Carnival Corp Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald defended the company’s safety record on Thursday, telling reporters in a media call that Carnival followed protocols from international authorities while handling high-profile coronavirus outbreaks aboard two of its ships.
On Feb. 3 the company’s Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined in the port of Yokohama, Japan, where 712 passengers were ultimately infected in what was then the biggest concentration of confirmed cases outside China. Nine passengers died, according to the CDC.Another outbreak occurred aboard the company’s Grand Princess cruise ship, which in March was barred from returning to port in San Francisco after authorities learned some passengers and crew had developed flu-like symptoms.
"We followed their protocol; they decided to hold the ship, they decided to put the quarantine in place. Our job was to respect it and execute it, which is exactly what we did."