Royal Caribbean delays Odyssey of the Seas sailing after crew members test COVID-19 positive

MIAMI — Royal Caribbean International has postponed the inaugural sailing of its Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship “out of an abundance of caution” after eight crew members tested positive for COVID-19, the company’s CEO said.

Odyssey of the Seas, one of the world’s biggest cruise ships, was scheduled to cruise from Fort Lauderdale on July 3 and make stops in the Caribbean after conducting a test cruise with volunteers in late June. Its first cruise is now postponed until July 31.

Its test cruise, required for ships that don’t have 95% of passengers vaccinated — a threshold set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — before revenue cruises can begin, will also be rescheduled.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley announced the changes late Tuesday in a statement posted on Facebook.

“During routine testing, eight crew members received a positive test result for COVID-19. 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,” Bayley said.

Of the eight crew members who tested positive, six are asymptomatic, he said. Two have mild symptoms. They are all quarantined and are being monitored by the cruise line’s 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. ... While disappointing, this is the right decision for the health and well-being of our crew and guests,” Bayley said.

Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International’s sister company under Royal Caribbean Group, is moving forward with the June 26 cruise of its Celebrity Edge ship, the first from a U.S. port since March 2020.

Bayley’s transparency about the crew members’ test results presents a sharp contrast to the way Royal Caribbean International and other cruise companies handled the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the company often declined to comment on virus outbreaks among shipboard crew.

The newfound transparency is a welcome change, said Rockford Weitz, director of the Maritime Studies Program at Tufts University’s Fletcher School.

“How they’re handling it this time shows that the industry has learned from the mistakes of last year and knows that the population has much greater familiarity with COVID than it did a year ago,” he said.

The positive cases are expected given the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic is still wreaking on much of the world. The climbing vaccination rate in the U.S. has brought a dramatic decline in cases and deaths, but the virus is still spreading freely in many countries where doses remain scarce.

Earlier this month, two passengers aboard the Celebrity Millennium ship, the first cruise from Caribbean port in seven months, tested positive for COVID-19. Like almost all passengers aboard, the cabin mates were vaccinated and reportedly asymptomatic. Celebrity Cruises, owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Group, required all crew and passengers 16 years old or older to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ships sailing from Florida waters may have fewer vaccinated passengers due to a recently passed Florida law that bans vaccination requirements aboard cruise ships leaving from Florida ports. While most cruise lines are following CDC recommendations and requiring vaccinations for all adult passengers on cruises from other states, in Florida they have implemented additional health protocols at the expense of unvaccinated passengers.

Royal Caribbean International’s decision to delay the first Odyssey of the Seas cruise will bolster consumer confidence, said Colleen McDaniel, editor in chief of Cruise Critic, who was a passenger on the Celebrity Millennium.

“People are encouraged that businesses are looking out for them, and that applies to the cruise lines,” she said. “They know they’ve been working on the protocols for a long time, they are putting their faith on the fact that when something happens, they are able to keep everyone safe.”