Because of dozens of COVID cases among the crew of AIDA's ship AIDAnova, the boat is still stuck/tracker in Port Lisbon (Portugal).
~3000 passengers had to stay ashore on New Year's Eve and it is still unclear when they can continue the voyage.
Due to several dozen cases among the crew, AIDAnova was not allowed to leave Lisbon.
The planned voyage to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks over Port Funchal (Madeira) was canceled. Passengers had to spend New Year's Eve on land.
According to AIDA, the COVID-positive cases had been discovered early during routine testings, and the infected had been housed on land in coordination with the Lisbon authorities. They only had mild symptoms and received medical attention.
No cases of infection among passengers were reported.
The Lisbon port director said that 52 (out of 1353 crew) had tested positive. There were 2844 guests on the ship, among whom there were no positive cases. The Portuguese authorities had given AIDAnova permission to sail, regardless of the thinned-out crew.
According to AIDA, it is not yet clear when the liner will continue her voyage to the Canary Islands. The cruisers are allowed to leave the vessel without restrictions.
All people onboard AIDAnova must be vaccinated from the age of 12 and have both an antigen & a PCR test carried out prior to departure.
For more AIDAnova incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.