MIAMI — Dozens of people, including guests and crew members, aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise that docked in Miami tested positive for COVID-19 during its 7-day trip, the cruise line told USA Today.
Forty-eight people tested positive out of the 6,074 passengers on the Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas ship, the news outlet reports. The ship that left Miami on Dec. 11 made stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and the Perfect Day at CocoCay – a Royal Caribbean private island – during its weeklong travel abroad.
Of the passengers who tested positive, six were disembarked earlier from the cruise and transported home, CBS Miami reports. The guests and crew members who tested positive were quarantined onboard.
Royal Caribbean sent 10 Tampa Bay the following statement:
Forty-eight of the 6,091 guests and crew members onboard Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas Dec. 11 sailing tested positive for COVID-19 – 78% of the onboard community. They were identified as a result of immediate contact tracing after a guest tested positive. The cruise sailed with 95% of the onboard community fully vaccinated and 98% of those that tested positive were fully vaccinated.
Each person quickly went into quarantine. Everyone who tested positive was asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and we continuously monitored their health. Six guests were disembarked earlier in the cruise and were transported home. The additional guests received assistance upon our arrival yesterday, Dec. 18.
Symphony’s future itineraries are not impacted.
To sail aboard Symphony, travelers who are age 12 and older must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and test negative before boarding. Children not yet vaccinated must provide a negative PCR test prior to sailing and also test negative at the terminal prior to boarding.
All crew are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and tested weekly.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday in a statement that the agency was aware of the situation on Symphony of the Seas and that it was "working with RCI to gather more information about the cases and possible exposures, and RCI will be collecting specimens from the current voyage for genetic sequencing," USA Today said.