoing conflict puts unacceptable risks for safe passage through the region for our Sailors, crew and vessel (Resilient Lady). As a result, we have been left with no choice but to cancel our 2024-25 voyage season plans for Resilient Lady, impacting the late 2024 and early 2025 repositioning voyages between Europe and Australia  and a second sailing season in Australian waters,” the company said in a statement.

The Resilient Lady will now complete her Mediterranean sailing season on October 20, 2024 and divert course sailing to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a new Caribbean season offering 7, 8, 10 and 11-night voyages visiting St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Colombia, and Dominica.

“Virgin Voyages was embraced by the Australia and New Zealand markets with a warm welcome and celebrated an extremely successful inaugural season – the love was mutual. To say that we are disappointed to have come to this tough conclusion is an understatement,” the company said.

“We are currently working through options to return to Australia and the Asia Pacific region once regional repositioning opportunities become more tenable. We will share updates on future itineraries across the fleet as soon as possible, and in the event that we return for the 25’ season, existing booked Sailors will have priority to move onto these sailings. In the meantime, we know how much Aussie and New Zealand tourists enjoy visiting Europe and with two ships taking in standout destinations from our home ports in Barcelona (Spain), Athens (Greece) and Portsmouth (UK) we look forward to welcoming sailors to Europe so they can experience it the Virgin way.”

Impacted Sailors will have the option to rebook another voyage or opt for a full refund given the change in plans.

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6 american, 2 australian cruise ship passengers stranded on african island after norwegian cruise refused to let them board.

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Eight Norwegian Cruise passengers, including a pregnant woman and an elderly man with a heart condition, claim they have been stranded on an African island without money and vital medications after the vessel left port without them.

Jill and Jay Campbell, from South Carolina, said they are stuck on the Central African island of São Tomé with four other American and two Australian passengers after the captain of the ship allegedly refused to let them reboard,  according to WMBF.

But a spokesperson for the cruise line claimed the passengers were left on the island “on their own or with a private tour” and missed the “all-aboard time.”

“Guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time, which is communicated broadly over the ship’s intercom, in the daily communication and posted just before exiting the vessel,” the spokesperson said.

The Campbells acknowledged there was “an issue” on their tour of the island, and the guide “didn’t get us back” to the ship in time on Friday.

“We were like, our time is getting really short, and they were like ‘No problem, we can get you back within an hour,” Jay recounted telling the tour guide.

He said the tour operator then contacted the cruise ship captain to let them know they would be late.

When they reached the port, Campbell said the ship was still anchored, and the island’s Coast Guard took them on a boat to a ship in order to get back onboard.

The captain then allegedly refused to let them board.

“The captain could have made an easy decision to turn one of the tender boats back, pick us up, safely load us and then go on the way,” Campbell said.

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“They had no port to call for the next day, they were simply going to be at sea.”

They and the others — including a married couple from Delaware, a paraplegic and an elderly man with a heart condition — were left stranded on the island without any of their belongings from the cabin, including money, medicine and necessary travel documents.

The Campbells were the only ones who had a Visa card on their person, and had to pay more than $5,000 in food, toiletries and hotels for the group, they told WRAL.

In an updated statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Lines noted that “guests are responsible for any necessary travel costs to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call.”

Knowing this, the group had planned to fly to Gambia in West Africa to meet the cruise ship at the port on Sunday.

They then spent 15 hours traveling through six countries to reach the port on Easter, only to find out that the ship could not dock due to low tides,  according to WPDE.

The passengers are now heading to a port in Senegal, where the cruise is set to dock on Tuesday.

But doing so is not going to be easy.

“What we looked at was some type of van transportation for eight people, the quadriplegic woman included, driving from here,” Jay told WPDE.

“We have to cross the ferry to get into Senegal,” he added. “We just learned from the gentleman that the ferry hadn’t been working, but he said, ‘No problem, if the ferry is not working, we will get another little boat and then pick up a car on the other side.

“And then once we get on the other side of Senegal, it’s another four hour drive.”

Still, Jay said the voyage is worth it.

“We paid a lot for this trip to Africa, so we hope to make it through the rest of this trip and end in Spain,” he told WBMF.

