The so-called cruise to nowhere, a trial by cruise line Royal Caribbean and the Singaporean government, has been forced to return to port on Wednesday after a corona infection was found on board, the authorities said. Almost seventeen hundred passengers were on board.
The four-day cruise, which had to be discontinued a day early, was one of the company’s first cruises since Royal Caribbean had to shut down operations in March due to the corona crisis. There were half the number of passengers on the ship and all passengers had to show a negative corona test before being allowed on board. They also always had to wear a mouth mask outside their own cabin.
Only passengers from Singapore were allowed on board and the 1,148 crew members were quarantined for two weeks before the cruise to prevent them from taking the virus on board. The ship would also not moor anywhere.
Royal Caribbean has been hit hard by the corona crisis. In 2019, the company still had a turnover of 11 billion dollars (about 9 billion euros). But that sales fell 93 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. However, the company says it is confident that the demand for cruises will rise again as soon as enough people have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
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