Passengers on two cruises test positive for COVID-19
Both ships require passengers 16 years old or older to be vaccinated, but company spokespeople either declined to say or had yet to say how many were vaccinated.
Six passengers on Royal Caribbean International’s Adventure of the Seas cruise ship and one on Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Equinox ship have tested positive for COVID-19.
The Adventure of the Seas passengers tested positive on Thursday, six days into the week-long, round-trip cruise from Nassau, The Bahamas, during routine testing to comply with the U.S. government’s rule requiring negative results to enter the country. The Celebrity Equinox passenger reported to the ship’s medical center Friday with COVID-like symptoms and tested positive Friday, six days into the ship’s first cruise from the U.S. in 15 months, a week-long, roundtrip cruise from Port Everglades.
Both cruise lines are owned by the same parent company, Royal Caribbean
Group.
The Adventure of the Seas is carrying around 1,000 passengers and 900 crew members. The positive passengers were being flown back to the U.S. on Friday from Freeport, The Bahamas, a company spokesperson said. Four of the positive passengers are vaccinated and are traveling separately. Two of the positive passengers are unvaccinated and traveling together.
The Celebrity Equinox passenger who tested positive is fully vaccinated, said spokesperson Jonathon Fishman in an email.
Both ships require passengers 16 years old or older to be vaccinated. Sierra-Caro declined to comment on the percentage of Adventure of the Seas passengers who are vaccinated. Fishman did not
immediately respond to request for comments about how many passengers are on board and how many are vaccinated.
Passengers boarded the Adventure of the Seas in Nassau on Saturday. It visited Cozumel, Mexico, and the company’s private island in The Bahamas before arriving in Freeport on Friday. The 1,000 passengers represent about 35% of the ship’s capacity.
Passengers boarded the Celebrity Equinox in Port Everglades on Sunday. The ship visited St. Maarten and St. Thomas and was on its way to Nassau on Friday evening.
Last month, two children under 16 years old tested positive for COVID-19 on the Adventure of the Seas and were flown back to the U.S. The company requires all passengers test negative for COVID-19 before boarding.