San Francisco's Bay got a new guest early Thursday morning.
The Ruby Princess cruise ship arrived at the port with a handful of primarily asymptomatic COVID-19 positive passengers, according to a statement provided to KCBS Radio by Princess Cruises.
"As with all Princess itineraries, this cruise is operated as a vaccinated cruise, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with guest and crew vaccination rates approaching 100%," said the statement
The positive cases were discovered during a random test of the vessel's around 700 passengers, about one-third of its usual capacity. In a pool of about 25% of the guests, 12 tested positive, according to reporting by KTVU.
All are asymptomatic. The positive cases have two options: go home on their own or check into a hotel for quarantine, according to the statement.
Passengers were alerted that there was something amiss when performances onboard were canceled, but weren't made aware of the details by the cruise line, according to reporting by KCBS Radio's Jim Taylor.
Disembarking passengers told KCBS Radio that while on the ship, everyone was masked and observing social distancing.
The Ruby Princess began its voyage out of San Francisco on Dec. 27, 2021 and reached its final destination, Cabo, Mexico, on Jan. 2, 2022, as reported by KTVU.
According to the CDC's cruise ship tracking, the Ruby Princess is at a yellow status, which meets the threshold for CDC investigation and the ship is under observation.
Despite the outbreak, the ship is still on track to leave for another 10-day cruise to Mexico Thursday afternoon, according to the cruise line.
Related
