More than 600 British travellers are stranded on a cruise ship which was denied entry to the Bahamas due to a Coronavirus outbreak. The Fred Olsen-owned vessel MS Braemar was unable to dock after 5 of its passengers tested positive for COVID-19.
The ship carrying 682 passengers (many elderly) and 381 crew anchored approx 25 miles (40 km) off New Providence Island. According to Foreign Office, it was working 'urgently' to get Brits home and was negotiating with other countries in the Caribbean in the hope they'll be allowed to disembark. If unsuccessful, the cruise ship could be forced to make a 10-day Transatlantic crossing to the UK.
An 85-year-old British woman was the liner's first passenger to be diagnosed with COVID-19 last Sunday when Braemar docked in Cartagena. She was allowed to disembark but when the vessel next docked in Willemstad another 5 people were diagnosed.
MS Braemar was scheduled to arrive at her final stop in Barbados on Thursday, March 12, but was refused entry. The ship then sailed to Freetown, Barbados, but was also blocked.
The Fred Olsen ship was also refused entry to port at the end of her previous sailing, a 14-day journey around the Eastern Caribbean after 8 people onboard were said to show 'flu-like symptoms'. Eventually, docking was allowed at St Maarten.
For other Braemar accidents and incidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.
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.