Update: March 1, 2012, 325am
Costa Crociere reports that Costa Allegra has arrived and docked at Port Victoria on the island of Mahe in the Seychelles. Disembarkation by passengers has begun.
The cruise ship was disabled by a generator room fire on Monday morning while cruising in the Indian Ocean. It has been towed since Tuesday morning by the French oceangoing fishing vessel Trevignon.
Video of Costa Allegra arriving at Mahe is below.
Update: March 1, 2012, 12:14pm
Costa Crociere reports that disembarkation of passengers and crew from Costa Allegra has been completed. The process took about two hours. Members of Costa's Care Team are seeing to the needs of the passengers.
Costa says that about 70% of the 627 passengers have now accepted Costa's offer of continuing their vacation for up to two weeks at a resort in the Seychelles at Costa's expense. The others are being accommodated in hotels today, and will leave tonight on flights to Paris, Milan via Rome, and to Zurich via Vienna. They will arrive the morning of March 2.
Costa says they are "sincerely sorry for the discomfort caused to [the] Guests but happy to have found them in good health." Costa has offered them the following compensation package:
- a full refund of the cruise fare paid and associated travel expenses.
- a full refund of any onboard expenses incurred during the cruise.
- indemnity equivalent to the amount of the fare paid for the cruise and associated travel costs.
- those who are not accepting the line's offer of a free vacation in the Seychelles will receive a voucher for a future Costa cruise in the next 24 months equal to the value of their unfinished cruise.
The line also said, "Costa Crociere would like to express its gratitude to the master of Costa Allegra Nicolò Alba and all members of the crew, to the Guests of Costa Allegra, to the master and crew of the French deep sea fishing boat Trevignon, to the other naval and air units involved in the rescue operations of the Costa Allegra, to the Italian Harbour Office General Command, to the local authorities of the Seychelles and Reunion, to the Italian Consulate and Embassy, and to international diplomatic representatives."
This raw video shows Costa Allegra arriving at Victoria this morning in the Seychelles.
In this video, Costa EVP Norbert Stiekema praises the captain and crew of Costa Allegra.
In this video, passengers are briefly describing their time aboard Costa Allegra after the fire.
