55 test positive for COVID-19 on Royal Caribbean cruise, days after outbreak on another ship

Royal Caribbean International said Wednesday that 55 passengers and crew tested positive for the coronavirus on a cruise, just days after revealing 48 people on another ship were involved in an outbreak.

The latest ship, Odyssey of the Seas, will skip its scheduled stops in Curaçao and Aruba on the eight-night Christmas voyage.

“The decision 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,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement.

USA Today reported that the ship — which launched earlier this year — is carrying 3,587 passengers and 1,599 crew members. The cruise line said 95% of those sailing are vaccinated.

Royal Caribbean requires all crew and passengers 12 and older to be fully vaccinated. All passengers 2 years old and older also need to show a negative test before boarding, regardless of their vaccination status. The company also recently tightened mask rules on board.

The cruise operator said all 55 people who tested positive on the Odyssey of the Seas were fully vaccinated and either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.

“We continue to monitor their health,” the statement said. “Close contacts were also identified and placed in quarantine to be monitored for 24 hours prior to testing.”

Odyssey of the Seas, which left Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, had an earlier coronavirus incident on the same trip. The ship returned to Florida on Sunday so a passenger who had COVID-19 could leave the ship along with his traveling companions, USA Today reported earlier this week.

Spokeswoman Lyan Sierra-Caro told the newspaper that the passenger was symptomatic before he boarded but did not reveal his condition. After he reported to the medical center on the ship and tested positive, he and his family were quarantined until they left the ship in Fort Lauderdale. Sierra-Caro told USA Today there had been no other close contacts.

The same day Odyssey of the Seas left Fort Lauderdale, the larger Symphony of the Seas returned to Miami’s cruise port after a seven-day Caribbean sailing. The cruise company said 48 people tested positive for the virus on that ship.

Cruise lines have dealt with positive cases since resuming trips from the United States in late June, showing the difficulty in keeping COVID-19 off ships. According to the CDC, cruise companies reported 1,359 cases on ships sailing from the U.S. between June 26 and Oct. 21.