The disembarkation process of the crew from the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship Diamond Princess has started today at the Port of Oakland, California. First to disembark are around 400 Filipino crew members and 6 passengers which will be repatriated home with a 747 charter flight scheduled to leave late Saturday afternoon. Two more charter flights are scheduled on Sunday, from SFO for the remaining foreign national passengers and non-essential crew aboard the Grand Princess.

The luxury expedition cruise line Ponant will voluntarily suspend the cruise operations across the entire fleet as their ships are not able to continue sailing in the right conditions. Following this difficult decision the company sent a letter to all the crew members saying that a significant financial effort will be made out of solidarity to support disembarked crews.

The German Cruise line AIDA Cruises has made a very difficult decision announcing temporarily pause of its global cruise operations until early April 2020. The decision was taken as a response to the global spread of COVID-19 virus, recently calling for extraordinary measures and for the resolute contribution of all stakeholders to stop the outbreak.

Following the recent global developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Italian cruise line Costa Cruises has decided to voluntarily suspend voyages on all of its cruise ships  Costa Cruises announces they will put on hold the global operations of their vessels, impacting voyages until April 3, 2020. The decision was taken as the global spread of the Coronavirus is calling for extraordinary measures and for the resolute contribution of all stakeholders to stop the outbreak. 

 Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD. announced today the company will suspend cruising in the United States. Beginning at midnight tonight, Royal Caribbean is pausing the fleet's U.S. sailings for 30 days.

The company is communicating with their shipboard employees to resolve any issues they have regarding this difficult decision.

Princess Cruises announced today it is suspending voyages on all 18 of its cruise ships due to the global spread of the coronavirus. Princess Cruises has made a difficult decision and said the company will voluntarily pause global operations fleet-wide for two months (60 days), impacting scheduled voyages departing from March 12 to May 10.

The US Coast Guard medically evacuated an ill man on Wednesday evening, from the cruise ship Carnival Magic. According to reports the man was suffering from a suspected heart attack and needed urgent medical attention on land. A passenger onboard Carnival Magic says that the man was a crew member working in the ship's main laundry.

United Arab Emirates Transport Authority announced that all cruises operating out of the UAE have been suspended. The latest precautionary measure announced Tuesday night come as a response to stop the spread of coronavirus the government said.

Today the Italian cruise line Costa Cruises, announced they will not allow embarkation of passengers from Italian ports until April 3. The cancelations come after the Italian government imposed travel restrictions across the country. Voyages currently underway will stop in Italian ports only to allow guests to disembark and return home, the company said in a statement.

The cruise ship MSC Opera has canceled the next 12-Day Mediterranean voyage departing from Genoa, Italy and the vessel will remain in port until further notice. According to MSC Cruises, the cancelation of the March 10-21 cruise on MSC Opera comes after the Italian government announced new restrictive measures that affect the entire Lombardy region and 14 other provinces in northern Italy.