MSC Armonia: Passengers on luxury cruise stranded in Barcelona port as 69 Bolivians 'travelling on false visas'

Around 1,500 passengers on a luxury cruise found themselves stranded on board in Spain on Tuesday (2 April) due to document issues. The passengers were stranded on board in the port of Barcelona as Spanish border officials prevented 69 Bolivian nationals from entering the country due to allegedly travelling on false visas. 

Officials only discovered this, according to police sources who spoke to Spanish journalists, after the MSC Armonia had disembarked from Brazil, heading for Europe. The claim was only made against Bolivian nationals, however, none of the passengers were allowed to leave the cruise ship on Tuesday.

Rafael Kondlatsch, a 40-year-old Brazilian journalist who was aboard, told Spanish outlet El Pais: “We are prisoners here, together with the Bolivians.” According to Olive Press, dozens of police vehicles met the ship when it arrived in the port of Barcelona.

On Wednesday (3 April), the passengers were informed via the intercom system that a chartered flight to Rome was being organised for those that wished to take it. The Bolivians however were still not given permission to leave.

According to El Pais, the passengers of the cruise were also told that they could leave the ship as they pleased, but they needed to take their passports with them and get back to the boat before 2am on Thursday (4 April). Spanish authorities are reported to have said that MSC should take responsibility for returning the 69 Bolivians back to South America. According to a statement from the company, it is working with Spanish officials “to manage the situation with a number of passengers from Bolivia, including families and children, who are travelling with invalid documentation”.

The pleasure cruise, which set sail from Brazil on 17 March, was due to head from Spain to Italy, finally stopping in Venice. Authorities say 69 Bolivians were not being allowed to leave the ship because they lacked valid documents to enter the European border-free Schengen area. The Schengen area is an ID-check-free travel zone consisting of 29 European countries, most from the European Union.