Strict health protocols have failed yet again to stop the spread of coronavirus on board the limited number of cruiseships that have resumed trading.
Norway’s SeaDream Yacht Club and US-based UnCruise Adventures have been forced to cancel voyages after passengers tested positive for Covid-19.
A crew member who joined a laid-up Viking Ocean Cruises ship in Norway also tested positive despite being quarantined and previously testing negative.
These cases follow fresh outbreaks on board ships belonging to Hurtigruten and Ponant and throw into doubt operators' claims that passengers can “cruise with confidence” on recently resumed sailings.
SeaDream was the first cruise operator to restart its operations with its two small deluxe ships in late June. The pair were scheduled to sail summer voyages along the Norwegian coast.
The Atle Brynestad-owned company has been forced to cancel the current cruise of the 116-passenger SeaDream I after a guest on the ship’s previous voyage tested positive for Covid-19 shortly after disembarking in Tromso.
The vessel arrived in the port of Bodo early on Wednesday morning. Its passengers and crew will be placed under quarantine and tested for the virus before they can disembark.
“We sincerely hope that there is no Covid-19 on board, and we are not aware of any other guests or crew who are infected or have any symptoms, but we are taking all necessary precautions,” the company said on its website on Tuesday evening.
No announcement has been made on whether SeaDream will continue its cruises, but it could be forced to stop.
Last Friday, Norway’s national minister of health said the country would tighten rules for cruiseships, with those carrying more than 100 people no longer allowed to let them go ashore.
The order came immediately after 36 crew on board Hurtigruten’s 530-passenger expedition cruiseship Roald Amundsen (built 2019) tested positive for coronavirus. TradeWinds understands that a least eight passengers also tested positive.
UnHappy Adventure
Seattle-based expedition cruise operator UnCruise Adventures said it was calling off its restart plans after a passenger on board its 60-passenger Wilderness Adventurer (built 1983) received a positive test result.
The Wilderness Adventurer had on 1 August set out on the company’s first Alaskan cruise since the industry-wide shutdown. As a small coastal vessel, it was only subject to state regulations, and not the federal cruise ban implemented by the Centers for Disease Control.
UnCruise said passenger had taken the five-day testing option before leaving home, with a negative result. A second test was taken upon arrival at Juneau airport, Alaska, which returned a positive result.
The passenger was notified after the ship had begun its voyage.
The Wilderness Adventurer’s 37 passengers will be quarantined in a hotel when the ship arrives in Juneau on Wednesday. Its 30 crew will undergo quarantine on board.
UnCruise owner and chief executive Captain Dan Blanchard described the incident to local media as very discouraging, and “not what we had hoped for, but we’ll deal with it professionally”.
The company has cancelled the remaining five cruises it has scheduled this summer.
A puzzling positive
Norwegian shipowner Torstein Hagen's Viking Ocean Cruises is investigating how a crew member on its 944-passenger Viking Star (built 2015), currently laid up in Alesund, tested positive despite following protocols to prevent a sick person from boarding.
Norwegian media reported the crew member tested negative prior to departing for Norway, and again tested negative after a lengthy quarantine in his cabin on board the ship. It was only after he was declared fit to work that he tested positive.
All 105 crew on the Viking Star will undergo further testing.
Over the past week, several crew joining TUI Cruises and AIDA Cruises ships tested positive on arrival in Germany.
A passenger on Ponant’s 330-passenger Paul Gauguin (built 1997) tested positive while on a cruise in French Polynesia, which resulted in the ship being placed under quarantine in Papeete.
