ORLANDO, Fla. — Cruise lines will be the first to tell you that COVID-19 isn’t going away, but they also say safety protocols are in place to weather the storm when cases appear on board.
With the rise of the omicron variant throughout the U.S., more than half of ships currently sailing from U.S. waters have within the last week have documented enough onboard cases to merit follow-up investigations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One of the largest reports of cases occurred last weekend with Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas reporting 48 cases of COVID-19 from a seven-night sailing that returned to Miami on Saturday. A statement from the line said some of those infected were taken off ship earlier in the sailing, but most disembarked at the end of the voyage, and the cases did not affect the ship’s turnaround for its next voyage.
