- Foreign passengers are currently stranded on the "Splendida", an MSC cruise ship.
- They must have a ticket to return to their country to have authorization to disembark.
- The MSC company would encounter difficulties in organizing the repatriation, and would be obliged to charter planes itself, which takes time.
Impossible to disembark without a ticket to return to your country of origin. According to our information, cruise lines are currently stranded on the "Splendida", a boat of the company MSC, docked in the port of Marseille.
They are awaiting repatriation solutions to their country of origin, because of the containment instituted by the government to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The boat moored on Tuesday with more than 1,700 passengers on board who were to disembark gradually, while no suspected cases of coronavirus were noticed.
Difficulties in repatriating them
The boat has received authorization to dock from the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône, in agreement with the maritime prefecture. A hundred French passengers were able to disembark, but some foreign passengers would be forced to stay on board. Border police only allow foreigners to disembark if they have a ticket to return home. MSC would not be able to offer immediate repatriation solutions to all, due to the elimination of numerous flights and trains.
For his part, Jean-François Suhas, president of the Marseille cruise club, tempers somewhat. “The passengers are disembarking as they go. I confirm that they cannot disembark without a ticket, but MSC organizes the repatriation. The disembarkation can take several days due to the difficulty of finding means of transport. Very often it is the company which charters an airplane itself, it takes time, ”he explains. He hopes that all passengers will be disembarked within a few hours, but it is also possible that the boat will leave for Italy with passengers without a repatriation solution.
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