MIAMI, March 19, 2020
/PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation &
plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure
travel company, today announced that select cruise ships from the
company's global cruise line brands, including Carnival Cruise
Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises
Australia, will be made available to communities for use as
temporary hospitals to help address the escalating impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems around the world.
With the continued spread of COVID-19 expected to exert added
pressure on land-based healthcare facilities, including a possible
shortage of hospital beds, Carnival Corporation and its brands are
calling on governments and health authorities to consider using
cruise ships as temporary healthcare facilities to treat
non-COVID-19 patients, freeing up additional space and expanding
capacity in land-based hospitals to treat cases of COVID-19. As
part of the offer, interested parties will be asked to cover only
the essential costs of the ship's operations while in port.
Governments or health authorities with interest can contact
Monica Puello by email at
MPuello@Carnival.com or by phone at (305) 406-8656.
If needed, cruise ships are capable of being quickly provisioned
to serve as hospitals with up to 1,000 hospital rooms that can
treat patients suffering from less critical, non-COVID-19
conditions. These temporary cruise ship hospital rooms 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 rooms also have bathroom facilities, private balconies with
access to sun and fresh air, as well as isolation capabilities, as
needed.
Additionally, cruise ships being used as temporary hospital
facilities to treat non-COVID-19 patients would have the ability to
provide up to seven intensive care units (ICUs) in the ship's
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 on the ship to separate each required medical
area.
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.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is the world's largest
leisure travel company with a portfolio of nine of the world's
leading cruise lines. With operations in North
America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise
Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn,
P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises,
P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard.
Together, the corporation's cruise lines operate 105 ships with
254,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with
16 new ships scheduled to be delivered through 2025. Carnival
Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess
Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the
Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London
Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the
only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and
the FTSE 100 indices.
With a long history of innovation and providing guests with
extraordinary vacation experiences, Carnival Corporation has
received thousands of industry awards – including recognition by
the Consumer Technology Association™ as a CES® 2019 Innovation
Awards Honoree for OceanMedallion™. A revolutionary wearable device
that contains a proprietary blend of communication technologies,
OceanMedallion enables the world's first interactive guest
experience platform transforming vacation travel on a large scale
into a highly personalized level of customized service. The
prestigious CES Innovation Awards honor outstanding design and
engineering in consumer technology products.
Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com,
www.princess.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.seabourn.com,
www.pocruises.com.au, www.costacruise.com, www.aida.de,
www.pocruises.com and www.cunard.com.
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-corporation-extends-offer-to-governments-and-health-authorities-to-consider-cruise-ships-as-temporary-hospitals-301026996.html
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc