Coronavirus Impact Felt By Cruise Line Industry
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Six cruise ships are getting ready to set sail from Port Miami despite the US State Department putting out a warning Sunday telling people, especially elderly and those with underlying health concerns, not to go on cruises.
CBS4's Ted Scouten asked one cruise line passenger, "So, do you feel confident?"
"100 percent," says cruise passenger Valencia Jones.
Jones is heading out, despite warnings, and so are many others, feeling they've done enough to prepare.
"I have Neosporin in my nose, I have Clorox wipes. We're good, we're going to be healthy," said cruise passenger, Penny Williams.
All this comes as the Caribbean Princess, out of Port Everglades, received a "no sail order" from the CDC on Monday. Meaning the "...Caribbean Princess will remain at anchor of the coast of Florida until we receive further direction from the CDC and local authorities. They are testing two crew members who transferred from a ship that had a confirmed case" said a statement from Princess Cruise Line.
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"The ship has canceled its port call in Grand Cayman scheduled for March 9, however it will conduct a brief operational stop there to receive sampling kits for the two crew members before continuing to Port Everglades."
"It was terrible, it really was terrible," said a man stuck on the Regal Princess.
Late Sunday, the Regal Princess was able to return to Port Everglades. It too had a "no sail order" so it could also test 2 crew members who came from the Grand Princess two weeks earlier, where there are confirmed cases.
"Sometime mid-morning, they told us why two people from the princess grand had to be tested," said a passenger.
Those test results came back negative.
"We kept praying that it would be negative, the tests and they keep saying at least we're not on the Grand Princess."
The cruise industry has been in the spotlight with the coronavirus, even more after the State Department warned people should not go on cruises for now.
It's something that can be devastating to one of South Florida's biggest industries.
"For cruise ships, they have more cancelations now than reservations as of last week and this is revenue they can't recoup. It doesn't trickle down, it tumbles down," said Peter Greenberg, CBS Travel Editor.