The MSC Seaside, which was scheduled to depart Jacksonville on June 21st with a stopover in St. Thomas US Virgin Islands before continuing on its voyage to the Western Caribbean has been delayed due to additional testing by the ship’s sanitation department. The initial departure date is now set for Tuesday, July 3rd at 10:30 am EDT and will include both stops in St. John USVI and Barbados.-
The “msc cruise updates 2021” is an issue that has been present for a while. MSC Cruises has announced additional testing for guests, and adjusted the itinerary.
The MSC Divina, a Miami-based MSC cruise ship, has been forced to change its schedule, including canceling a stop in Colombia. On January 1, the ship was scheduled to dock in Cartagena’s historic city center.
This isn’t the first time the ship has had problems this week. Today, December 31, the vessel was refused admission to Oranjestad, Aruba. The ship took extra precautions earlier this week, arranging an additional antigen test aboard on December 28 to prevent any potential problems.
The MSC Divina’s Itinerary Has Been Affected
Omicron’s impacts are being seen by an increasing number of cruise lines and cruise ships throughout the globe. Not in the least because of the increasing number of instances aboard. Despite the fact that these incidents seem to have little to no impact on persons who are impacted, they do have an impact on itineraries.
MSC Divina was refused admission to Oranjestad, Aruba, in the Dutch Caribbean on December 31. While the vessel has observed an increase in cases since departing Miami on December 26, the island of Aruba has seen a significant spike in cases as well. The refusal to dock came as little surprise, given that other cruise ships had been refused admission to the port in recent days.
MSC Cruises provided this image.
MSC Cruises, on the other hand, cannot be responsible for failing to take the necessary steps. Guests aboard the MSC Divina were invited to do an extra antigen test on December 26th, according to a letter from Captain Sarcinella:
“Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases seen around the world, with the contagious Omicron variant becoming the dominant strain, MSC Cruises has decided, out of an abundance of caution, to require all guests who embarked yesterday (December 26) to take an additional antigen test as part of our existing protocol.”
MSC Divina has voluntarily cancelled a call to Cartagena, Colombia. According to the Mayor of Cartagena, growing cases aboard totaled to 50 crew members, who did not need to cancel the call since the ship opted to do so on its own.
“Two days ago they had three instances of COVID, yesterday they had 50,” Mayor William Dau said. “They had already been rejecting admission in other ports, and we were not going to authorize it in Cartagena, but it was not required since they themselves, in a sensible choice, opted to turn back.”
MSC Cruises provided this image.
MSC Divina is on an 11-day roundtrip voyage from Miami, Florida, that will take her to many locations in the Southern and Western Caribbean. She set out on December 26. The ship did not dock at Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and the stops in Aruba and Cartagena were canceled. The vessel’s next port of call was Colon, Panama, but it seems that she has been given access to Roatan, Honduras, where she will arrive on December 31, 2021.
According to unconfirmed claims on the internet, the ship has already canceled all remaining stops on the trip and will instead go to Cozumel, Mexico.
Are the Preventive Actions Effective?
Despite the cruise companies’ best efforts to maintain ships as secure as possible, the scenario MSC Divina finds herself in this week demonstrates how difficult it can be for cruise lines to manage the multiplicity of laws and modifications that ports are enacting, particularly in the Caribbean.
EQRoy / Shutterstock.com / EQRoy / Shutterstock.com / EQRoy / Shutter
All visitors above the age of 12 must be completely vaccinated, guests must present a negative antigen test before to boarding, and, as previously stated, the vessel conducted an extra test aboard the vessel on December 28.
COVID-19 is being kept at bay to some extent thanks to the cruise companies’ vaccine regulations and testing. Aboard, the company’s and onboard workers have also shown extraordinary ability to locate and isolate instances. All of this is shown by the low number of cases aboard, with most ships carrying less than 1% of total passengers.
However, with the CDC upping the health travel alert to level 4 and local governments putting any agreements between cruise lines and ports of call on hold, it seems like the tide is turning against the cruise industry once again.
Watch This Video-
The “msc cruise covid policy” is an additional testing for guests, it has been adjusted. The company will be able to accommodate more people on the ship.
Related Tags
- msc cruises
- msc cruises rules
- msc divina itinerary 2021
- msc divina current position
- msc cruises 2021
