Cruise docks at Florida post after virus test of 2 staff

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Regal Princess cruise ship finally pulled into a Florida port and passengers began disembarking after two crew members tested negative for coronavirus.

The Regal Princess was originally to have docked Sunday morning in Port Everglades but instead spent most of the day sailing up and down the coast. The Coast Guard delivered testing kits to the Regal Princess and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a “no-sail order” for the ship.

The crew members in question had transferred more than two weeks ago from the Grand Princess cruise ship in California where nearly two dozen on board have tested positive for the virus, including 19 crew members, according to Princess Cruises. The cruise line said in a statement earlier Sunday that the crew members of the Regal Princess shouldn't pose a risk to anyone on board because they did not exhibit respiratory symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and were well beyond the advised 14-day virus incubation period.

A Port of Everglades spokeswoman, Ellen Kennedy, said later Sunday that the CDC had cleared the ship to enter port. She told The Associated Press by email that the ship would be docking at a cruise terminal in the port about 10 p.m. Sunday.

A Princess Cruises statement issued early Monday said the CDC issued the clearance after the test results came back negative.

After the ship docked, passengers stood on their balconies as they waited to disembark, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported from scene. The first passengers were let off about an hour after the ship pulled into port.

“The crew was wonderful,” Elizabeth Goetsch, of Wisconsin, told the Fort Lauderdale paper. “I wasn’t really worried about the health issues because they encouraged us and they calmed...