A Utah couple was celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary by taking a Royal Caribbean cruise. Myra and Brian Gurr are both vaccinated against COVID19 but were told in late July that they will need a negative COVID test to board the Independence of the Seas cruise ship. According to the email, antigen and PCR tests would be accepted.
On August 13, two days before their scheduled cruise, they received an email that they will need to have a negative COVID test to board. According to Myra Gurr, “We just got all this mixed information. It was basically a nightmare after that”.
After receiving the email, the Utah couple decided to take a COVID test via their local pharmacy. In addition to this, they also used a take-home antigen test kit. By August 14, the couple flew to Houston, Texas for their scheduled cruise.
Their problem started when the test result from the pharmacy didn’t come back in time. Unfortunately, the security at the port in Galveston, Texas didn’t accept the take-home test result. Brian Gurr said that “With the short amount of time, we did everything we possibly could”. On August 15, the Utah couple, along with other passengers who weren’t allowed to board, took a third test. The result came back negative.
However, the ship closed its doors 15 minutes earlier and they weren’t allowed. According to Myra Gurr, “We got back at 4:30 and they told us they shut the doors at 4:15”. Other passengers didn’t make it to board the ship as well.
Last month, four vaccinated adults and two unvaccinated children tested positive for COVID19 on a Royal Caribbean cruise. As delta variant becomes rampant in the US, cruises are now looking to add health protocols on top of what CDC suggested.
As for the passengers who weren’t able to board, Royal Caribbean still hasn’t issued a statement regarding the incident. Different news outlets tried to reach Royal Caribbean, but the company just said that they are “looking into it”.
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