As governments globally warn travellers to avoid ship cruises and operators see their business threatened by Coronavirus (COVID-19), USA's VP Mike Pence said travellers "with a serious underlying health condition' should 'practice common sense and avoid activities including travelling on a cruise line".
The news comes as TUI cancelled all Marella Cruises in Asia as well as cut short its latest sailing on Marella Discovery due to restrictions because of the ongoing epidemic. Marella Discovery had been on an 14-day roundtrip sailing called "The Enchanting Far East 1."
The ship set sail in Pulau Langkawi Island last Thursday and had been scheduled to dock in Vietnam on Tuesday, March 10. Here she would have spent two days prior to the Malaysian ports Malacca and Pulau Langkawi with the voyage ending on Thursday, March 12.
However, TUI said the sailing had to be cut short because Malaysia and Vietnam were closing their ports. TUI said that ports in Asia were closing, as countries diverted medical resources to hospitals.
Countries already not accepting cruise ships also include India and Sri Lanka. Other countries (including the USA and Japan) have quarantined passengers on ships where the Coronavirus has been detected.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.