In the final stages of cruise ship crew repatriation efforts, CCL-Carnival Cruise Line worked closely with key officials from Panama (including Maritime Authority, Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health) to allow the efficient transfer of crew from the ship Carnival Miracle to cross the Isthmus of Panama (by buses) and join Carnival Glory on Panama’s opposite coast.
Carnival Miracle was positioned on Panama’s Pacific coast and ~100 crew boarded charter busses for a 1,5-hour transfer to join Carnival Glory - docked on Panama’s Atlantic side. The crew from other CCL ships also joined Glory which sailed to Curacao (Dutch Antilles) for repatriation commercial and charter flights.
Christine Duffy (CCL's President) said that Panamanian officials had truly gone “above and beyond in helping our team members transit their country and to facilitate their return home, and for that, we are very grateful.”
Duffy added they would like to express their “most sincere appreciation and thanks to many government agencies, local maritime partners, and private operators for their role in making this cross-country transfer happen.”
As of this week, the company has repatriated nearly 20,000 team members from 27 Carnival cruise ships and expects to complete the work of getting over 26,000 crew home to over 100 nations over the coming weeks.