Passengers and crew — apart from crew needed to operate the ship — on board the SeaDream I are quarantined on board after a passenger from a previous voyage tested positive for COVID-19, SeaDream Yacht Club announced in a statement on its website Wednesday.
SeaDream informed current passengers and crew Wednesday that one passenger tested positive after arriving home in Denmark following disembarkation from SeaDream I in Tromsø, Norway on Sunday.
The ship, which has the capacity to hold up to 112 passengers, according to CruiseMapper, was on a subsequent journey when the test results emerged. That voyage has since been canceled and the SeaDream I is on its way to Bodø, Norway, according to the statement.
“We sincerely hope that there is no COVID-19 on board, and we are not aware of any other guests or crew who are infected or have any symptoms, but we are taking all necessary precautions,” the line said in a statement. “All guests and crew were informed, as well as the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) and the Norwegian Directorate of Health as soon as we received the information this afternoon.”
The cruise line is in the process of contacting passengers on board the affected voyage which ended on August 2.
Most of the global cruise industry remains in hold as the coronavirus continues to sweep the world, however, some cruise lines have begun to resume operations in foreign waters. And as ships sail with new precautions, disorders with the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, are already on the rise.
At least forty-five people aboard Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen tested positive for COVID-19.
Thirty-six team members tested positive for COVID-19, said hurtigruten spokesman Oystein Knoph. According to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, nine passengers also tested positive for COVID-19, as it became transparent that there was an outbreak on board. The nine passengers are from six counties in Norway. Thirty-three of the 36 team members who tested positive are Filipinos and the other three are Norwegian, German and French citizens.
Passengers on two separate shipment trips had already disembarked on July 24 and Friday to begin their return adventure before the cruise line contacted passengers about the first cases of COVID-19.
Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam said the cruise line had failed and made mistakes on a Monday. They think the line was well prepared in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, although an initial review of what happened at MS Roald Amundsen shows deviations from its established procedures.
The cruise line announced Monday that it would suspend all shipping cruises that its coastal operations in Norway were unaffected.
Skjeldam said in a statement the decision was the only responsible choice until the company can be sure it can execute its cruises while meeting all standards from the government and the even stricter requirements Hurtigruten has set for itself.
Skjeldam added: “For our guests, our workers and everyone who loves Hurtigruten, I need to do it.” The company will take a full external review of what happened and review the procedures in Hurtigruten.
It is known how the MS Roald Amundsen epidemic began, and passengers arrived from all over the world.
The ship’s 158 team members were tested for COVID-19, up to the cruise line. Four team members are hospitalized at Northern Norwegian University Hospital, 3 are recovering and are expected to leave the hospital soon.
Because the cruise line often acts like a local ferry, traveling from port to port along Norway’s west coast, some passengers disembarked along the route and may have spread the virus to local communities. A total of 69 municipalities in Norway could have been affected, Norwegian news agency NTB reported on Monday.
Two new ground instances were reported, according to the city of Trondheim, claiming that they were both passengers of the ship. Trondheim is halfway to Tromsa, north of the Arctic Circle, where the empty vessel is moored.
Previously: As cruising resumes in some parts of world, multiple cruise ships affected by new COVID-19 cases
The Hurtigruten cruise line was one of the first companies to resume sailing during the pandemic, starting cruises to Norway out of northern Germany in June with a single ship, then adding cruises in July to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard that is part of the Scandinavian country.
The leading industry organization, Cruise Lines International Association, will eventually release a mandatory policy on how to handle COVID-19 prevention and outbreaks on board ships. But right now, its cruise line members are deploying company-specific protocols based on advice of governments, health authorities and experts.
“Recovery is incredibly limited so far, and ongoing crossings will have to meet the needs and approval situations of national authorities,” Bari Golin-Blaugrund, senior director of strategic communications, told USA TODAY.
After a 22-year-old American woman tested positive for coronavirus aboard a cruise ship in Tahiti, all other passengers and the team aboard MS Paul Gauguin came back negative and some began disembarking to enter within 40 days of seven days, the cruise line announced Tuesday.
The infected passenger, who was asymptomatic, was confined in a special cabin before disembarking with her mother to a hotel to remain in isolation offshore, according to a statement from the Paul Gauguin cruise line shared with USA TODAY by spokesperson Lauren Wintemberg.
Following the discovery of the infection, the 340 passengers and equipment aboard the flagship of the cruise company MS Paul Gauguin were evaluated and confined to their cabins pending results.
The shipment returned Sunday morning to the departure port of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia on the island of Tahiti, he said, where they began seven days of quarantine and before undergoing further testing.
All foreign passengers had to pass two tests before boarding the Gauguin, according to the cruise line. The first was made within 3 days of a foreign flight and a time administered 4 days after arrival in French Polynesia.
Crew members can quarantine on board for up to a week. All passengers and equipment on board the shipment will be re-evaluated within the week, according to team members, said on a cruise line shared with USA TODAY through spokeswoman Lauren Wintemberg.
French Polynesia reopened last month to ask them to take a check before access and return 4 days after their arrival.
The Hurtigruten expedition cruiser, MS Fridtjof Nansen, announced Monday that 4 team members had been remote in the shipment after reporting bloodless symptoms. All team members tested negative for COVID-19.
The entire team won coronavirus tests, the first of which was delivered on Tuesday on land for research in Alesund, Norway, press officer Oystein Knoph said on a cruise line. All customers are invited and encouraged to take the test and have been asked to remain in their cabins for the time being, Knoph added.
The two-week round-trip cruise from Hamburg takes position along the Norwegian coast and lately arrives in Alesund. It has 171 passengers and 162 team members on board.
The MS Spitsbergen, another expedition cruiser sent in Hurtigruten’s fleet, has no suspected cases of coronavirus, but plans to check every user on board, Knoph said in the statement.
The shipment is expected to dock on Thursday in Tromsa, Norway, where all passengers and equipment will remain on board until negative results are taken. Knoph tested that all mandatory precautions should be taken despite the lack of explanation as to why there were cases of viruses in the shipment.
The ship programmed for a verification device on Monday, but fog prevented the aircraft with the aircraft from landing.
Sixty-four guests and 20 crew members are on board the ship. Of the passengers, most are Norwegian and the rest hail from other European countries. Forty-six crew members are Filipino citizens, 20 are Norwegian and four are from Europe.
Contribute: The Associated Press
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