Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess is being held in San Francisco while a group of guests and crew are tested for the coronavirus. There are currently no confirmed cases of the illness currently onboard, the cruise line said, but public health officials will not permit any guests to disembark until all testing results have been received.
On the morning of Thursday, March 5, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will deliver sampling kits to the ship via helicopter, after which the cruise line’s onboard medical team will administer the test. The samples will be sent in batches by helicopter to a lab in Richmond, California, across the bay from San Francisco. There are fewer than 100 guests and crew identified for testing, including all in-transit guests (guests who sailed the previous Mexico voyage and remained onboard for the current Hawaii voyage).
All guests who have been identified for testing have been asked to remain in their staterooms, Princess said.
As a result of the situation, the March 7 Grand Princess cruise to Hawaii has been cancelled. All guests will receive a full refund of their cruise fare, Princess Air, Princess Cruise Plus pre- and post-cruise hotel packages, prepaid shore excursions and other prepaid items purchased through Princess, the cruise line said. Unexpected expenses, such as air change fees, reimbursement of reasonable non-refundable out-of-pocket expenses will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Guests will also receive a future cruise credit equal to 100 percent of the cruise fare paid on this voyage.
The immediate family of guests onboard the Grand Princess can call the appropriate number of their region for assistance:
- U.S. and Canada: +1 888-358-8055
- International: +1 872-201-6779
The Grand Princess had been sailing a roundtrip Hawaii voyage out of San Francisco when the cruise line was notified by the CDC that the organization was investigating a cluster of coronavirus cases in Northern California connected to the ship’s previous voyage, a February 11 – 21 Mexico sailing that also operated roundtrip out of San Francisco. All guests who had sailed on that previous voyage and were still onboard were asked to remain in their stateroom.
Another Princess Cruises ship, the Diamond Princess, was placed under quarantine in Yokohama, Japan, for two weeks in February due to a coronavirus outbreak onboard. The ship has since disembarked all guests.
According to the latest situation report from the World Health Organization (WHO), there are now over 93,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, in 77 countries worldwide. Three thousand, one hundred and ninety-eight people have died from the illness thus far.
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