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COVID-19 case reported aboard Carnival’s new Mardi Gras

At least one passenger has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s new cruise ship, Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras was mid-way through a Caribbean cruise last week when the popular cruise blogger Dee, of ParoDeeJay noticed mild symptoms consistent with coronavirus. A PCR test given onboard came back positive.

Mardi Gras is the largest cruise ship ever built for Carnival Cruise Line

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Her traveling companion Jay was given an antigen test, which came back negative, although they quarantined together in the same cabin for the rest of the cruise.

In a video posted to YouTube, Dee says that her symptoms are mild, consisting of an itchy throat and fever, as well as loss of taste and smell, but spoke about trying to stay “as positive as possible”, becoming visibly emotional.

Jay stated that they are both vaccinated, but said that COVID-19 is “something that we have to deal with”.

“The point of the vaccine is that it’s going to make it easier to deal with [the virus] and you’re not going to be as symptomatic… its not as dangerous necessarily,” he added.

Dee added that she didn’t want to discourage anyone from travelling, emphasizing that it’s a personal choice and deciding “what you’re comfortable with”.

Mardi Gras entered service at the end of July, cruising from Port Canaveral to destinations in the Caribbean. The August 7th voyage that Dee and Jay were on was a one-week cruise visiting Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico, as well as Roatan, Honduras.

This latest infection brings the total number of known COVID-19 infections on cruise ships among passengers and crew to 259.

The last COVID-19 infections to affect a Carnival Cruise Line ship were 26 crew and 1 guest aboard Carnival Vista earlier this month.

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Carnival Vista was able to continue her cruise after offloading the infected crew and passenger, and it does not appear that Mardi Gras’ voyage plans have been affected.

At the time of writing she was en-route to San Juan from Cape Canaveral on her next scheduled cruise itinerary.

Mardi Gras accommodates more than 5,200 guests in over 2,600 staterooms and 180 suites across 11 categories, served by a crew of 2,000.

Carnival Cruise Line’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols involve contact tracing and additional testing of any close contacts of coronavirus cases, but no additional infections have been reported aboard the ship.

Cruise Arabia & Africa has reached out to Carnival Cruise Line to comment.

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