Cruise ships are once again facing disruption because of Covid-19

(CNN) — At least four ocean cruise ships were turned away from ports of call or were prohibited from letting passengers disembark in the Americas this week because of Covid-19 cases aboard.

Though other cruises have had Covid-19 cases since US-based ships resumed service this summer with vaccine requirements and other measures meant to minimize outbreaks, the rate of cruises forced to alter their itineraries appears to have ticked up.

The disruptions still are a far cry from March 2020, when the pandemic shut down the industry and led to weeks of efforts to get already-embarked passengers and crew members home as ports closed to virus-hit vessels.

Still, this week’s disruptions came amid global concern about the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant, and as Covid-19 case rates rose in the US and elsewhere.

The recent cruise-ship disruptions include:

• Mexican officials prevented the Holland America Line Koningsdam from letting its passengers disembark in Puerto Vallarta on Thursday after 21 crew members tested positive for Covid-19, the Jalisco state health department said.

A “small number of fully vaccinated crew” tested positive and all showed either mild or no symptoms, Holland America Line told CNN.

The Koningsdam.

Alfredo Martinez/Getty Images

Jalisco health authorities initially were going to allow people testing negative to disembark. However, they changed their mind, citing an “exponential growth of confirmed cases in the crew” by Thursday, the department said. Only one crew member had tested positive less than a week earlier, the department said.

The ship, which departed San Diego on December 19 with more than 1,000 passengers and more than 870 crew members, visited Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlán before it arrived in Puerto Vallarta. It is due to return to San Diego as scheduled on Sunday.

Holland America Line, like the other cruise companies in this story, requires passengers and crew to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, with some exceptions for…

Source : cnn