A cruise ship with 48 cases of COVID on board docked in Miami Saturday, and all we can think is: Oh no, not again.
Those first terrible months of the pandemic in 2020 are still burned into our memory, when cruise ships became such breeding grounds for infection that they became virtual voyages of the damned and many ports refused to accept them. Dozens of ships were stranded and many employees were trapped at sea without pay. The crisis forced an industry-wide shutdown. The industry, which employed some 60,000 South Floridians at the time, has been fighting to return to full operation ever since.
And now we have the kind of news we have dreaded. A seven-night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas departed from Miami with stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and CocoCay, the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas, and returned with 48 cases of COVID. It’s unclear if the omicron variant is at play. With its heightened transmission even among the vaccinated, that seems like an obvious assumption. Nearly all of the cases reported so far were among people who were vaccinated.
But here’s the thing. The cruise industry has had almost two years to come up with safety protocols that work. If they can’t get this right — and maybe no one can — we wonder if they can survive this pandemic at all. In New York, Broadway is once again being forced to cancel shows as breakthrough cases rise. Is the cruise industry going to become Miami’s Broadway?
Yes, as the Miami Herald reported, the vast majority of passengers and crew, 12 and over, were vaccinated. Miami-based Royal Caribbean said that those who tested positive immediately went into quarantine. Six disembarked mid-voyage and were sent home. All passengers were required to take a COVID test before boarding, and crew members are required to be fully vaccinated and are tested weekly. These are basic safety protocols all cruise lines should employ in this COVID era.
But passengers also reported troubling issues including an overwhelmed medical staff, conflicting information about quarantining requirements and resistance to testing for coronavirus.
If true, and if those sorts of issues extend to other ships and other companies, it’s time for the cruise industry to pull out all the stops to keep passengers safe. Ventilation and masking are key. But lots of rapid testing on board the ships also could help pinpoint cases quickly and isolate those who get infected. And there shouldn’t be any question about whether there are enough medical workers to handle a big outbreak. Quarantine protocols should be clear, and transparency with passengers about any COVID cases must be a top priority. No doubt there are other safety measures that can be employed as well.
Like so many other businesses, the cruise industry is being reshaped by the pandemic. In the face of this latest outbreak, how Royal Caribbean and every other cruising company respond now will show whether they’ve really adapted to the new reality — and if that is even possible.
Will cruises be safe for passengers in the face of a variant that’s spreading with lightning speed? On Royal Caribbean ships and every other cruise line, that question is being answered right now.
