EASTPORT, Maine (AP) — A cruise ship that tied up in Eastport during the pandemic is ready to set sail.
The Oceania Riviera will depart this weekend for Europe.
The 785-foot ship arrived in Eastport on June 14 with no passengers and has been waiting for the green light for cruise ships to resume operations.
Oceania Cruises, which owns and operates Riviera, declined to comment on why the ship is moving. But a local official told the Bangor Daily News
that the ship is sailing to Europe so it can switch out the crew members who live on the ship and maintain the vessel.
Cruise lines stopped sailing in mid-March after several outbreaks of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, in ships at sea.
The Riviera was big enough to hold Eastport’s entire population of 1,300, and it dominated the community’s harbor.