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Carnival ship banned from ports after Ebola scare
Carnival Magic was turned away from ports after a passenger on-board sparked an Ebola scare.
Carnival was notified by federal authorities that a lab worker who may have handled specimens collected from the first person to be given a diagnosis of Ebola in the US, Thomas Eric Duncan, was on board the cruise ship.
It said tighter travel protocols were being introduced and the woman and her husband went into voluntary quarantine in their cabin last Wednesday.
Despite being described as low risk, the ship’s seven night itinerary through the Gulf of Mexico was forcibly altered.
The Belize government refused State Department entreaties to let the couple disembark in the country so they could be flown home, while Mexican authorities in Cozumel did not allow the ship to dock for a scheduled daylong stop, reports the Guardian.
Passengers, leaving the ship as planned in Texas yesterday, were given a two-sided A4 sheet with facts about Ebola and ‘seven things to know’ about the passenger.
It said that her risk period of 21 days after potential exposure would be over on Monday, when if she continued to show no symptoms she would not require active monitoring.
"While the cruise was ongoing, your fellow passenger’s requirements for monitoring their health changed after a fellow hospital employee became ill with Ebola and extra cautions were extended," the sheet said.
"Currently, public health officials are not recommending you take any additional actions. We apologise for the disruption this has caused to your vacation."
Carnival offered each passenger $200 in ship account credit in compensation and a discount on their next cruise.
The ship was scheduled to depart for a voyage to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel but it was confirmed that the woman’s cabin would not be used this week.
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