The Cambodian Health Ministry has announced that the 20 samples taken onboard Westerdam have all been confirmed as negative for coronavirus by the Pasteur Laboratory in Phnom Penh. As stated in previous communications, there were never any suspected cases of coronavirus on board.
We sincerely thank all those in Cambodia who have demonstrated a willingness to welcome us with an open mind and make decisions based on facts.
“We also extend our deepest gratitude to President Trump, Cambodia’s Honorable Prime Minister Hun Sen, Canadian Foreign Minister Champagne, elected officials across the country and governments around the world for providing support and being effective allies in bringing our guests home,” said Stein Kruse, Group CEO, Holland America Group and Carnival UK. “We are pleased with the successful resolution of this challenging journey that was complicated by unfounded fears stemming from erroneous information with respect to the medical condition of Westerdam’s guests and crew. This has all been a terrible and unfortunate misunderstanding that has impacted 2,257 people on board and hundreds of others shoreside who have worked 24/7 to get our guests home.”
Cambodian authorities have granted clearance to Westerdam to begin disembarkation of guests the morning of Feb. 14, 2020, in Sihanoukville. Flight details are being communicated to guests as they are finalized, and it is expected that a full disembarkation will take a few days given the charter flight schedule. During this time, guests will remain comfortably on board with full service in operation.
In addition to homeward travel provided by Holland America Line, guests have received a 100% refund of their cruise fare, plus an additional 100% future cruise credit. We hope that guests on this voyage will join us again and sincerely thank them for the many compliments we have received for our crew and the acknowledgements that this situation was out of our control.
Westerdam was on a 14-day cruise that departed Hong Kong Feb.1, 2020. There are 1,455 guests and 802 crew on board. The cruise was previously scheduled to disembark Feb. 15 at Yokohama, Japan.
.jpg){kind=tracking}
