Disease and Outbreaks

The MSC Seaside failed a recent health inspection conducted by inspectors at Port Canaveral with a score of just 67. Such a low score is virtually unheard of. There have been only three lower USPH inspection scores in the last twenty years, all involving smaller ships from lesser or hardly known cruise lines. A couple

The number of people infected with gastrointestinal illness aboard the Ruby Princess increased to over 300 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Infection (CDC).

We previously reported that the CDC initially indicated that at least two-hundred and nineteen passengers and crew became ill, experiencing vomiting and diarrhea aboard Princess Cruises’ ship, Ruby Princess

At least two-hundred and nineteen passengers and crew became ill, experiencing vomiting and diarrhea, from a gastrointestinal illness aboard Princess Cruises’ Ruby Princess which has returned this morning to Galveston, Texas following a cruise to the Caribbean.

199 of 2,881 (6.61%) of the passengers reported ill during the cruise, as well as 20 of 1,159

The Celebrity Eclipse docked in Sydney, Australia with, depending upon which news outlet you read, anywhere from 100 to over 1,500 people infected with COVID-19.

The Daily Mail reports that “far more than 1,500 people” on the cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises were positive for COVID-19.

The Australian newspaper reports that around 300 people

Last Friday, December 2nd, a number of newspapers in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) reported on the COVID-19-related death of a cruise passenger in St. Thomas.

The Virgin Islands Consortium reported that “a critically ill cruise ship passenger needed emergency care shortly before arriving in St. Thomas. Upon arrival the individual was taken to the

A number of news outlets in Australia are reporting that the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship is experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak. The country of Indonesia took the extraordinary step of blocking the Cunard ship from calling at port in Bali.

Neither the cruise operator (Cunard) nor ship owner (Carnival Corporation) would disclose the number of infected

7NEWS Australia reports today that 200 passengers infected with COVID-19 disembarked from the Grand Princess in Melbourne, Australia after the Princess cruise ship completed a thirteen-day around-trip to New Zealand. There are no public accounts of the number of infected crew members.

7News Australia reports on its Facebook page that “200 COVID positive

The president of Carnival Australia and P&O Cruises Australia, Marguerite Fitzgerald, told ABC Business yesterday that there had been an increase in COVID-19 infections on the Coral Princess once the cruise ship reached Fremantle, Australia but the number allegedly remained “limited” and “managed well.” She continued to refuse to release an exact number of infected

Cruise ships are returning to Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti amidst reports that four cruise ships (two operated by Princess Cruises and two by Royal Caribbean) are rife with COVID-19. Three of the ships have one hundred or more COVID-19 infected guests on each ship. Royal Caribbean has one ship heading to Australia with reports

As the Miami Herald reported this week in an article titled Top U.S. Cruise Lines Set to Allow Passengers Without COVID-19 Shots on Most Voyages,  “Royal Caribbean and the other major cruise lines are moving to soon allow passengers to board most voyages without COVID-19 shots.”

The “big three” cruise companies, Carnival Corporation, Royal

Several cruise lines, led by Carnival and Royal Caribbean, are loosening coronavirus testing rules, as the Washington Post and USA Today recently reported. This follows the unwise and inexplicable decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost two weeks ago, to stop reporting on COVID-19 cases on cruise ships for all passengers

A crew member on the Jewel of the Seas informs me that the Royal Caribbean cruise ship has a total of  seventy-three (73) COVID-19 cases on the ship. There are fifty-seven (57) guests who tested positive for the virus and sixteen (16) crew members. The hotel director is also positive for COVID-19.

The Jewel left