The flagships MS Europa and MS Europa 2 of the Hamburg-based cruise shipping company Hapag-Lloyd were affected by COVID outbreaks onboard.
Since several routine Coronavirus tests onboard the two luxury ships (Europa and Europa 2) turned out positive, the company had to cancel or change their scheduled itineraries.
According to the company, the infected were doing well, being either asymptomatic or experiencing mild symptoms.
Hapag-Lloyd has not provided information on how many people were affected. Those who tested positive and their contact persons were immediately isolated from one another onboard. It was planned that the people who tested positive would be disembarked in Dubai and placed in quarantine there, where they would be looked after by a medical service provider.
MS Europa 2 was expected to continue on from Dubai UAE to Mauritius with ~280 passengers and ~380 crew over Christmas and New Year's Eve. According to the information, the voyage ends prematurely on December 30 or 31. The original trip was from Dubai to Port Louis (Mauritius Island). The departure from Dubai was on December 18, the end of the voyage was scheduled for January 5, 2022.
MS Europa was originally scheduled to head to Mauritius and the Maldives over the holidays with ~240 passengers and ~280 crew. Thanks to the new location, the liner will be able to continue her voyage towards the Maldives once she berths in Dubai. Both ships should be sailing for 18 days until January 5.
According to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, all passengers and crew onboard both boats had been vaccinated at least twice. Both the passengers and the crew had also been tested on a regular basis.
For more MS Europa and MS Europa 2 incidents and accidents see the ships' CruiseMinus pages (Europa 1 and Europa 2).