Hurtigruten’s ms Roald Amundsen, which is one of the first cruise ships to resume sailings in the wake of the pandemic, reported an outbreak of the deadly virus.
33 out of the total of 158 crew have tested COVID-positive onboard the ship, Hurtigruten announced in a statement. All crew have been tested and 120 are confirmed as negative. 5 crew members will be retested prior to the final results being verified.
The liner is currently docked in Tromso Norway with no passengers onboard.
There have been 2 itineraries so far for ms Roald Amundsen with 209 passengers onboard the first cruise, and 178 from the July 24 departure. They'll all self-quarantine in line with Norwegian health authority regulations. The cruise line assists passengers with food, accommodation, transport, and other needs.
The vessel was operating at 50% capacity. It can accommodate 539 guests.
Last month, Hurtigruten returned to the seas with a total of 14 ships.
Hurtigruten VP Global Communications Rune Thomas Ege said they worked "closely with the Norwegian national and local health authorities for follow-up, information, further testing, and infection tracking."
Hurtigruten is in contact with all passengers that were onboard Roald Amundsen's July 17 & 24 departures.
“The safety and well-being of our guests and crew is Hurtigruten’s number one priority,” the company said. “All crew members are closely monitored and screened daily. Non-Norwegian crew members are quarantined before boarding the ship, and non-European crew need to undergo two negative Covid-19 tests before even leaving their home country.”
MS Roald Amundsen was scheduled to sail to Svalbard (Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen Island) Friday afternoon. The voyage is now canceled. The next sailing with the vessel is not planned until September.
For more MS Roald Amundsen accidents and incidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.