1 THIS IS A DAILY COMPILATION OF MEDIA ARTICLES CONCERNING THE COVID-19 IMPACT TO THE GLOBAL CRUISE INDUSTRY. Please note this isn’t a complete listing of media articles but a snapshot only. 29 March, 2020: PASSENGERS TRANSFERRED FROM VIRUS-STRICKEN CRUISE SHIP OFF PANAMA Passengers on a virus-stricken cruise liner stranded off Central America were transferred to another ship Saturday, after the US-bound vessel was given permission to pass through the Panama Canal. The Zaandam had been stuck in the Pacific Ocean since March 14 after dozens of the 1,800 people on board reported flu-like symptoms and several South American ports refused to let it dock. The ship's Dutch owner Holland America said Friday four passengers had died and two more had tested positive for COVID- 19. Panama on Saturday reversed its decision to block the Zaandam from its canal, and said it would be allowed to pass "to provide humanitarian help." Another ship, the Rotterdam, has since arrived off the coast of Panama from San Diego carrying food, medical staff, testing kits, medicine and food for the beleaguered vessel. Passengers showing no signs of the virus were ferried from the Zaandam to the Rotterdam on Saturday, a French tourist told AFP by telephone. "It's like emptying a bathtub with a teaspoon," she said. "The boats can hold about 100 people, and they are putting about half in at a time. That's why it's going slowly." The Zaandam cruise liner left Buenos Aires on March 7 and was supposed to arrive two weeks later at San Antonio, near Santiago in Chile. Since a brief stop in Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia on March 14, it has been turned away from several ports after reporting that 42 people aboard were suffering from flu-like symptoms. Then on Friday, Panama's government blocked the vessel from its waterway, cutting off its route to Florida. "It is very difficult to maintain mental health" aboard the vessel, passenger Dante Leguizamon, from Argentina, told AFP Saturday in a video recorded in the small cabin he has been confined to for six days. "I am... on a boat that I cannot get off, with coronavirus patients, with four dead, going to Miami, full of uncertainty, without money... and without knowing if there is a plane back to my homeland." Panama's Maritime Affairs Minister Noriel Arauz told AFP that 401 passengers who had tested negative for COVID-19 would be allowed to leave the Zaandam. People who were ill and those who had been in contact with them will not be transferred. The Zaandam will now head to Fort Lauderdale in Florida, where the remaining passengers will be able to disembark, according to Holland America and Panamanian officials. The Rotterdam is expected to return to San Diego, Arauz said. Ref: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/passengers-transferred-from-virus-stricken-cruise-ship-off- panama/ar-BB11Rx6m?ocid=chromentpnews Document prepared by A.L. Skinner Consulting Inc https://gusskinnerconsulting.com subject to changes / amendments pg. 1 2 © Ivan PISARENKO The cruise ships Zaandam (L) and the Rotterdam are seen in Panama City bay on March 28 © Ivan PISARENKO Off the coast of Panama, passengers were being ferried from the virus-stricken cruise liner Zaandam to another vessel Document prepared by A.L. Skinner Consulting Inc https://gusskinnerconsulting.com subject to changes / amendments pg. 2 3 29 March, 2020: CORONAVIRUS: CRUISE SHIP OFF PANAMA COAST TRANSFERS PASSENGERS A cruise ship carrying more than 1,800 people off Panama has begun moving healthy passengers to another ship after four people died and two others tested positive for coronavirus. The owners of the Zaandam, Holland America, said that more than 130 people on board had reported suffering "flu-like symptoms" and respiratory issues. The Dutch-owned operator said it was transferring asymptomatic people to a sister ship. It said this would avoid further cases. The Zaandam and its sister ship the Rotterdam are both off the Pacific coast of Panama. The Zaandam was planning to sail to Florida, but got stuck after the Panamanian authorities said that no vessel with confirmed coronavirus cases on board could pass through the Panama Canal. However, both ships were later granted permission to continue their journeys in order "to provide humanitarian help" - although the Panamanian authorities added that no passenger could disembark. Read more….https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52072703 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-29/passengers-on-death-ship-plead-for-rescue- after-virus- strikes?cmpid=BBD032920_CORONAVIRUS&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term= 200329&utm_campaign=coronavirus 29 March, 2020: CORONAVIRUS: HOLLAND AMERICA'S ZAANDAM, ROTTERDAM GET PERMISSION TO TRANSIT PANAMA CANAL Things are starting to go Holland America's way after Panama's Ministry of Health gave the cruise line permission for two of