Final cruise ships still sailing with passengers are to dock
All three liners began their voyages before the coronavirus pandemic had begun to take hold in countries around the world.
Monday 20 April 2020 16:12, UK
The final three cruise liners still sailing with passengers will finally dock on Monday and Tuesday.
The MSC Magifica has already pulled into its final port of Marseille, while the Pacific Princess will dock in Los Angeles later on Monday.
The Costa Deliziosa, which is allowing passengers off on Monday in Barcelona, will carry on to Genoa, where it will stop on Tuesday.
They began their voyages before the coronavirus pandemic had begun to take hold around the world.
All three have been sailing for several weeks with the only stops for food and provisions.
Some cruise ships have become coronavirus hotspots in recent months, with vessels docked in Tokyo and Sydney proving to be particularly badly hit by COVID-19.
The docking of the three liners will mean that every single cruise liner in the world will either be moored in port, or sailing without passengers, with most cruise lines suspending services completely.
Both the MSC Magnifica and Costa Deliziosa set sail in January on a world cruise - when the only infections were in Wuhan in China.
In a statement to Sky News, MSC Cruises, which operates the Magnifica, said: "MSC Magnifica today (20 April) arrived in the French port of Marseille, the final port of call of her itinerary.
"Disembarkation of the 1,769 passengers onboard, of which none are displaying any symptoms of COVID-19 and nor are any of the 927 crew members, started earlier today and will continue tomorrow under the auspices of Port Health of Marseille and other relevant authorities.
"The last date that MSC Magnifica allowed any new embarkation of passengers or crew was on 10 March in Wellington, New Zealand, more than 40 days ago. Most estimates of the incubation period for COVID-19 range, according to the World Health Organisation, are between one and 14 days, with five days being the global average.
"All passengers and crew during the past 40 days remained healthy and displayed no flu-like symptoms.
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The last time passengers were allowed on or off the ship was almost six weeks ago in Wellington, with the liner then stopping in Australia and Sri Lanka for food and provisions.
MSC has also arranged to get all its passengers home.
Costa Cruises said: "As agreed with local government authorities, Costa Deliziosa arrived in the port of Barcelona this morning, with 1,814 guests and 898 crew members on board. The health situation on board the ship presents no public health concerns and no cases of COVID-19.
"The disembarkation of guests of Spanish and Portuguese nationality or residency has already been completed to allow their return home.
"Costa Deliziosa is scheduled to leave Barcelona this evening to make its way towards Genoa - the final destination of the cruise - where she is expected on 21 April.
"Costa Deliziosa's itinerary on Around the World cruise, was modified following the pandemic alert issued by the World Health Organisation, which led the authorities of the countries originally included in the journey to apply increasing restrictions on the disembarkation of our guests.
"For this reason, since 14 March, when she was in Australia, the ship has only made technical stops for bunkering operations."
Princess Cruises was not able to send a statement about its ship.
The Diamond Princess was the first cruise ship to be quarantined over the outbreak when a passenger tested positive after a trip on the liner.
It spent several weeks in Yokohama in Japan and more than 700 passengers ended up contracting COVID-19.