The first voyage of the Royal Caribbean ship Odyssey of the Seas has been postponed after several crew members tested positive for coronavirus. The cruise company’s CEO Michael Bayley posted news of the delay to Facebook, saying that they were pushing back their first cruise from the state in over a year “out of an abundance of caution.”
The Odyssey was scheduled to sail on July 3. That ship will now head out on July 31. In total, eight of the ship’s 1400 crewmembers tested positive for coronavirus. Bayley said that the eight crewmembers were between first and second-doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
“All 1,400 crew onboard Odyssey of the Seas were vaccinated on June 4th and will be considered fully vaccinated on June 18. The positive cases were identified after the vaccination was given and before they were fully effective,” he wrote. “The eight crew members, six of whom are asymptomatic and two with mild symptoms, were quarantined and are being closely monitored by our medical team. To protect the remaining crew and prevent any further cases, we will have all crew quarantined for 14 days and continue with our routine testing.”
A test-run cruise will also be delayed due to the positive tests.
Bayley called the news “disappointing” but ultimately the “right decision for the health and well-being of our crew and guests.”
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This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2021.