Feb 08, 2020 (Nikkei) - The coronavirus outbreak in China is wreaking havoc in the cruise industry, turning luxury Asian vacations into voyages to nowhere as the ships are denied entry at multiple ports.
All 21 large cruise ships that have visited China since January remain in the Asia-Oceania region, and some have been unable to confirm their next port calls, a Nikkei analysis of tracking data shows. A few vessels apparently have nowhere to go after being rejected by more than one destination.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam have all turned ships away.
Concerns about cruises becoming floating vehicles for the viral pneumonia have grown this week as Japan faced a mini-outbreak aboard a ship quarantined off Yokohama, near Tokyo. As of Friday morning, the number of infections found on the Diamond Princess was up to 61, after a startling surge of 41 from the previous day.
One of the ships now struggling to find a place to drop anchor is the Westerdam, operated by Holland America Line, a unit of U.S.-based Carnival.
The ship, which can carry about 1,960 passengers and about 800 crew members, left Hong Kong on Feb. 1, according to data provided by Refinitiv and Japan's IHI Jet Service. On Thursday, it came within 100 km of the port of Ishigaki in Okinawa but did not stop.
The Japanese government said on Friday that it had asked the Westerdam not to dock in Ishigaki. Originally, the cruise had been scheduled to call at Naha, also in Okinawa.
Data shows 11 of the 21 ships that had called in China since January stopped in Japan as well. These ships, together, were capable of carrying an estimated 35,000 passengers, or about 50,000 people including crew. Some called at the ports of Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Naha more than once.
