Around 300 crew members still on board waved to Wollongong residents as the horn signalled the ship’s departure.
The ship has been linked to more than 700 COVID-19 cases in Australia – more than 10 per cent of all cases in the nation– and 21 deaths.
Eleven more crew members with coronavirus were taken off the ship in the final hours before its departure.
The 11 cases are in addition to the 21 crew who had already been confirmed to have coronavirus.
A total of 13 are in Sydney hospitals and the rest are in hotels for quarantine.
Over the past three days, 550 crew disembarked to be flown to their home countries including Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Republic of North Macedonia and Romania.
The ship is believed to be bound for Manila in the Philippines.
The ship’s owner, Carnival, plans for it to begin sailing again in July, in Alaska.
Meanwhile, an inquiry into the ill-fated cruise ship is currently running parallel to a NSW Police probe expected to deliver its findings by September.
