Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) have confirmed that two of their cruise ships, Columbus and Vasco da Gama are currently undertaking a unique passenger transfer and repatriation operation to help 239 passengers return home safely
The ship-to-ship passenger exchange followed its recent announcement that all cruise operations were being suspended and voyages curtailed with the fleet returning to their home ports.
Columbus is now undertaking a 7842 nautical mile voyage directly back to the UK with 907 passengers – including 602 British nationals and 619 crew members onboard.
The voyage includes a technical call in Colombo, Sri Lanka then via the Suez Canal with a final technical call before arriving back in Tilbury on 13 April.
Meanwhile, Vasco da Gama is now undertaking a 2837 nautical mile voyage directly back to Australia. It’s helping 952 passengers including 907 Australian and New Zealander nationals and 552 crew members onboard arrive back in Fremantle (Perth) on 27 March.
Christian Verhounig, chief executive of CMV told The Wordrobe: “We are tremendously proud of our onboard and shoreside teams for their fantastic job in delivering this safe and effective operation to bring our passengers home.”
With health and safety at CMV’s forefront, passengers switching ships were observed, screened and all temperatures checked by the onboard medical team prior to the exchange starting – currently, there are zero cases of the coronavirus Covid-19 onboard either ship.
