I have had other thoughts, but it would never fly. Cruise lines, as well as a majority of the shipping industry (container, tanker, cargo, etc) always register their ships in foreign countries to avoid taxes, environmental laws as well as labor laws. We always cruise on Holland America (the same as the ships in question). It's like the higher end of Carnival (their parent company). Although they are jointly owned (British/American), they are registered in The Netherlands. These days, the majority of ships are registered in Panama (mostly), followed by Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Hong Kong and Singapore. When you have these "ghost ships" running from country to country trying to be accepted into a port, why not make the country it's registered in responsible and force THEM to allow them into their own ports? Passengers could then be dispersed to hospitals (if needed) and the healthy can be flown to their home countries. Sure, I can think of a bazillion problems that would cause, but it's better than these ships wandering aimlessly at sea and being refused entry by every country on the planet.