Royal Caribbean International is cutting short one of its first cruises since the pandemic hit after a passenger on board tested positive for COVID-19.
Following a nine-month cruising hiatus, the company this month restarted three and four night cruises aboard its Quantum of the Seas ship, offering sailings to nowhere that carry only Singaporean passengers. An 83-year-old man on the Dec. 7 cruise reported to the medical center Wednesday with diarrhea, according to a press release from the Singapore Ministry of Health. The company used a PCR test on board to test him and the result came back positive, the ministry said.
Royal Caribbean canceled the remainder of the cruise, returned the ship to port and transferred the passenger to a land-based medical facility Wednesday. The Singaporean government re-tested the passenger twice at its national lab late Wednesday and both tests came back negative, according to its press release. The ministry will conduct a third test on the passenger on Thursday, and test all passengers before they leave the cruise terminal.
"We have been working closely with the Singapore government to ensure that all guests currently onboard Quantum of the Seas can disembark safely and smoothly," the company said in a statement. As part of existing protocols, guests will undergo an antigen test at the terminal before departing. In addition, our entire crew will undergo PCR tests."
All close contacts of the infected passenger have been isolated on board and tested negative for the virus, the ministry said. The remaining passengers — there are 1,680 in total — were told to stay in their cabins Wednesday, according to their social media posts. The ship can hold more than 4,000 passengers but is operating at reduced capacity during the pandemic.
The company canceled the following Dec. 10 cruise, and said in a statement that the ship will undergo a deep cleaning before cruises resume on Dec. 14. Royal Caribbean said its system to keep passengers and crew safe is "working as it is designed to" because the company was able to identify a single COVID-19 case on board.
