BARCELONA — Passengers on a luxury liner’s around-the-world cruise, begun before the globe was gripped by the coronavirus pandemic, are finally approaching the end of their odyssey after 15 weeks at sea.

The ship, the Costa Deliziosa, was heading Sunday toward a port in Spain before ending its journey in Italy.

Costa Crociere, an Italian cruise company, said that the Deliziosa, which set sail from Venice in early January with 1,831 passengers, had no cases of coronavirus aboard.

The Deliziosa, a nearly 1,000-foot vessel, will disembark 168 Spanish passengers on Monday at Barcelona’s port. Then the Deliziosa will head to its final destination, Genoa, Italy, where it is expected to let off the remaining passengers, Italians and those of other nationalities, on Wednesday.

A Costa spokesman said a passenger left the ship earlier in the week in Marsala, Sicily, and had a coronavirus test, which was negative.

Being on the liner during the pandemic “was incredible,‘‘ said passenger Carlos Paya, who lives in Valencia, Spain, and is sailing with his wife.

“For us it was a stroke of good luck to be where we were.” he told the Associated Press.

French authorities had rebuffed a request by Costa for permission to disembark several hundred passengers from France and nearby countries at Marseilles. “The health situation on board the ships, with 1,814 guests and 898 members of the crew, doesn’t present any problem for public health and no case of COVID-19,” Costa said.

The Deliziosa had been due to return to Venice on April 26. After the U.N. World Health Organization pandemic alert in March, the ship, which had just made a port call in Fremantle, western Australia, made only technical and refueling stops before the journey back toward the Mediterranean.

First Published April 20, 2020, 2:57 a.m.