In its updated statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for Norwegian said they are “in communication with the guests” and have been working “closely with the local authorities to understand the requirements and necessary visas needed if the guests were to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call.”

The Post has also reached out to Norwegian Cruise Lines for comment.

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Cruise ship nightmare: Harsh reason Aussies left abandoned on island

An Australian couple are among eight people who have accused a major cruise line of abandoning them on an African island because they were late.

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Two Australians are among a group of eight people who have accused a major cruise line of abandoning them in Africa, without returning their credit cards or medications, after they made a simple mistake.

The Norwegian Cruise Lines nautical nightmare has seen the passengers, which include a pregnant woman, a person with a heart condition and someone who is paraplegic, scrambling thousands of kilometres across Africa to reboard the ship – so far with no success.

“We have never had an experience like this before,” said one of the abandoned passengers, who added that four of the stranded group were elderly.

The US based Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) has said it was a “very unfortunate incident” but defended its actions because the passengers were late to get back on board.

News.com.au has contacted NCL’s Asia Pacific arm and asked if it is assisting the Australian passengers who are now trekking through west Africa when they expected to be enjoying a cruise.

On Wednesday of last week, the Norwegian Dawn ship docked at São Tomé and Príncipe, an island nation of 220,000 people off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea.

Many of the passengers then disembarked for day trips.

Jill and Jay Campbell, from the US state of South Carolina, were with the two Australians on a tour when they alerted their guides that they had to be back on the Norwegian Dawn by 3pm which was fast approaching.

“They were like: ‘No problem, we can get you back within an hour,’” said Mr Campbell, who is a schoolteacher.

The guide contacted the captain to say the group were going to be late. When they got back to port the Norwegian Dawn was still anchored just off shore. But staff would not allow the passengers to board.

“The harbour master tried to call the ship, the captain refused the call,” Mr Campbell told ABC 4 News South Carolina .

“We sent emails to NCL, the NCL customer service emergency number, they said ‘Well, the only way for us to get in touch with the ship is to send them emails, they’re not responding to our emails.’”

Mr Campbell said the nation’s coastguard service then put all the passengers on a boat and sailed them out to the cruise ship, but still they were refused permission to board.

Defeated, the group headed back to the island.

No bank cards or medication

There they met another cruise passenger who had also allegedly been left by NCL. The 80-year-old had been briefly hospitalised after an incident on a tour. It’s been claimed Norwegian did not call her emergency contact and left her without her money or belongings.

“I truly believe sometimes we’re put in certain places for a reason and I believe we were put in this place for the 80-year-old woman that was left alone,” Mr Campbell said.

“God forbid what would have happened to that lady if we were not here”.

Although the cruise line did deliver all the stranded passengers’ passports to the dock, the group said any bank cards, money, medications or personal belongings that they did not take on the tour that day remain on the vessel.

Jay and Jill Campbell were the only two to bring their cards with them and told ABC that they had spent at least $7500 on accommodation and food for the whole group.

They said the passenger without her heart medications had been ill on Sunday.

3000km ship chase across west Africa

The US Embassy in Angola, on the African mainland, have helped the passengers.

The 80-year-old flew direct to Lisbon for a connecting flight to the US, the Campbells said. They contacted her family and put an Air Tag tracking device on her so everyone could be sure where she was.

The remainder of the group have said they spent 15 hours travelling on Sunday to The Gambia, in West Africa, to meet the boat at its next port of call.

They hoped to be allowed to board if the captain agreed to their pleas.

However, disaster struck again, when a particularly low tide meant the Norwegian Dawn could not dock in Banjul , the capital of The Gambia.

Instead it has remained at sea before its upcoming scheduled stop in Senegal, the next nation north.

A vessel tracking website has indicated the ship is currently off the coast between The Gambia and Senegal, some 3000km from where the passengers were left on the dockside.

Chasing the cruise ship is proving to be an arduous task for the group.

“We looked at was some type of van, the quadriplegic woman included,” said Mr Campbell.

“We have to cross the ferry to get into Senegal. We just learned the ferry hadn’t been working, but (the van driver) said ‘no problem’, if the ferry is not working we will get another little boat and then pick up a car on the other side.

“And then once we get on the other side of Senegal, it’s another four hour drive,” he said.

The Campbells have claimed NCL has not been in contact with them despite the drama.

