CRUISE ships departing from Shanghai are dropping South Korea from their itineraries and heading straight to Japan or making other readjustments amid fears over the deadly outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome infections, or MERS.

Luxury cruise liner Sapphire Princess which is scheduled to leave Shanghai on August 17 will now head to Kagoshima in Japan instead of Busan in South Korea. Okinawa in Japan will replace South Korea’s Chejudo on the same trip, online travel operator Ctrip said.

Shanghai Spring Tour said it was also pushing to skip Inchon in Korea for the voyage of Quantum of the Seas which is set to depart Shanghai on June 25 and replace it with a port in Japan.