Arrests Made After Cruisers Detained Due to False ...

Practically one 12 months in the past, MSC Cruises’ MSC Armonia and the roughly 1,500 passengers onboard had been detained in Barcelona, Spain, after visa discrepancies had been found for 69 Bolivian friends.

The passengers in query were denied disembarking in Barcelona on April 2, 2024, after it was found that they didn’t have legitimate visas – which led to their detainment and an investigation into how this occurred.

This got here as fairly the shock, as there was no difficulty when the friends first boarded the 65,542-gross ton ship for a 16-night voyage from San Paulo, Brazil, on March 17, 2024.

Moreover, nothing was flagged as incorrect or invalid in the course of the voyage’s earlier port calls on locations like Tenerife, Funchal, and Malaga, Spain – that are a part of the European Union.

Because the difficulty got here to gentle, the idea has been that the passengers had been tricked into acquiring the visas and didn’t know they had been invalid. However now, the individuals who could have been behind the alleged rip-off should reply for his or her actions.

As of March 24, 2025, 5 folks had been arrested in Bolivia in reference to the case as a part of the joint investigation that has been performed by The Spanish Nationwide Police, AMERIPOL, INTERPOL, and Bolivian Legislation Enforcement.

The identities of the suspects haven’t been launched but, however all 5 are allegedly linked to local travel agencies. The particular prices have additionally not but been introduced, and the investigation will proceed with the suspects in custody.

MSC Cruises additionally got here underneath fireplace on the time of the incident for not catching the fraudulent documentation on embarkation day.

Bolivia’s international ministry initially stated that it was MSC’s “duty to examine all of the passengers’ visas earlier than boarding the boat.”

To this, MSC replied that “it appeared all passengers had the required visas” – and the cruise strains do put passports and different documentation underneath cautious scrutiny in the course of the check-in and safety course of.

The ship in the end remained in port whereas the cruise line labored “with the related authorities to discover a answer to this advanced difficulty.”

What Occurred to the Passengers?

For a lot of visiting the Schengen Space – which is an ID-check-free journey zone that features Spain and 28 different European international locations – a Schengen visa must be acquired upfront.

This visa permits Non-EU/EEA nationals to go to any of those 29 international locations for as much as 90 days at a time for tourism (resembling cruises), enterprise journeys, or different short-term functions.

US residents wouldn’t want to use for this visa as they’ll enter the Schengen Space with their passports, however the Bolivian friends would have wanted to finish this course of correctly.

However even when made by mistake or unknowingly, documentation and visa violations need to be taken severely for safety causes.

Learn Additionally: From Mishaps to Maydays – Cruise Ship Accidents

Of the 69 passengers who didn’t have correct documentation, 55 had been adults and 14 had been youngsters.

The passengers had been initially held onboard MSC Armonia for questioning and to determine an answer, with authorities holding the two,620-guest ship in Barcelona for 2 further days.

Which means even passengers with appropriate documentation had been briefly denied from persevering with the planned Mediterranean itinerary – which led to cancelled port calls throughout France, Greece, and Croatia.

On the time, some passengers reported that they really selected to disembark early because of the modified itinerary and the uncertainty of the state of affairs.

However ultimately, the MSC ship was given the all clear to depart after the 69 friends with pretend visas had been relocated to a different boat for police to proceed their interviews.

Ultimately, 65 people had been flown again to Bolivia at MSC Cruises’ expense on April 4, 2025. Whereas some requested to remain underneath asylum, their requests had been denied. The 4 individuals who had been allowed to remain within the nation had household connections in Catalonia.

If the suspects are discovered responsible, they are going to definitely have rather a lot to reply for by way of the expense and inconvenience prompted to authorities, the cruise line, and the greater than 1,000 friends onboard.