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 The MS Westerdam, carrying 1,455 passengers and 802 crew, docked at
the Cambodian port town of Sihanoukville in the evening after
anchoring offshore early in the morning to allow Cambodian officials
to board the vessel and collect samples from passengers with any
signs of ill health or flu-like symptoms.
Fluid samples from 20 people were sent by helicopter to Phnom Penh,
Cambodia's capital, for virus tests, local officials said.
"We've had so many near moments we thought we were going home only
to be turned away," Angela Jones, an American tourist on board, told
Reuters in a text message. "This morning, just seeing land was such
a breathtaking moment."
Jones and her fellow passengers have spent almost two weeks at sea
as several countries refused to let their ship dock.
The timing of their final journeys home was still uncertain,
however, as the ship faces health checks by authorities and
passengers need to be taken to Phnom Penh to catch charter flights.
The ship's captain, Vincent Smit, initially told passengers in a
letter that some could leave Cambodia as early as Friday,
But in a later announcement, he said there could be delays because
of the "number of organisations and authorities" supporting the
operation to disembark, as well as the short notice given to
Cambodia requesting permission to dock.
Local officials in Sihanoukville told reporters that chartered
planes to take people from the port town to Phnom Penh were not
ready yet, and the Westerdam had asked to delay disembarkation until
Friday.
Passengers have had regular health checks throughout the journey,
said Holland America Line, the ship operator and a unit of
Miami-based Carnival Corp.
Nobody has fallen ill aboard, but the ship was turned away by Guam,
Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand over fears that someone
on board could have the new flu-like virus. The disease has killed
more than 1,300 people and infected about 60,000 people, with the
vast majority of deaths and cases in China.
In a video address shown on board the Westerdam, Orlando Ashford,
the president of Holland America Line, thanked passengers for their
understanding in "incredibly unusual and challenging circumstances".
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"I'm sure you'll have some good stories to tell when you reach your
final destination home," Ashford said in a copy of the video seen by
Reuters.
To break up the monotony, the ship's crew organised dozens of
activities, passengers told Reuters this week.
'INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY'
The sound of cheering inside the ship could be easily heard from
Sihanoukville port when the Westerdam finally docked.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised
Cambodia for its example of "international solidarity" that the WHO
has been calling for.
Stoking authorities' fears in countries on the ship's route has been
the quarantine in Japan of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, also
managed by a unit of Carnival Corp. Of the 3,700 passengers and crew
on that vessel, 175 have tested positive for the virus.
On Tuesday, the Westerdam tried to dock in Bangkok but was denied
permission by Thai authorities. On Wednesday, a Thai Navy warship
escorted it out of the Gulf of Thailand, and it set course for
Cambodia, the Marine Traffic website showed.
In a video message posted to Twitter, the U.S. ambassador to
Cambodia, Patrick Murphy, said he had sent a team to help U.S.
citizens with disembarking and continuing their journeys, and was
coordinating with embassies of other nations.
Jones was still puzzled how she ended up on a fortnight-long cruise
to nowhere.
"Thousands of travellers by air interacting with hundreds of people
can land no problem but a cruise ship that made a one-day stop in
Hong Kong almost two weeks ago is rejected by so many countries,"
she said.
"Still makes no sense".
(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul in Sihanoukville and James Pearson in
Hanoi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Richard Pullin and Frances
Kerry)
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