The legend of the Flying Dutchman tells of a ship that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. The roughly 2,200 passengers and crew of Holland America’s MS Westerdam must feel a bit like the legendary Dutchman.  Despite have no recorded cases of the coronavirus aboard, the ship has been turned away by no fewer than five ports in Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Guam and most recently Thailand. 

The ship sailed from Hong Kong on February 1 for a 14-day cruise to Taiwan and Japan. So far the ship has made no port calls since Hong Kong, and it is unclear when the passengers will be able to disembark. Reports yesterday that the ship would dock in the port of Laem Chabang in Thailand and that the passengers would be allowed off the ship.  Nikkei Asian Review reports that amid heightened public concern, officials ultimately changed their minds citing public panic that has spread online over news of the virus, which has led to more than 1,000 deaths in China.

“I have issued orders. Permission to dock refused,” Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Facebook.

Cruise Industry News relates that Holland American Line received a letter from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment affirming that they have full confidence in all the medical reporting and the quality of our medical staff and services on Westerdam. This assessment was done in concert with the Ministry of Health of the Netherlands and was another important substantiation for our disembarkation clearance.

MS Westerdam is operated by Holland America Lines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Carnival Corp. Carnival also owns the Diamond Princess, which is quarantined in the port of Yokohama, Japan with 136 cases of coronavirus.