Another COVID Outbreak Hits Royal Caribbean: 55 Passengers, Crew Infected

Another COVID outbreak has struck cruise line Royal Caribbean (RCL) less than a week after 48 cases of the virus broke out onboard one of its ships.

The new outbreak saw 55 passengers and crew members test positive for COVID-19 onboard the Odyssey of the Seas ship, which had departed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Saturday for an eight-night cruise in the Caribbean, USA Today reported.

The COVID outbreak comes as the highly infectious Omicron variant is spreading rapidly across the globe. More than 89 countries and all 50 U.S. states have confirmed cases of the new COVID strain, which was deemed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization on Nov. 26.

The Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship returned to port briefly on Sunday, disembarking one passenger who tested positive for COVID-19, according to USA Today. The ship has 3,587 passengers and 1,599 crew members on board, the news outlet said.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean spokesperson Lyan Sierra-Caro told USA Today, “During routine weekly testing of our fully vaccinated crew members, there were test results that came back positive for COVID-19. Close contacts were quickly identified, and they each immediately went into quarantine.”

Passengers and crew who tested positive are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. All are being monitored by the cruise line’s medical team, Royal Caribbean said.

Royal Caribbean requires all crew members to be vaccinated as well as guests 12 and older. About 95% of the customers were fully vaccinated, Royal Caribbean told the Miami Herald.

Royal Caribbean had planned to stop in Curacao and Aruba, but halted those plans with Sierra-Caro telling USA Today, “The decision was made together with the islands and out of an abundance of caution due to the current trend of cases in the destination communities and having COVID-19-positive cases on board, representing 1.1% of the onboard community.”

The Curacao Chronicle reported that the cruise ship was not allowed to disembark in Curacao due to the percentage of passengers infected with the virus.

“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 the Curacao Chronicle.

“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,” Gerstenbluth added.

The ship will remain at sea until its planned return to Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 26, according to the Miami Herald.

On Saturday, another COVID outbreak occurred on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas cruise ship, with at least 48 passengers and crew members testing positive for COVID-19. The Symphony of the Seas is known to be the world’s biggest cruise ship, with more than 6,000 passengers and crew on board the week-long sailing to the Caribbean, CNN said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently investigating the outbreak onboard the Odyssey of the Seas ship.

As of Thursday's premarket hours, shares of Royal Caribbean were trading at $80.75, up $1.29, or 1.62%.