POINTE BLANCHE:---- Port St. Maarten Management said on Sunday that the cruise ship Costa Magica will only be in port on Monday, March 16 for fuel bunkering and food provisioning as it makes its way back to its homeport.
The cruise passengers will remain onboard the vessel while the ship is receiving fuel and resupplying its food stock. Permission was granted only for the aforementioned.
Port St. Maarten has increased its sanitization operations. Port Security has been advised that persons handling the provisioning have been instructed to wash and sanitize their hands frequently as part of the enhanced sanitization program.
The Port has established a crisis emergency service department that can be deployed 24/7/365.
Costa Cruises is one of several cruise companies that have suspended their global itinerary as of last week Friday due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Cruise ships that departed homeports prior to the decision taken by the company are now making their way back to their homeports.
Costa Cruises says its global operations have been halted until April 3.
The Costa Crociere Group is Italy’s biggest tour operator. Part of the Carnival Corporation & plc Group, with a fleet of 103 ships (over 11.5 million passengers in 2016), the Costa Crociere Group is the parent company of the Costa Cruise Lines and AIDA Cruises brands.
With 27 ships in service for an overall capacity of around 76,000 guests, the Group is headquartered in Genoa and operates at global level, mainly on routes in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean, North and Central America, South America, the Arab Emirates, the Indian Ocean, the Far East and Africa.
