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
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
A Royal Caribbean ship employee died earlier today on the Harmony of the Seas, according to several crew members who wish to remain anonymous.
Crew member Mariah Jocson, who was described as a “new hire,” was reportedly found in her cabin this afternoon. There was an “Alpha, Alpha, Alpha” medical emergency broadcast on
Yesterday Breaking Travel News published an interview with Frank Del Rio, NCL’s president and CEO. He claimed that a cruise ship can be “safer than anywhere else in the world.”
On March 13th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a “no sail” order which prohibited cruise ships 
from sailing from
This afternoon CNBC interviewed Royal Caribbean Richard Fain about when his cruise line will re-start operations and when his crew members will finally be repatriated. Here is a portion of the interview:
“CNBC: . . . we know that this is a challenging time. We really appreciate you spending time with us today.
A crew member on the Vasco da Gamma cruise ship was seriously injured after falling from deck 12 of the ship. He landed on a cargo container located on the pier below while the ship was moored at the Port of Tilbury. Ambulances and a helicopter arrived on the pier in response to the medical
Disney Cruise Line is now in the process of finally repatriating hundreds of its crew members from some of its cruise ships. Disney transferred crew members from the Disney Fantasy and the Disney Dream to the Disney Magic (AIS location yesterday shown bottom right) which arrived today in 
Dover. Disney initially informed the crew members
Around 200 crew members employed on the Disney Wonder recently tested positive for COVID-19, according to a half-dozen employees on the ship who wish to remain anonymous.
The Disney Wonder previously sailed from New Orleans on March 6th on a Panama Canal cruise. It arrived at the the Port of San Diego, where all the
A crew member aboard the Carnival Breeze died this morning as the cruise ship was sailing from the Bahamas to England, according to several crew members who wish to remain anonymous.
József Szaller was an assistant shore excursion manager from Hungary who had worked for Carnival for the past three years. His collleagues found
Tonight there is a party happening on the pool deck (deck 15) on the Norwegian Epic which is docked at the port of Miami. Many hundreds of crew members are crowded together, all without masks, as they intermingle with the city of Miami in the background of the NCL cruise ship.
All of this is
Over this past weekend, several crew members on Royal Caribbean-owned cruise ships expressed their frustration at being kept from an unreasonaby long time onboard their ships. The cruise ships which they are on have not sailed for over six weeks, yet Royal Caribbean has not sent them home. There is considerable danger associated with staying
