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.