Royal Caribbean suffers second Covid cruise outbreak as over 50 passengers test positive

The Royal Caribbean cruise ship Odyssey of the Seas has reported a Covid outbreak, with 55 passengers onboard testing positive mid-voyage.

It follows a similar-sized outbreak on sister ship Symphony of the Seas, the world’s largest passenger cruise liner, which reported 48 passengers testing positive on its return to Miami last week.

As a result, Odyssey did not dock at two of its planned stops, the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson told USA Today.

On 22 December, the Curacao Chronicle reported that the island’s Health Department had barred the cruise liner from docking at the island, since the percentage of passengers on board testing positive was too high.

“The day before yesterday, 18 crew members were positive, yesterday 36 and this morning there were 51. In addition, several crew members have not been quarantined, so there is a good chance that passengers have also been infected,” Dr Izzy Gerstenbluth, Curacao’s national epidemiologist, told reporters.

“With these numbers of infections, that percentage has been exceeded and we are therefore not eager to receive these people on the island, especially not with the current figures on the island.”

Odyssey of the Seas has capacity for more than 7,000 guests and crew, though the number of people currently onboard the ship is not known.

It comes after 48 passengers tested positive on the 9,000-capacity Symphony of the Seas when it returned to its Miami base on Saturday.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean said that each person who had tested positive on the Symphony immediately went into quarantine, while six people who had tested positive onboard had already disembarked the ship mid-voyage.

Those who tested positive were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, said the statement.

The cruise line requires that all passengers over 12 be double vaccinated, and in the last few days tightened its mask-wearing rules for all passengers over two years old.

Cruises have been permitted since July, with many leaving from different locations this summer and autumn.

However, many fear the vessels are still high risk for outbreaks of the virus.

In August, 27 people - 26 of them crew - tested positive for Covid aboard a Carnival cruise ship docked in Belize.

Meanwhile, two passengers aboard the Celebrity Millennium tested positive partway through a cruise in June.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said: “All of whom tested positive are fully vaccinated and mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic. We continue to monitor their health. Close contacts were also identified and placed in quarantine to be monitored for 24 hours prior to testing.

“We are sailing with a layered set of health and safety measures in place to make our cruises the safest vacations possible.

“Examples of these are pre-cruise testing for all guests and weekly testing of all crew members, required vaccinations for all crew and all guests age 12 and older, enhanced cleaning and sanitization standards, expanded expert medical care, 100 per cent fresh, filtered air, and our enhanced face mask policy.”