MIAMI – A cruise ship that was turned away from two different ports after a coronavirus scare is now back in South Florida.
The MSC Meraviglia returned to the Port of Miami after a weeklong cruise that was originally supposed to make its first stop in Jamaica.
The ship was denied entry to two ports after a crew member on-board began exhibiting flu-like symptoms.
Passengers have been promised a full refund.
After being turned away from Jamaica, the ship was then denied entry to its second port in the Cayman Islands. It was finally allowed to dock in Cozumel, Mexico, on Friday.
MSC said the crew member in question only had the flu and had not visited any area impacted by the coronavirus.
While passengers have been promised a full refund, some say the whole experience could have been handled better.
“They kept saying there’s one passenger that might be sick, they’re not sick. Then they said we were cleared, then we weren’t cleared. Then they said every half hour we’re going to give you updates, never updated us for seven or eight hours, they just left us there,” said James Bratta from New Jersey.
Other passengers were understanding of the situation.
“There’s not much that they could’ve done, but they reimbursed us for 100 percent of the cruise. The staff is just excellent, they’re so nice. Too bad that some people got so upset and caused all this... not nice to see at all. But other than that, everything was great,” said Jackie Bomerleau from Canada.