Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy and Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse joined the Times Square Alliance President of Countdown Entertainment Jeffrey Straus tonight, along with their families, to flip the switch that lit New York City’s famous New Year’s Eve Ball for the countdown to 2023.
Duffy and Lagasse invited everyone celebrating in New York and watching from home to “Choose Fun Together,” which is also the theme of Carnival’s 2023 advertising campaign that can be seen throughout Times Square.
At the same time, the iconic ball was lit in Times Square, and nearly 100,000 guests onboard Carnival ships fleetwide also kicked off celebrations to ring in the new year.
The German operator of a cruise ship that has been stuck in Lisbon’s port due to an outbreak of the coronavirus among its crew pulled the plug on the voyage on Sunday after some passengers tested positive, port authorities said.
The AIDAnova, with 2,844 passengers and 1,353 crew onboard docked in Lisbon on Dec. 29 while en route to the island of Madeira for New Year’s Eve celebrations, but was unable to continue the journey after 52 cases of COVID-19 were detected among the fully-vaccinated crew.
It had been allowed to leave port and head to the Spanish island of Lanzarote on Sunday, but now another 12 people have tested positive, including four passengers, captain of the port Diogo Vieira Branco told TSF radio.
“The company’s protocol was immediately actioned, with those infected, who are asymptomatic or displaying light symptoms, immediately isolated on the ship … and the company decided to end the cruise and disembark the passengers,” he said.
The passengers would be transported home by air, he added, without specifying when.
The company, AIDA Cruises, which is a subsidiary of Carnival Corp, did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Reuters footage showed passengers still enjoying the afternoon sun on decks with their drinks, and local media said the disembarking would begin after 6 a.m. on Monday.
The crew who had tested positive between Wednesday and Friday were transferred to Lisbon hotels and were in isolation there.