Fury as thousands of TUI cruise passengers face 12-hour flight back to Britain after £1,200 voyage is SCRAPPED mid-trip
ABOUT 1,400 holidaymakers face being flown back to the UK from Singapore on a 15 hour flight after most Asian ports stop accepting cruise ships because of coronavirus.
The ship's operator TUI said it had been forced to abandon the schedule because Vietnam was refusing its vessel entry — even though no one on the ship was suspected of having the bug.
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Future cruises in Asia have now been cancelled until future notice as the number of infections worldwide is more than 109,000, with about 3,800 deaths.
Before the ship sailed passengers were worried that it would be cancelled and asked for a refund or another cruise — but were reportedly rebuffed and told it would go ahead.
The Marella Discovery had been on an 11 day round trip called the Enchanting Far East 1, which cost from £1,200 per person.
It set sail in Pulau Langkawi Island, Malaysia last Thursday and had been due to dock in Vietnam today.
Here it would have spent a couple of days before sailing on to the Malysian ports of Malacca and Pulau Langkawi Island with the cruise ending this Thursday.
But TUI said the cruise had to be cut short because Vietnam and Malaysia were closing their ports.
The ship has now been refused entry to Vietnam... they wanted all on board to see a doctor, although though everyone is well
Passenger Nick Haigh
A spokesman told Sun Online: "We can confirm that we have taken the difficult decision to curtail Marella Discovery’s current sailing in Asia.
"Due to the restrictive measures now in place for cruise ships across the region we can no longer offer the itineraries people have booked, or comparable alternatives.
"Ports are closing as governments are diverting much-needed resources away from entry points like ports and airports back to their hospitals and clinics.
"Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India are no longer accepting cruise ship arrivals and Vietnam and Thailand are making entry requirements that would severely impact our customers’ holidays.
"We are in contact with all customers and are currently working hard to organise flights home for our customers on-board.
"We appreciate the patience of those customers and will be keeping them frequently updated as we confirm plans for their return home."
"We are currently working to organise flights home for our customers so at the moment we can’t confirm anything beyond our stop in Singapore."
Passenger Nick Haigh wrote on Facebook yesterday: “The ship has now been refused entry to Vietnam.
"They wanted all on board to see a doctor, although though everyone is well, heading to Singapore now hoping to dock, two more sea days now."
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TUI said it would be offering compensation to customers on the cruise and future ones.
Currently five cruise ships have been stricken by coronavirus outbreak fears in the past few days.
The Regal Princess had been held off the coast of Florida after two crew fell ill, although it was allowed to dock in Port Everglades after they tested negative.
Meanwhile the Grand Princess was held of the California coast until after 19 crew members and two passengers were diagnosed with the illness.
The UK is scrambling to send a plane to rescue 142 stranded Brits on board the ship
A huge group of UK nationals are stuck on the Grand Princess, marooned off the coast of California after being turned away for docking due to positive testing of the bug.
The US marines previously flew in testing kits by helicopter to officials on board, which led to 21 people being diagnosed with COVID-19.
No10 said this morning: "We are working intensively with the US authorities for a flight for the British nationals on the crew ship."
A British woman trapped on the ship claims passengers are "fighting over food" - and that “only Americans will leave” for testing.
Another marooned ship is the MSC Lirica, with an estimated 1,400 people on board.
It was supposed to dock at Mangaluru in southwestern India on Saturday morning, but officials refused permission.
The Swiss-owned MSC Opera with 2,302 passengers on crew onboard was alsddo forced to divert to Messina in Italy after being turned away from Malta.
And Egyptian authorities confirmed yesterday that 45 people on a River Nile cruise ship had been diagnosed with coronavirus.
It was towed to the city of Luxor and placed in quarantine.
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