'Not the cruise I signed up for': 30-fold increase in Covid cases upends industry

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

‘Not the cruise I signed up for’: 30-fold increase in Covid cases upends industry

The surge has led to passengers stranded on ships, staff shortages and tour cancelations in addition to ports turning ships away

Erin McCormick
Thu 13 Jan 2022 06.00 GMT

A surge in Covid infections on cruise ships is causing mayhem across the industry, leaving passengers stranded aboard ships, exacerbating staff shortages and prompting the CDC to warn US passengers against all cruise travel.

The CDC director said this week that Covid cases have increased 30-fold in just two weeks. Every one of the nearly 100 cruise ships currently carrying passengers in US waters has reported enough Covid-19 cases to merit investigation by the CDC, according to the agency’s website.

Over the holidays, passengers found themselves floating around on ships that couldn’t dock because foreign ports were turning them away or facing long, onboard quarantines before being allowed to come home, after testing positive for Covid. Dozens of cruises have been cancelled and some ports in the Caribbean and South America are turning ships away from making daily visits.

“It wasn’t the cruise we signed up for,” said Janet Silver Ghent, a Palo Alto retiree and editor who was stuck onboard a South America cruise for eight days, when ports in Chile and Argentina refused to let passengers disembark because of Covid cases.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/12/cruise-covid-cases-ship-industry