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

As the U.S. based cruise industry is trying to resume operations, two passengers aboard the Celebrity Millennium tested positive for COVID-19 today. The cruise ship supposedly has a 100% vaccinated crew of around 650 and 600 passengers (except for children). The Celebrity Millennium left from the port of St. Maarten.

I first learned of the

Headlines generated in major newspapers by this year’s Seatrade Cruise Convention last week announced that the cruise lines promised  “100% testing” of guests and crew members.  This is a dangerously misleading headline.

The cruise lines’ proposed testing protocols are not remotely “100%” as far as availability, accuracy, consistency or responsibility.

The proposed testing is clearly

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

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