Due to the Bubonic Plague outbreak, Fred Olsen Cruise Line’s ship Boudicca, currently sailing from Liverpool to Port Louis in Mauritius will no longer be calling at any Madagascan ports, the cruise line has confirmed.
A spokesperson told Cruise Arabia & Africa that “the health, safety and wellbeing of all of Fred. Olsen’s guests and crew remains its top priority at all times” and as such, it has decided to avoid the island nation.
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Madagascar is currently experiencing an outbreak of Bubonic and Pneumonic Plague that the World Health Organisation has said is a serious risk to the wider Indian Ocean region. More than 1,000 people in the country are infected and over a hundred have died.
Although the WHO has not yet enacted travel restrictions, Fred Olsen has decided to skip the country altogether.
Boudicca was due to call at Tamatave, Madagascar on November 12th, instead she will visit Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Comoros Islands on 11th November.
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“Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has taken the decision not to call at Madagascar on the first of its ‘Indian Ocean’ fly-cruises, which departed from Liverpool on 14th October 2017, due to concerns regarding the Bubonic and Pneumonic Plague outbreak in the country at the present time,” the cruise line said.
Boudicca is scheduled to call at Madagascar’s port of Tamatave several more times during November and December on roundtrip cruises out of Mauritius, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines said a decision on whether to change these itineraries would be made “imminently”.
“Fred. Olsen has consulted the relevant medical and maritime authorities and continues to monitor the situation in Madagascar closely. A decision regarding further calls into Madagascar for the remainder of Fred. Olsen’s ‘Indian Ocean’ fly-cruise season in 2017 will be made imminently,” a spokesperson told Cruise Arabia & Africa.
Categories: News, SA Cruise News
