Following 16 weeks in Falmouth UK, MS The World cruise ship bid bon voyage to the cruise port.
Home to some of the richest people in the world, the 45,000-GT residential vessel arrived in Falmouth on May 25 and remained docked there ever since. The cruise ship residents abandoned the vessel in Australia as the pandemic escalated. The ultra-luxury ship departed Falmouth Monday afternoon, September 14, heading for Tenerife Canary Islands.
Falmouth is one of a few UK ports to have hosted the liner at least 3 times. She made 3 previous calls at Falmouth, back in 2002, 2013, and 2018, spending a couple of days alongside on each call. The World residential cruise ship was welcomed into port in May with Falmouth pilot Capt. Nick Martin aboard, berthing on Queen’s jetty.
The decision to sail to Falmouth was explained in mid-March by a spokesperson for The World, Residences at Sea:
“Due to the ongoing Coronavirus (Covid-19) global public health emergency, deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, and to protect the health and safety of its residents, guests and crew, The World, Residences at Sea was taken out of service effective March 17."
All non-essential crew, residents and their guests disembarked by March 20, 2020. The ship has not had a positive Coronavirus case onboard and none of its crew, residents or guests has tested positive since leaving MS The World.
A return to service date has not been released.
When the decision to suspend sailing was made The World was partway through her 2020 around the world cruise, with an emphasis on the far East. The 2020 trip included 100+ ports of call across the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, UK, North and South America. The 150 families who own the cruise appartments would have sailed ~45,000 nautical miles in 2020.