Passengers on a Carnival cruise from Miami to Seattle say more than 100 people aboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19 and the ship was overwhelmed.
Multiple people say they’re in quarantine at Seattle-area hotels after testing positive or being exposed to someone with COVID-19 on the Carnival Spirit.
Carnival Cruise Line would not confirm how many people tested positive, but said there were a number of positive cases.
Passengers tell Seattle's KING-TV they waited hours for meals, weren’t properly isolated and couldn’t get ahold of medical staff.
Carnival said there were no serious health issues. In an email, the company said:
“The Carnival Spirit team managed a number of COVID cases during its Panama Canal journey from Florida to Seattle. There were no serious health issues, but we did have guests show minor symptoms or test positive. We encourage our guests to purchase travel insurance, and we believe that close to half the guests purchased travel insurance for unexpected travel disruptions related to COVID. Normally, guests are responsible for quarantine costs, but because so many of our guests were far from home, we made the hotel arrangements and have offered to share the cost of their lodging while they remain in Seattle to complete their five-day quarantine.”
The Carnival Spirit took passengers from Miami and through the Panama Canal before sailing north to Seattle and Alaska. The ship deboarded in Seattle on Tuesday and was already headed to Alaska.
Carnival requires guest to be fully vaccinated and tested before a trip. Some exemptions are accommodated with proper testing.