Holland America Line’s Zaandam, a cruise ship with ill passengers and crew aboard, began transiting through the Panama Canal on Sunday, but it is not clear where the ship will be able to disembark.
While the Zaandam was anchored off the coast of Panama this weekend waiting for approval to use the canal, the Zaandam transferred
passengers to the Rotterdam, which is also transiting the canal.
Holland America Line indicated in its blog on
Friday that it was transferring healthy passengers to the Rotterdam via tender
boats, but cruise line president Orlando Ashford on Sunday said that he wanted to “dispel
the myth that the intention is to create a healthy ship and a sick ship that
will be managed separately.”
In a Twitter video, he said passengers were being moved so
that those staying in the Zaandam’s inside cabins could move to a balcony room on
the Rotterdam to “have access to light and hopefully some fresh air.” Ashford
also said the line wants to transfer passengers to “reduce the workload on each
ship.”
He apologized to passengers who wanted to be
transferred to the Rotterdam but were not allowed to do so.
“We tried to
identify the people we thought could most easily navigate the movement through
the ship into a tender and over to the other ship. For some of you who were
initially denied, it was out of an overabundance of caution to try to make sure
that those initial movements between ships were successful.”
The passengers will stay in isolation on both ships.
“That is the primary objective in this, to allow us to make
sure people are positioned in a way so that there is no cross-contamination and
people can heal if they need to heal and people can be protected in order to
protect their existing health, and we will do that on both the Rotterdam and
the Zaandam,” Ashford said.
The Zaandam had been in limbo for several days after being
turned away by South American ports. The ship left Argentina on March 7 on what
was supposed to be a two-week South America voyage. Passengers haven’t stepped foot
on land since March 14.
Four passengers have died on the Zaandam, Holland America
Line said on Friday. On Sunday, the cruise line said 73 guests and 116 crew members on the Zaandam have
reported influenza-like illness symptoms. At least two have tested
positive for Covid-19.
There are 797 guests and 645 crew on the Rotterdam. On the Zaandam,
there are 446 guests and 602 crew.
The Panama Canal Authority said in a statement on Saturday
night that it was “preparing to facilitate the transit of the Zaandam through
the waterway, after receiving authorization from Panama’s Ministry of Health.”
Following the authority’s announcement on Saturday, Holland
America said in its own statement that it was “aware of reported permission for
both Zaandam and Rotterdam to transit the Panama Canal in the near future.” It
said it was working with Panamanian officials to finalize details.
In his video message on
Sunday, Ashford said the company was not yet
sure where it was taking the ships.
“The important thing here is isolation, whether you are
isolated on the Zaandam or isolated on the Rotterdam,” he said. “The way that
we protect the health of those of you that are healthy is to make sure you are
isolated safely while we figure out where it is we are going to take you and
allow you to disembark and safely travel home.”
Ashford said that the plan was for the Zaandam and the
Rotterdam to travel together. In a second video on Sunday, he "thanked the Panamanian government for their support in allowing us this passage so that
we can get our guests and crew back towards safety and back towards their
journey home.” He
said he appreciated the passengers for their patience in what has been a “bumpy
road and bumpy ride.”
Meanwhile, officials in Fort Lauderdale say the Zaandam must
follow proper protocols before receiving permission to dock and disembark
passengers.
“Holland America must
submit a plan prior to arrival that addresses a long list of Unified Command
requirements for entry into a port,” the port said in a statement.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said in an emailed
statement that he has received information that the Zaandam has been given
permission to pass through the Panama Canal and continue its passage to Fort
Lauderdale.
Trantalis said he has received no assurances that passengers “will be escorted
from the ship to either a treatment facility or placed in quarantine. This is completely unacceptable.”
“We cannot add further risk to our community amid our own
health crisis here with thousands of people already testing positive for the
deadly and contagious Covid-19 virus in the tri-county area,” Trantalis said.
He urged the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security to create a plan that would protect Fort Lauderdale. He said
there are many Navy bases on the Eastern seaboard where the ship could dock in
a more controlled environment.
“We can accept the ship coming here only if at a minimum the
same protocols were followed several weeks ago when a cruise ship of sick
people docked at the Port of Oakland in California,” he said referring to the
Grand Princess, which also had sick passengers onboard and was stranded off the
coast of San Francisco for days.
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This report was updated early Monday with Holland America's updated totals of ill passengers and crew on the Zaandam.