- A Royal Caribbean cruise ship was denied entry into Curacao and Aruba after a COVID-19 outbreak.
- At least 55 passengers and crew members tested positive for COVID-19.
- This is the company’s second cruise ship to face a COVID-19 outbreak in the last two weeks
A Royal Caribbean cruise ship was denied entry into Curacao and Aruba after at least 55 people tested positive for COVID-19, the Miami Herald reported on Wednesday.
The 55 individuals who tested positive on the Odyssey of the Seas were fully vaccinated passengers and crew members and were among around 5,500 people on the ship, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said in a statement sent to Insider.
The ship was denied entry to the two Caribbean islands after setting sail on Saturday, and it will now stay at sea until its December 26 return to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the report said.
“The decision was made together with the islands out of an abundance of caution due to the current trend of COVID-19 cases in the destinations’ communities as well as crew and guests testing positive on board,” the Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.
Two people on the ship told the Herald that three passengers and 52 crew members had contracted the virus, but Royal Caribbean did not confirm the breakdown.
According to Royal Caribbean, the passengers who tested positive are mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic, and their close contacts were placed in quarantine prior to testing.
The ship set sail with 95% of passengers and crew vaccinated, and the company’s guidelines require travelers over the age of 12 to be vaccinated with either two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
This is the company’s second cruise ship to face a COVID-19 outbreak in the last two weeks.
Royal Caribbean said on Monday that at least 48 passengers and staff on its Symphony of the Seas ship, which returned to Miami on Saturday, had tested positive for COVID-19.
Following rising COVID cases amid a spike in the Omicron variant, Royal Caribbean has tightened its mask guidelines, Cruise Industry News reported on December 18. Passengers are now required to wear a mask unless they are actively eating, drinking, in an empty open-aired section aboard the ship, or in their stateroom. Previously, vaccinated passengers could remove their masks in designated areas and venues.