Cruise line responds

In a statement, Norwegian Cruise Lines disputed this and said it was “in communication with the guests,” and was providing them with “additional information”.

The world’s thirds largest cruise company said the guests had disembarked the vessel either to sight see on their own or to go on a “private tour” on Wednesday when they “missed the last tender back to the vessel,” at 3pm.

“When the guests did not return to the vessel at the all aboard time, their passports were delivered to the local port agents to retrieve when they returned to the port.

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“While this is a very unfortunate situation, guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time, which is communicated broadly over the ship’s intercom, in the daily communication and posted just before exiting the vessel,” NCL said in a statement.

The company said it was “working closely with the local authorities” on how the guests might re-join the ship including any visas that may be needed.

“Guests are responsible for any necessary travel costs to re-join the ship at the next available port of call.”

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17 reported hurt after river cruise ship hits a concrete passageway on the Danube in Austria

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Seventeen passengers were hurt when a Bulgarian river cruise ship lost steering and hit the sides of a lock on the Danube in Austria, the apa news agency reported Saturday. Eleven of the injured were taken to hospitals.

The ship with 142 passengers aboard, most of them from Germany, temporarily lost power to its electronics system and became unsteerable as it passed through narrow locks at 9:45 p.m. Friday, apa reported.

The ship’s power was restored but not before the bow and stern struck the concrete sides of the lock passage near the town of Aschach, a few miles upriver from Linz.

The ship sustained minor damage and continued to its next port. The cause of the loss of electrical power was under investigation.

Bridge in US city of Baltimore collapses after ship hits it, sending vehicles into water

Six construction workers who were on a bridge in Baltimore remain missing after a container ship rammed into the bridge and sent it crashing into a river, authorities in the north-eastern US city say.

But they say more casualties were prevented after the ship sent a mayday call, prompting authorities to warn traffic not to drive onto the bridge.

Two construction workers were pulled from the water after the 2.6-kilometre Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River in the early hours of Tuesday (local time).

Earlier reports suggested sonar technology had also detected cars in the river. But when asked if authorities believed vehicles had fallen into the water when the bridge collapsed, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld indicated only the construction crew may have been on the bridge at the time.

Governor Wes Moore said: "We're thankful that between the mayday and the collapse, that we had officials who were able to to begin to stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not on the bridge."

Baltimore Fire Department Chief James Wallace said of the two people rescued so far, one is in a serious condition and the other is not seriously injured. 

"We are still very much in an active search and rescue posture at this point and we will continue to be for some time we have a large area to search," he said.

"This includes on the surface of the water ... as well as the deck of the ship."

The governor has declared a state of emergency. 

A live video posted on YouTube showed the ship ploughing into the bridge in darkness. What appeared to be the headlights of vehicles could be seen on the bridge as it crashed down into the water and the ship caught fire. Reuters could not immediately verify the videos.

Baltimore police said they had been notified of the incident at 1:35am local time (3.35pm AEST).

Baltimore Mayor Brandon M Scott told the media: "This is an unthinkable tragedy."

"Never would you think you could see the key bridge tumble like that, it looked like something out of an action movie and you just think about… nothing but those families and people impacted and people risking their lives right now to try to save lives," he said.

"We will continue to work in partnership with every part of government to do everything that we can to get us through the other side of this tragedy."

Data from marine tracking websites show the vessel involved is the Singaporean-flagged container ship Dali, which had left Baltimore's Point Breeze before the collision occurred.

Synergy Marine Group, which owns the Dali, confirmed the ship had collided with a pillar of the bridge.

"Whilst the exact cause of the incident is yet to be determined, the Dali has now mobilised its Qualified Individual Incident response service," it said, adding that all crew members, including the two pilots who were aboard, have been accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries.

The Dali was scheduled to sail on shipping company Maersk's route to Colombo in Sri Lanka, the Danish company's website showed.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge opened in 1977 and spans the Patapsco River, a vital artery that along with the Port of Baltimore is a hub for shipping on the East Coast.

The port's private and public terminals handled 847,158 cars and light trucks in 2023, the most of any US port. The port also handles farm and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum and coal, according to a Maryland government website.

The bridge is named after the writer of the US national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner.

ABC/AP/Reuters

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