Cruise ship skips Valletta stopover, 28 passengers to be flown to Malta

The cruise ship MSC Grandiosa skipped its Valletta stopover on Thursday as a precautionary measure despite having no positive cases of COVID-19, following an outbreak earlier this week.

MSC Cruises confirmed that the ship sidestepped Malta and 28 holidaymakers who had to disembark in will now be flown back to the island from the ship’s next port of call. None of these 28 people had tested positive for COVID.

The ship recorded 45 positive cases of COVID-19 on Monday, who disembarked at the Italian port of Genoa. The cases represented fewer than 1% of those on board.

In a statement on Thursday, MSC Cruises said the “limited number” of positive COVID-19 cases had been identified on board the ship during the course of her previous cruise. It said the cases were detected as a result of the company’s stringent health and safety protocol. 

The company said all individuals who tested positive during the ship’s previous cruise, and their close contacts, were isolated and had long disembarked in ports close to their homes earlier this week. 

The ship currently has 2,678 passengers and 1,400 crew on board, a total of 4,078 people.

MSC Grandiosa is continuing to operate regularly and performing her weekly 7-day cruise in the Mediterranean, the company said.

MSC Cruises requires all crew and passengers aged 12 and over to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 
Passengers must take a COVID-19 test prior to embarkation and they are regularly monitored on board through additional testing and other measures during their cruise. Crew are tested regularly every two days. This means that during the course of any cruise, 100% of people on board are tested multiple times to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the protocol for the wellbeing of all onboard. This is unlike anything that happens in any other environment ashore,” the company said.