MIAMI — With the rapid spread of the omicron variant and multiple outbreaks on cruise ships, vacations turned into nightmares for many people cruising over the holiday season.
The stringent preventative public safety measures on cruise ships, including requirements of full vaccinations and negative coronavirus tests before boarding, had been relatively successful in curtailing coronavirus cases during the industry’s restart in June 2021 and for several ensuing months.
Then the highly contagious COVID-19 omicron variant surfaced in the United States in late November, and quickly disrupted the cruise industry. Despite being inoculated, many passengers and crew sustained so-called “breakthrough” infections while sailing.
The Miami Herald spoke with 12 passengers who recently traveled on multiple cruise lines and heard their harrowing pandemic cruising ordeals. They claimed they were refused coronavirus testing on ships, kept in small rooms aboard for days with insufficient supplies of food and water, dealt with hourslong waits for meals. Some said they also were forced into post-cruise quarantine with no information from cruise lines about how they’d get home. What’s more, they could not get information about the extent of the COVID-19 outbreaks on their respective cruise ships.
By Jan. 7, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, both based in Miami and two of the largest global cruise operators, said they’re canceling several voyages including halting certain ships until late April. They were the first mass cancellations of cruises since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Other big cruise operators, like Carnival Cruise Line and MSC Cruises, are continuing with scheduled winter and spring sailings.
Despite the warning and omicron still infecting record numbers of people nationwide, the CDC let expire and become voluntary on Jan. 15 its rules that cruise operators must follow to sail during the ongoing pandemic.
Here are the stories of three groups of passengers interviewed by the Herald who were infected by the virus, or helped care for family members who tested positive while sailing on three different major cruise lines in December and early in January. Their experiences and situations were corroborated by the Herald through photographs, social media posts or other people on the particular cruises.
‘Like the twilight zone’
Becky Brunette, 58, a Boynton Beach retiree went on the Norwegian Joy cruise that left PortMiami on Dec. 23 for an 11-night trip around the Caribbean. She was with her 28-year-old son, Cassady, who lives in Virginia. Brunette chose Norwegian Cruise Line for their vacation because it’s the only major cruise operator that required 100% of crew and passengers to be fully vaccinated. She bought a balcony room in case the worst-case-scenario occurred on board — if she or her son tested positive for the coronavirus and because she’s claustrophobic.
On Dec. 30, Cassady developed cold-like symptoms and they decided it would be prudent to get a COVID-19 test. Brunette called the ship’s medical department and was told it would cost $200 for an appointment and $200 for the test. She hesitated to pay $400, but decided it was the responsible thing to do. Her son’s test came back positive, while her test was negative. Brunette said Norwegian eventually took the $400 charge off her bill after she complained about it.
The next day, Brunette and her son were forced to leave their balcony room and were escorted by crew members wearing biohazard suits to a small interior room on the ship and remained there for four days. Their room service food often took hours to arrive cold in to-go containers.
With no information from Norwegian about how many cases were on board, Brunette began messaging with other infected passengers via Facebook.
“It was like the twilight zone. I was locked in this tiny room with my son on the fifth floor, messaging with someone quarantined on the 13th floor, trying to put the pieces together,” she said, explaining that crew members told her they had been instructed not to answer questions about the number of cases on board. “You keep asking but no one will tell you. I still have no idea how many people had tested positive to this day.”
When Norwegian Joy arrived back in Miami and docked on Jan. 3, Brunette and her son were escorted off a back entrance to the ship and taken to her car.
“I love cruising but I will not do it again as long as there is COVID,” she said. “I’m claustrophobic and being in that small cabin with no fresh air for days was really hard for me.”
Norwegian Cruise Line did not respond to a Herald reporter’s requests for comment about Brunette and her son’s frustrating experience.
Unexpected postcruise adventure
Will Greene, of Huntersville, North Carolina, cruised aboard Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas on Dec. 11-18. He sailed in and out of Miami with his wife, his daughter, his two sons and his son’s college roommate Kendall, along with a group of 28 family and friends.
Greene’s son Cameron, 20, started feeling sick on Dec. 16 and tested positive for COVID-19. Kendall also was infected and both were transferred to a room on the ship’s third deck for the remainder of the cruise. Greene said that his son’s close contacts never were informed for contact tracing to determine the origin of the virus.
