Carnival Corp. is offering cruise ships for coronavirus support

Ships would be used for non-coronavirus patients

As presaged here, cruise ships would help take the pressure off land-based hospitals so those facilities can handle COVID-19 patients. Carnival Corp. confirmed its vessels would not be housing coronavirus cases.

Trump's shout out to Micky Arison

During his Thursday briefing, President Trump announced Micky Arison would be making the ships available. 

Carnival Corp. is calling on governments and health authorities to consider using the ships as temporary healthcare facilities to treat non-coronavirus patients, freeing up additional space and expanding capacity in hospitals ashore. 

As part of the offer, interested parties will be asked to cover only the essential costs of the ship's operations while in port.

How cruise ships would be converted and what they can provide

If needed, the cruise ships are capable of being quickly provisioned to serve as hospitals with up to 1,000 cabins that can treat patients suffering from less critical conditions. These cabins can be quickly converted to install and connect remote patient monitoring devices over the ship's high-speed network, providing cardiac, respiratory, oxygen saturation and video monitoring capabilities. The cabins also have bathroom facilities, private balconies with access to sun and fresh air, and isolation capabilities, as needed.

Additionally, the cruise ships would have the ability to provide up to seven intensive care units in their medical center equipped with central cardiac monitoring, ventilators and other key medical devices and capabilities. Similar to land-based health facilities, cruise ships can also house multiple medical functions in disparate locations by using different decks to separate each required medical area.

Supported by the regular crew

The temporary hospital cruise ships would be berthed at a pier near the community in need and operated by the ship's crew, with all maritime operations, food and beverage, and cleaning services provided by crew members on the ship. Medical services would be provided by the government entity or hospital responsible for fighting the spread of COVID-19 within that community.

Contact info

Governments or health authorities with interest can contact Monica Puello by email at [email protected] or by phone at +1-305-406-8656.

See also 'Splendid case study — how the first passenger ship was transformed for coronavirus relief'