907 PASSENGERS and 619 crew members heading to a Tilbury landfall have joined in the tribute to the UK's NHS.

The Columbus cruise ship, flagship of Thurrock-based Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) is heading back to Tilbury after its world cruise was aborted.

Last month it took part in an unusual ship-to-ship transfer with sister ship Vasco da Gama, before heading for home.

That trip has already included a technical call in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Columbus is now heading for the Suez Canal with a final technical call in Malta and is scheduled to arrive at the London Cruise Terminal, Tilbury on Tuesday, 14 April.

CMV have produced a video about what life is like on the repatriation voyage - and it includes the one minute tribute to health workers across the world.

Christian Verhounig, Chief Executive at Cruise & Maritime Voyages said: "We are tremendously proud of our onboard and shoreside teams for their fantastic job in delivering this effective repatriation operation to bring our passengers home. On behalf of the directors, staff and especially our hard-working crew CMV would like to thank all our current passengers for their support, patience and understanding at this time."

CMV is currently working with the UK Department of Transport, Border Force, UK Public Health, the Port of Tilbury, as well as the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), to confirm details of Columbus' arrival into Tilbury and the disembarkation process that will take place.

CMV is working with the passengers of other nationalities onboard Columbus on their repatriation options and will confirm details of this closer to the arrival date as the situation with airlines and schedules is changing daily.

No Covid-19 symptoms or health issues with any passengers or crew members have been recorded on board Columbus.

All other CMV cruise ships have returned to their home ports with the exception of the Vasco da Gama which, having disembarked its passengers in Australia after meeting up with Columbus, is returning to London Tilbury with no passengers on board and the Astor which is sailing on a repatriation voyage to Bremerhaven, Germany scheduled to arrive 12 April.

Columbus was sailing on a 120-night Grand Round the World Cruise which sailed from Tilbury on 6 January 2020 when CMV announced a six-week suspension of cruise operations due to the global outbreak of Covid-19.

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