The night before docking in Miami, Greene said he and his wife got a call from the ship’s front desk informing them that their son and his friend needed to stay in Miami for a night in quarantine after leaving the ship. Greene and his wife were hesitant to leave their 20-year-old son and his friend behind. Royal Caribbean assured them the boys would be taken to a hotel owned by the cruise line, they’d receive medical attention and be supplied with food and water, then would be flown home on a private plane on Dec. 19.
“Eventually we conceded to them taking the boys away,” Greene recalled, explaining that the rest of the family boarded a flight home after disembarking Symphony of the Seas and left the young men in Miami. “What else are we gonna do? We’re in a pandemic.”
The post-cruise adventure Greene said his son and friend experienced was not at all what he and his wife anticipated. A car hired by Royal Caribbean came to pick up the 20-year-olds at PortMiami. They were driven to a home rented by the cruise line in Biscayne Park, 11 miles north of the port. The two men had no food, no water, no contact information for a representative from Royal Caribbean and no medical attention at the rental home, Greene said. After speaking on the phone with Cameron and Kendall about the situation, Greene and his wife called Royal Caribbean. After repeated phone calls to Royal Caribbean’s Miami headquarters, Greene got the cruise company to send a nurse to check on the young men and chartered them a private plane home on Dec. 20.
“There are inherent risks in a pandemic, but the cruise industry is focused on their profits,” Greene said. “I feel they chose to misinform us because ultimately it’s about their bottom line. ... I’d say buyers beware.”
Royal Caribbean officials declined to specifically address the Greene family’s recent cruising experience.
“Guests who test positive are placed in isolation and are provided with complimentary bottled water, room service, WiFi and movies,” a company spokesperson said. “They also received daily health checks from our medical team. At the end of the cruise, our teams assist these guests with isolation arrangements on land. This can include car service to their vehicle, arranging and covering costs for hotel accommodations or private car service home.”
When a cruise passenger or crew member tests positive for COVID-19, Royal Caribbean immediately identifies any people close to them and makes them aware of the infection, the spokesperson said.
Individuals deemed to be close contacts are asked to quarantine in their stateroom for 24 hours prior to being tested for COVID-19 by the medical staff on a ship whether or not they have symptoms, the spokesperson said. Any passenger identified as a close contact less than 24 hours prior to the end of a cruise are quarantined, but not tested on board, the cruise line official said.
Stranded in St. Maarten
Laurie Browne, a pediatric nurse from the United Kingdom, on Dec. 21 boarded the MSC Cruises Seaview ship with her daughter Lara, 19, and son Luke, 21, in Barbados for a seven-day cruise around the Caribbean. On Dec. 24, Browne and her daughter tested positive for COVID-19 after taking a test required to disembark on the island of St. Kitts. They isolated on the ship for two nights. On Dec. 26, when docked in St. Maarten in the Dutch Antilles, Browne was told they needed to leave the ship and go into a 14-day quarantine on the island.
Browne, her son and daughter and several other infected passengers were taken by van from the port to Philipsburg, St. Maarten to Sonesta Maho Beach Resort. She said they were given no information about how they would get home to the UK.
“Then began seven days of absolute hell trying to get out,” Browne said.
She made a series of phone calls to MSC, a Swiss-Italian global cruise line based in Geneva, the hotel staff, local health and port authorities in St. Maarten and the British embassy. After local health authorities said she could leave St. Maarten on Jan. 1, she booked a flight at her own expense for Jan. 2 and arrived back home in the UK the next day. The flights for her and her two childres from St. Maarten to London cost her $4,514 and MSC told her to file a claim with her travel insurance to recoup that money, Browne said.
“I knew the risk of getting COVID, that is not the issue,” she said. “I could to go the grocery store and get COVID but that’s not the issue here; it was the way they behaved. They could talk about preventative health and safety protocols until they’re blue in the face, but what they do when there are actually cases on board is awful.”
A spokesperson for MSC said in a statement that the cruise line was in contact with the passengers, the Browne family, and provided them with support.
“Following the guidelines of the local health authorities, of which there is no choice but to adhere to, after a short isolation onboard, as per our protocol, we have a pre-arranged contingency agreement with the authorities of the Caribbean islands,” according to the MSC statement, that noted that the passengers — the Brownes — were transferred from the ship to Philipsburg, St. Maarten for isolation.
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