Cruises to and from China canceled amid outbreak

Several American and international cruise lines have canceled voyages to and from China, where the coronavirus has killed 213 people and infected 8,200 worldwide, most of them in China.

The decision to ground the ships comes as 6,000 people were barred from disembarking from the Carnival-owned Costa Corp mega-ship Costa Smeralda in Italy after two passengers on the ship, a 54-year-old woman and her husband from Hong Kong, were tested for the virus.

China has become an increasingly popular destination for cruises over the past few years. Many liners also cater to Chinese travelers. China's cruise industry is the second-largest in the world after the US'.

On Monday, four cruise lines that run five ships from Shanghai's Wusongkou international cruise terminal announced they would suspend operations: Costa Cruises' Costa Atlantica and Costa Venezia; MSC Cruises' MSC Splendida; Astro Ocean Cruise's Piano Land and Royal Caribbean International's Spectrum of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the company had canceled three sailings until Feb 8 on the Spectrum of the Seas, which has a homeport in China.  Passengers who were scheduled to sail on any of the canceled cruises will be given a full refund.

The company estimates that the cancellations, including the Chinese Lunar New Year cruises, will cause a decline in its 2020 financial results by approximately 10 cents per share.  

"China has moved aggressively to contain the spread of the virus," a spokesman for Royal Caribbean said in a statement. "There are still too many variables and uncertainties regarding this outbreak to calculate the overall impact on the business. ... We expect an erosion of consumer confidence in China could have an additional impact."

Carnival Corp, a Miami-based British-American company, operates the Carnival Cruise Line, and Costa, Cunard, Holland America, Seabourn and Princess cruises. It has canceled nine cruises from Chinese ports that were scheduled between Jan 25 and Feb 4.

Victoria Cruises, a New York-based company that offers trips on the Yangtze River, canceled six sailings through Feb 16.

Costa canceled sailings on Friday and Feb 2 on Costa neoRomantica and sailings for Saturday on Costa Serena and Costa Atlantica. Costa passengers are eligible for full refunds or can choose an alternative date to travel.

Some cruise lines haven't made significant changes to their itineraries. Norwegian Cruise Line's (NCL) Norwegian Jade was set to sail from Hong Kong on Friday.

NCL said passengers won't be allowed to board if they have a temperature of 100.4 Fahrenheit or above, or if they have been staying in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus, in Central China's Hubei province, over the last 30 days.