Tag Archives: Centers for Disease Control

CDC Says Defer Cruise Travel; Issues Report Inside the Princess Outbreak

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Diamond Princess

A new CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevent) report recommends that travellers “defer all cruise travel worldwide” due to increased risk for coronavirus. The report is available here.

The report points out that coronavirus survived for 17 days on the Diamond Princess in an empty stateroom, and also outlines some 800 coronavirus cases between the Diamond and Grand Princess ships.

During the initial stages of the coronavirus, the Diamond Princess was the setting of the largest outbreak outside mainland China, according to the CDC.

“Cruise ships are often settings for outbreaks of infectious diseases because of their closed environment and contact between travellers from many countries,” said the CDC. “More than 800 cases of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases occurred during outbreaks on three cruise ship voyages, and cases linked to several additional cruises have been reported across the United States. Transmission occurred across multiple voyages from ship to ship by crew members; both crew members and passengers were affected; 10 deaths associated with cruise ships have been reported to date.”

The report is available here.

Cruise lines have mixed success on sanitation inspections in 2014

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The cruise industry had fewer ships in 2014 that received “not satisfactory” grades after inspection by the U.S Centers for Disease Control, but also fewer that scored a perfect 100.

Twelve vessels failed to grade out at 85, the minimum score needed to achieve a satisfactory rating, during inspections conducted in 2014.

Most were smaller, older ships carrying less than 1,000 passengers. Only one of the ships, the 2,348-passenger Norwegian Star, carried more than 2,000 passengers. The Star received an unsatisfactory grade on Feb. 16, then received a 95 on its next inspection on April 25.

The Bahamas Celebration, operated from West Palm Beach by Celebration Cruise Line, was the only ship to receive an unsatisfactory grade twice in 2014. It also did once in 2013. It was recently replaced by Grand Celebration, operated by a reorganized company, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line.

Un-Cruise Adventures, an operator of smaller ships along the U.S. West coast, had two ships receive unsatisfactory grades in 2014, the Safari Endeavor and Safari Quest. The 86-passenger Safari Endeavor also did once in 2013.

The newly launched Pearl Mist operated by Pearl Seas Cruises was graded 61 in an inspection on July 15.  Pearl Seas is a new cruise line that hadn’t operated ocean cruise ships before.

The low score of 31 was given to Schooner Zodiac, a 26-passenger two-masted tall ship sailing out of Belllingham, Wash.

Following their unsatisfactory grades, the Bahamas Celebration received a 90 on Sept. 3, the Safari Endeavor a 93 on Sept. 7, and the Safari Quest an 87 on July 18. The Pearl Mist submitted a nine-page corrective-action report but has not been reinspected. The Schooner Zodiac has not submitted a corrective-action report and has not been reinspected.

This year, 26 ships received perfect scores, down from 39 in 2013. Carnival Cruise Lines had eight ships that got perfect 100s, and Royal Caribbean International had six. Other lines with ships getting perfect scores were Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line.

Last year, 17 ships received unsatisfactory scores below 85, according to CDC records.

Cruise ship returns home with more than 600 sick passengers

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By Tom Stieghorst

Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas returned to its home port in Bayonne, N.J., on Wednesday afternoon following a widespread outbreak of gastrointestinal illness on the 3,000-passenger ship.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that 629 passengers, more than 20% of the passengers onboard, were affected by the illness over the course of the cruise. Also, 54 crew members were reported ill.

The last time a cruise ship had as many sick people was in 2006, when 536 passengers and 143 crew members from the Carnival Liberty were reported ill, according to CDC records.

Royal Caribbean shortened the 10-day cruise to eight days to allow for extra sanitation measures before the next cruise on Friday.

“Guests scheduled for the next cruise on Explorer of the Seas can be confident that all possible measures will have been taken to prevent further problems,” a Royal Caribbean statement said.

Royal Caribbean said it plans a thorough sanitizing of the entire ship.

Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said they won’t know if it was a norovirus outbreak until later this week.

Passengers on the stricken cruise will receive a 50% refund of their cruise fare and a 50% future cruise credit.

Guests who had to be confined to staterooms will be credited with one future cruise day for each day of confinement.

Royal Caribbean said it will also reimburse airline change fees and hotel accommodations for guests whose travel home was inconvenienced by the change of travel plans.