Royal Caribbean ship skipping two islands after dozens of positive COVID-19 tests

A Royal Caribbean ship skipped stopping at two islands on its scheduled tour after 55 passengers aboard tested positive for COVID-19. 

The Odyssey of the Seas, which has 5,000 passengers on board, changed its 8-day trip schedule and skipped docking at Aruba and Curacao after passengers tested positive. 

All passengers onboard who tested positive “are fully vaccinated and mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic,” according to a Royal Caribbean statement obtained by NBC.

“Close contacts were also identified and placed in quarantine to be monitored for 24 hours prior to testing,” it added.

The decision to skip the islands “was made together with the islands out of an abundance of caution due to the current trend of COVID-19 cases in the destinations’ communities as well as crew and guests testing positive on board,” according the statement.

However, according to the Curacao Chronicle, health officials in Curacao refused to allow the ship to dock because the percentage of infected people on board was too high.

When it turned out that more than 1 percent of the crew members were infected with the coronavirus, epidemiologist Dr. Gerstenbluth banned the passengers from disembarking, the Chronicle said.

The ship set sail from Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 18 and will remain at sea until its planned return on Dec. 26, according to the Miami Herald.

Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

Royal Caribbean requires that all passengers over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and test negative for the virus before boarding one of its ships. All crew members are required to be fully vaccinated.

This is the second ship where passengers and crew tested positive for COVID-19. Fifty people tested positive for COVID-19 aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ship Symphony of the Seas that departed from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday.

It is unclear which variant of COVID-19 passengers and crew have been infected with; however, a new study says that while the COVID-19 omicron variant infects the human body 70 times faster than previous coronavirus strains, the infections appear to be less severe.

Health officials in the U.S. confirmed that 73 percent of coronavirus cases in the U.S. are now attributable to the omicron variant.