2,257 guests and crew on board cruise vessel Westerdam heading for Cambodian, Corona-virus

2,257 guests and crew on board cruise vessel Westerdam heading for Cambodian, Corona-virus

The Westerdam,a luxury cruise vessel 1,455 guests and 802 crew on board is now confirmed sailing for Sihanoukville, Cambodia, where the current cruise will end.

Vessel owners, Holland America on a notice in its website said “We will arrive at 7:00 a.m. local time on Thursday, Feb. 13 and will remain in port for several days for disembarkation. Guests will be able to go ashore. All approvals have been received and we are extremely grateful to the Cambodian authorities for their support.

Guests will disembark in Sihanoukville over the next few days and transfer via charter flights to Phnom Penh for forward travel home. Holland America Line will arrange and pay for all flights home, in addition to the full cruise refund and 100% future cruise credit already communicated.”

It added that future Westerdam voyage plans are still being finalized. The Feb. 15 cruise scheduled to embark in Yokohama has been cancelled. No cancellations for cruises with departure dates beyond Feb. 15 have been announced at this time. However, the company said it is assessing the impact of current port restrictions in Asia on cruises departing Feb. 29 or later and will communicate details as they become finalized in the next few days.

The Westerdam was on a 14-day cruise that departed Hong Kong Feb.1. and was previously scheduled to disembark Feb. 15 in Yokohama, Japan.

All guests on board are healthy and despite erroneous reports there are no known or suspected cases of corona-virus on board, nor have their ever been. In any case, Sihanoukville officials have been working through the night to prepare for the vessel’s arrival where a complete health check is expected to be completed before they are allowed to disembark.