Italy has given the green light to Costa and AIDA to resume cruising from Italian ports this month. Meanwhile, the number of positive COVID-19 cases on Costa cruise ships in Italy increased to nine this weekend, according to the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. The Costa Deliziosa (below right) has four crew members with positive
Last week, I received an email from a resident of Palm Beach County. It said “Port of Palm Beach July 31, appx 10:30 am” with a single attachment. When I opened the attachment (above), I immediately recognized the Grand Celebration’s orange painted funnel, out of which thick black smoke billowed over the port.
The funnel
Numerous news sources are reporting that the first cruise ship to sail in Alaska during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced a positive case of COVID-19 yesterday. KTOO reports that the Wilderness Adventurer, operated by Uncruise, left Juneau last Saturday on a one week cruise with 36 guests and 30 crew members aboard the small cruise
A massive fiery explosision near a waterfront, industrial section of Beirut, Lebanon killed over 70 people and wounded around 4,000 earlier today. A video (below) of the blast, which was broadcast around the world, showed a large fire with smaller explosions followed by a horrific explosion which reportedly destroyed buildings far from the blast site.
Crew Member Aboard Viking Star Tests Positive for COVID-19
A crew member aboard the Viking Star (right) reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 according to the NRK newspaper in Norway. The newspaper states that it “is unclear where the person became infected.” The person in question took a test, which was negative, in his home country
Three Costa Cruise seafarers tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Italian press today. In the last two weeks, over four dozen other crew members employed by AIDA, TUI and Hurtigruten have tested positive.
Costa Favolosa and Costa Deliziosa Crew Members Test Positive
Two of the three Filipino Costa crew members who tested positive were
Crew members who are employed aboard a Hurtigruten ship tested positive today for COVID-19, according to several newspapers in Norway. Nordlys reports that the crew members work on the Hurtigruten expedition cruise ship, the MS Roald Amundsen, which reportedly recently sailed to Svalbard with around 200 passengers. The Hurtigruten ship is currently located at
Today, TUI Cruises, which operates the Mein Schiff fleet of cruise ships, announced that five crew members hired to work aboard the Mein Schiff 1 (photo below) tested positive for COVID-19. The German cruise blog called Kreuzfahrt-Aktuelles (cruise news) published the news. The majority of travel publications and cruise blogs are currently reporting with great
Two German cruise lines, that were intended to be prototypes for the reopening of U.S. based Carnival Corporation and its rival Royal Caribbean Cruises, have encountered controversy. Sources have reported that crew members employed by both AIDA Cruises and Mein Schiff, operated by TUI Cruises, tested positive for COVID-19 upon reporting for duty.
Ten AIDA
Ten crew members hired to work on AIDA cruise ships have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the German newspaper NDR. The German office for health and social affairs announced this news today. The newspaper states that “the detection of these infections is the result of the company’s preventive measures to prepare women and
Today I mentioned that according to the popular Crew-Center site, TUI Cruises canceled the restarting of the cruise ship Mein Schiff 1. This cruise ship was scheduled to resume cruises on July 31st out of Kiel, Germany, according to German media. The cruise blog Schiffe und Kreuzfahrten reported this morning that the reason
Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) extended its “No-Sail Order” until October 1st after finding that the cruise lines “continued to allow their crews to attend social gatherings, work out at gyms, and share buffet-style 
meals,” according to the New York Times. The CDC concluded that Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)
Airborne Transmission of Norovirus
In 2015, doctors participated in a study which determined that norovirus can be transmitted in an airborne form. They published their findings in an article titled Detection and Quantification of Airborne Norovirus During Outbreaks in Healthcare Facilities in the highly respected journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The medical experts concluded
Reducing the occupancy of ships once the industry is permitted to return to sailing is an integral first step toward combating the spread of COVID-19. But fewer passengers means fewer cruises fares sold. And most significantly, reduced occupancy means reduced onboard revenue from alcohol sales, casinos, gift shops, specialty restaurants and shore excursions. I have
Today the U.K. government issued advice against cruise ship travel.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) originally issued guidance last March advising those U.K. nationals who are over-70 years of age and those with underlying medical health conditions, such as chronic diseases and diabetes, against taking cruises. A FCO spokeperson state in March:
“Our first
Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line recently announced that they hired a panel of former public health officials to advise the cruise lines regarding how to safely return to cruise operations. Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio announced that they created the “Healthy Sail Panel” to
A Filipino crew member, employed by Disney Cruise Line as a painter aboard the Disney Wonder, died on Tuesday according to the Miami Herald.
Eddie Burgos Ragodon visited the cruise ship’s medical center in recent days with chills, according to another crew member who communicated with the newspaper. It appears that he did
This weekend, several employees of Pullmantur Cruises informed me that employees (or contractors) hired by Royal Caribbean (which has a 49% ownership in Pullmantur) were involved in removing equipment from and dismantling the interiors of two of the companies’ cruise ships.
The Monarch and Sovereign are currently at the cruise port of Naples, Italy (Stazione
