Seabourn Odyssey today

[Norwich Cruiser]

My wife and I are currently enjoying an extremely nice back to cruise on the Odyssey.

 

Just to update you.

 

We had an announcement early this morning from the Captain which was extremely sketchy to say the least but basically saying that we had been refused docking at our port of call today in St Barts and were heading straight to St Kitts and hopefully would be able to dock there.

 

No other explanation was give.

 

Rumours naturally then were circulating amongst the passengers but nothing at all from the crew.

 

About half hour ago the Captain made this announcement.

 

The two crew members who were ill are no longer ill ( we didn’t know any were ) and that there are now no longer any suspected cases of coronavirus on board.

 

Therefore he was hoping we would be able to dock in St Kitts about 14.00 this afternoon.

 

We are assuming it was precautionary.

 

 

 

 

[Tricia724]

There are (I read) three confirmed cases of the coronavirus in St. Barts. 

 

Possibly the ship was denied docking to protect the passengers and crew from being exposed. Even if that wasn't the reason, it may be a good thing that no one disembarked there. 

[johng75370]

Here's a newspaper report of what happened: 

On the other hand, the Seabourn Odyssey, whose stopover was scheduled for Monday, has been turned back by the local authorities. In fact, according to the health report sent the day before to the port director, two members of the crew were confined on board the boat, with significant flu symptoms. The precautionary principle therefore applied.

For each cruise or freight boat, the port management receives a health report 48 or 24 hours in advance detailing any health problems on board, among passengers and crew. In case of suspicion of a possible case of Covid-19, the authorities (prefecture and Collectivity) can decide to refuse the stopover of the boat, as was the case with the Seabourn Odyssey.

https://www.journaldesaintbarth.com/actualites/sante/coronavirus-le-seabourn-odyssey-refuse-a-gustavia-202003102106.html