its ships, MS Zaandam and MS Rotterdam to transit the Panama Canal, expediting their return to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by two days. As of Friday, four elderly passengers on the Zaandam had died of coronavirus; 138 more have reported flu-like symptoms associated with the virus that had sickened nearly 664,700 people and killed nearly 31,000 worldwide as of Saturday night. Of several symptomatic passengers who were tested, two tested positive for COVID-19. "We are aware of reported permission for both Zaandam and Rotterdam to transit the Panama Canal in the near future. We greatly appreciate this consideration in the humanitarian interest of our guests and crew," Holland America said in a statement issued by spokeswoman Sally Andrews late Saturday night. "This remains a dynamic situation, and we continue to work with the Panamanian authorities to finalize details." Read more…. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/28/covid-19-holland-america-splitting-up-its- healthy-sick-passengers/2933381001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/28/covid-19-holland-america-splitting-up-its- healthy-sick-passengers/2933381001/ 29 March, 2020: 4 TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 ON ROYAL CARIBBEAN SHIP, CAPTAIN SAYS. CREW UNLOADED IN MIAMI Fourteen crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a recording obtained by the Miami Herald. On Saturday, a crew member aboard the ship recorded the Oasis of the Seas’ captain making an announcement over the P.A. system that 14 people had tested positive. “At the moment, we have 14 that have test positive for COVID-19 onboard the Oasis of the Seas out of all we have tested,” the captain said in the recording. Royal Caribbean said in a statement: Document prepared by A.L. Skinner Consulting Inc https://gusskinnerconsulting.com subject to changes / amendments pg. 3 4 “The health and well-being of our crew is our foremost priority. Crewmembers who exhibited symptoms were evaluated by our medical staff and remain under close supervision. In accordance with our health and safety protocols, our crew have been asked to self-isolate in cabins while we await confirmation of initial results from public health authorities.” Read more… https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241598366.html?utm_source=pushly&intcid=p ushly_501060 29 March, 2020: CORONAVIRUS: HUNDREDS TO BE EVACUATED FROM VIRUS-HIT SHIP OFF PANAMA Hundreds of passengers on a cruise ship, where four people have died and over 130 others have influenza- like symptoms, including at least two with the coronavirus, will be transferred to a sister ship, Panamanian authorities said on Saturday (March 28). "The ship which could not dock at any port in South America will remain in Panamanian waters eight nautical miles from the coast, since it did not receive approval from Panamanian health authorities to cross the (Panama) Canal," Panama's maritime authority said. It said 401 asymptomatic passengers will be transferred from cruise operator Holland America Line's 238-meter MS Zaandam vessel to the Rotterdam, a sister ship. Read more… https://www.straitstimes.com/world/americas/coronavirus-hundreds-to-be-evacuated-from-virus-hit- ship-off-panama 28 March, 2020: MORE THAN 4000 FILIPINO CRUISE SHIP CREW TO BE REPATRIATED Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr announced on Saturday, March 28, that the Department of Foreign Affairs would repatriate more than 4,000 Filipino crew members of cruise ships "in the next three weeks." Locsin revealed on Twitter that a total of 530 of them who were the crew of Costa Magica and Costa Favolosa, would arrive in the country on Sunday but there were no hotels or motels to book the crew in. Italian cruise company Costa Cruises, which operates the liners, earlier cancelled all operations until April 3 due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Magica and Favolosa were anchored close to the port of Miami FL on Thursday because some sick crew showed flu-like symptoms. Locsin said that the Department of Tourism already had “a list of accommodations” but it should be vetted by the Department of Health, according to protocol. Under the DOH protocol, none of the incoming repatriates would be tested but in previous cases, repatriates were placed on 2-week quarantine in a government-designated facility. Last month, 445 Filipino crew were repatriated from the Coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess in Japan. The crew members were brought to New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac – the national quarantine facility of the Philippines for the COVID-19 outbreak. The crew members aboard Diamond Princess are expected to leave the quarantine facility and return to their homes on Sunday, March 29. They appealed to the government to be tested for COVID-19 first so they would not pose risk to their families and communities.