Passenger tests positive for coronavirus on first cruise ship to sail in Caribbean since pandemic

A passenger on the first cruise ship to set sail in the Caribbean since the start of the pandemic has tested positive for coronavirus, according to a reporter traveling on the ship.

Gene Sloan, cruise editor for The Points Guy, said in a post Wednesday that the captain of the SeaDream 1 had made a ship-wide announcement alerting guests to the positive case and asked everyone to return to his bedroom.

The passenger tested positive on a “preliminary basis,” according to Sloan. It is not clear what “preliminary” means.

SeaDream Yacht Club, owner of the vessel, has not confirmed the positive case and has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

The news came four days after the ship began its seven-day voyage after leaving Barbados on Saturday with 53 passengers on board. It had visited Saint Vincent, Canouan Island, Tobago Cays and Union Island in the Grenadines and was due to end on November 14, but returned to Barbados early.

Sloan told NBC’s “Today” show that the ship has developed an “incredibly rigorous system” to try to keep Covid-19 cases off the ship. Everyone was tested before arriving in Barbados and again at the pier and received negative results.

Passengers also did not interact with locals during their layovers and were driven to empty beaches to relax or take an excursion.

The ship was planning to do a third round of tests on Wednesday when the passenger went to the ship’s doctor and said he was feeling sick, Sloan said.

“We haven’t interacted with people in any of the places we’ve been to. So someone got on the boat with Covid,” Sloan said.

At the start of the trip, passengers were not required to wear face masks. Sloan explained that the ship believed its extensive testing before passengers boarded “would block Covid at the gate, so to speak.”

But that changed when two days after the trip began, the captain said masks would be mandatory.

“I’m a little worried,” Sloan said. “I have interacted with the other passengers on board over the past few days.”

Cruise ships were not allowed to sail in U.S. waters after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a sailing ban order in March following coronavirus outbreaks on several ships. On October 30, the CDC released a “Framework for the Conditional Navigation Order,” which will help the cruise industry implement safety measures that will allow it to eventually resume operations on a phased approach.

The positive case reported on SeaDream 1 could hurt the industry’s chances of resuming shipping in the United States, Sloan said.

“There is an argument that this is not representative of the larger cruise industry. It might not have been Royal Caribbean or Carnival, but it was the first line trying to get back to the Caribbean and on the very first cruise they had problems, “he said.