As agreed with local government authorities, the Costa Deliziosa arrived at the Port of Barcelona this morning with 1,814 passengers and 898 crew members on board. The health situation on board is excellent, and there were no cases of Covid-19.
The disembarkation of Spanish and Portuguese passengers or residents was completed to allow their return home, thanks to the great cooperation and availability of the Spanish authorities.
Exceptionally, although Spanish ports closed to cruise passenger traffic and thanks to collaboration with Spanish authorities, Costa Cruises was able to make this stop.
The Costa Deliziosa will leave Barcelona tonight for Genoa – the cruise's final destination – where it will arrive on the evening of April 21. Starting the following day, the disembarkation of the last passengers of other nationalities, including Italians, will begin. There, navigating the current complexities caused by travel restrictions imposed globally by governments to contain the spread of the virus, the company has organized repatriations from Genoa to various countries.
Following the refusal of the French authorities, it was not possible to make a stop in France to disembark the French passengers and those of other nearby nationalities. The French passengers were offered the option of disembarking today in Barcelona and returning to France via transfers arranged by the French authorities – with Montpellier as their final destination – or continuing on to Genoa, where Costa Cruises will provide them with alternative transportation, as will the rest of the passengers.
Costa Cruises thanks the Spanish authorities, the Italian Ministry of Transport, the Coast Guard, and all local authorities involved for their constructive collaboration in recent days, which made this port call possible. The Costa Deliziosa was on a world cruise when its itinerary had to be modified due to the pandemic alert issued by the World Health Organization. This alert led authorities in the countries originally scheduled for the voyage to impose restrictions on disembarkation for their guests. For this reason, since March 14, when it was in Australia, the ship has only made technical stops for bunkering operations.
