Carnival Cruises’ Brand Ambassador and Senior Cruise Director John Heald was turned away from Heathrow Airport has he tried to board a flight to the US to join the line’s first cruise since the suspension last year.

John was told he couldn’t fly to the States to join the Carnival Horizon, which sets sail on 4 July, even though he has been fully vaccinated, had a negative PCR test and had a letter from Crystal explaining his work was important.

In an emotional Facebook Live post from Heathrow Airport earlier today, John said: “I have no words.”

He added that the US Homeland Security had told him the US had imposed new restrictions on British travellers only today due to an increase in the cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus across the UK.

In fact, the US imposed a ban on British travellers in March 2020, and the US authorities are only been providing emergency and ‘mission-critical visas’ to Brits, according to the UK Foreign Office.

It adds: “Due to the impact of COVID-19, their visa services and travel restrictions may change rapidly.

“If you have an urgent need to travel, you can contact the US Embassy to ascertain if you might qualify for an economic interest, humanitarian, or other exception.

“However, the criteria for these exceptions are very strict and you should be ready to provide as much information as possible to support your application if you apply for one.

“Should you not meet the current criteria for an exception, existing appointments for non-urgent non-immigrant visas may be cancelled at short notice. You should continue to check the US Embassy website for any changes.”