Seasickness wasn’t the only thing sailors suffered from, as Royal Caribbean was forced to cancel its first four sailings of its newest cruise ship due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among the ship’s crew.
The largest cruise line in the world was forced to delay the debut of their new 4,198-passenger Odyssey of the Seas cruise liner. The ship will now set sail for the first time on July 31, four weeks later than initially planned.
According to The Points Guy, Royal Caribbean said eight crew members on Odyssey of the Seas had tested positive for COVID-19 on June 10. The news of the positive cases came just six days after the ship made its arrival to the U.S. from Europe in advance of its first scheduled sailing planned for July 3.
When the ship arrived, none of its 1,400 crew members had been vaccinated for COVID-19; however, they received their shots soon after the ship’s arrival.
The ship’s crew has not had any positive tests since June 10, but the line said that all of them will have to go through quarantine on the boat for two weeks. Those who did test positive have not had any serious issues.
“All crew that tested positive are in good health and being monitored by our onboard medical team,” Royal Caribbean said in the statement.
While the crew continues to isolate, Royal Caribbean will reach out to customers affected by the delay of Odyssey of the Seas’ first voyage.
“We are reaching out to affected guests and travel partners to assist with their options,” the line said in its statement. “This was an unexpected but necessary decision to make, and we are committed to doing the right thing for everyone’s well-being.”
Recently, there was another case of sea goers who tested positive for COVID-19 on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. According to CNN, two guests aboard Celebrity Millennium cruise, whose passengers were all vaccinated, tested positive in required end-of-cruise testing.
The cruise was the first to host Americans since the industry was shut down due to the pandemic. The two guests who tested positive shared a room on the seven-day Celebrity Millenium cruise from St. Maarten are asymptomatic and are currently being isolated and monitored by a medical team, Celebrity Cruise Lines said in a news release.
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