Four crew positive for COVID aboard Anthem of the Seas, UK cruise plans unaffected

Four crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas have tested positive for COVID-19, but the ship’s upcoming cruise season in the UK doesn’t appear to be affected.

The four positive cases were reported after Anthem of the Seas arrived in Piraeus, Greece to load provisions and get all her crew vaccinated.

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Routine testing revealed the positive cases and the four crew have been disembarked, while the rest of the crew are quarantining ahead of further tests.

This was to be the second dose of the vaccine ahead of the ship’s planned resumption of services with cruises out of the UK this summer.

The reports of the COVID cases were first reported by Crew Center and Cruise Law News.

According to Crew Center, the crew aboard Anthem of the Seas will now begin what has been called a “modified quarantine”, wherein crew will self-isolate for three to four days before being tested again.

They’ll then receive the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Anthem of the Seas is due to begin her UK cruise season on July 7th, sailing roundtrip from Southampton on a combination of four-night cruises to nowhere and five- to eight-night British Isles cruises, starting July 15th.

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These British Isles cruises will feature visits to destinations such as Liverpool, England, Kirkwall in Scotland and Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Royal Caribbean International was recently forced to delay the US debut of its new ship Odyssey of the Seas due to a COVID-19 outbreak among eight of her crew, after earlier in the year cancelling the ship’s Israel deployment due to political violence in the region.

The cruise line has not given any indication on whether or not Anthem of the Seas’ UK cruise restart will be delayed by the four positive cases. According to a tally being kept by Cruise Law News, there have now been 237 COVID-19 cases on cruise ships since March last year.

The vast majority have been among crew on laid-up ships, while the global cruise industry has carried more than 400,000 cruise passengers since cruise line’s began to resume operations in Asia and the Mediterranean last year.