And while Belize is H1N1 free, keeping it that way remains a priority
and that’s why health authorities had to do a comprehensive review before
letting a Royal Caribbean Cruise liner make a port call on Belize today. Royal
Caribbean Cruise Line’s “Enchantment of the Sea” docked in
Belizean waters at around 8 this morning. There were more than two thousand
passengers on board including John Travolta but for more than four hours –
they all had to sit on the ship and wait because of a swine flu scare. Six
of the Enchantment’s crew had flu symptoms and were quarantined on the
ship. As a precaution, passengers weren’t allowed to de-board until a
Ministry of Health team checked out the ship. The okay was given at mid-day
and the passengers filed off the ship. We spoke with some of the passengers
and while most had missed their excursions to inland destinations because of
the delay – they were all taking it in stride. In fact it was news to
most that there was a H1N1 scare.
Joan Robertson, Cruise Ship Passengers
“We were waiting on our cruise tour this morning and they told us
that they have evacuated someone and then they didn’t let us off the ship
until 12. That is all we know. We got here around 8 o’clock and we didn’t
get off til 12 or almost one.”
Keith Swift,
Did this affect your visit?
Joan Robertson,
“Not really because swine flu is 
everywhere now.”
Avery Daniels, Cruise Ship Passenger
“I was supposed to go on the excursion around 8 but they said there
was a delay due to some kind of, someone was sick and they had to bring them
ashore and they said the authorities in Belize were taking the precautions,
going through the medical logs and ensuring everything was legit and they gave
us a clearance maybe around noon.”
Keith Swift,
So didn’t make it on your tour?
Avery Daniels,
“They cancelled all of excursions and they are going to give back
everyone a refund so I guess it worked out anyway cause I got my money back.”
Keith Swift,
Has this affected your trip or how much you enjoyed it?
Avery Daniels,
“A little bit. I had my heart set on going to see the Mayan ruins
but it is what it is.”
Rachael Swisher, Cruise Ship Passenger
“We didn’t know. They told us that they had to check the medical
records and stuff and that was it.”
Nick Swisher, Cruise Ship Passenger
“They had like a five hour delay before we could come off the boat.”
Keith Swift,
You were delayed coming off. Did you know why?
Ann Gardener, Cruise Ship Passenger
“Nope something about the health officials and because of the flu
that is going around. We were supposed to get off at 8 and I think we got off 
around noon, so four hours.”
When the ship docked at 8 am and the Ministry of Health was informed
of the situation, two public health inspectors along with an epidemiologist
conducted the investigation. H1N1’s focal point Doctor Paul Edwards says
the six crew members had no interaction with the passengers.
Dr. Paul Edwards,
“We had our investigative team there, they boarded the ship from about eight o’clock. They conducted a thorough investigation that lasted I was
told over two hours. When all of that information was collected we say down,
we analyzed and from a medical perspective without any influence at all, that
was the decision which was the right decision. We thought that those who were
isolated as such had posed absolutely no risk to the passengers aboard that
ship and therefore those passengers onboard, if they came off the ship to Belize
they would pose absolutely no threat to our Belizean populace and based on that
decision, they had even done some survey on the ship whereby there was no passenger
who presented flu like illness and therefore this led us to the decision to
allow them to come off board to know our country.”
The ship left Miami on June 8th and left at 4:30 this evening heading
back to Miami.
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