The CDC recorded a total of 1359 COVID19 positive cases on cruise ships between June 26 to October 21. 49 of these COVID19 positive cases needed hospitalizations while 38 required medical evacuations.
The number of COVID19 positive cases on cruise ships was part of the CDC’s consideration to extend the conditional sailing order.
According to the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), the “ballpark estimate” is that 600,000 individuals sailed during that time. The estimate also doesn’t include crew members.
During Royal Caribbean’s third-quarter business update, the company carried half a million passengers since the end of June. This includes both passengers from US ports and other countries. And so far, Royal Caribbean only recorded 150 COVID19 cases. That’s equivalent to a 0.03% positivity rate.
On the other hand, Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio said that “the prevalence of cases we identified in preboarding testing, midcruise and at disembarkation were inconsequential and well below what we all saw in the general population during this time”. Norwegian implemented a 100% vaccination policy on both crew and passengers.
The CDC admitted that “ensuring passengers are uninfected at embarkation has proven difficult”. The agency added that some passengers tried to hide their symptoms. But even with these scenarios, the agency believes that high vaccination rates prevented the medical teams onboard from getting overwhelmed.
Cruise line executives believe that turning the conditional sailing order into a voluntary program after January is a sign that the protocols worked.
Del Rio said that “We are willing to go to great lengths to protect our guests and the communities we visit”. He called CDC’s decision to make the conditional sailing order voluntary by January 15 as “a positive step forward for our company and the industry at large”. Del Rio also added that they were “encouraged to see positive recognition of the successful resumption of cruising”.
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