Cruise ship Majestic Princess has arrived in Melbourne after a short, but eventful stay in Sydney, which saw around 800 Covid-infected passengers disembark the vessel. The next stop for the Carnival Cruise Line ship will be Tasmania.
“As Majestic Princess departs Sydney, we’re thankful for the hard work of all involved in today’s disembarkation,” a Princess Cruises spokesperson said late Saturday night.
“This extends to the crew on the ship and ground, NSW Health and Port Authority of NSW for their support with assisting guests.”
Princess Cruises said it would work closely with state governments and respective health departments ahead of Majestic’s arrival in Victoria and Tasmania.
Carnival Australia president Marguerite Fitzgerald said around 800 people, who were mostly passengers, came down with the virus, according to the ABC.
Fitzgerald said the operator “started to see elevated cases about halfway through” the 12-day voyage; infected guests had been “mild or asymptomatic” and isolating in their rooms.
“Reflective of the increase in community transmissions, we too have seen more guests test positive for COVID-19 on the current voyage of Majestic Princess. This is a result of mass testing of our 3,300 guests,” she remarked.
Cruise ship staff “terrific”
Despite the drama, some passengers were happy with how the cruise operator conducted itself during the event.
“It was scary because we heard about it [the infections] but we tested negative, and the Princess Majestic were really good with the protocols,” one man leaving the ship said.
“We wore masks for the last seven days and we were very careful when we went ashore, so some people don’t just listen. Obviously they didn’t [follow the rules] and that was the problem, people just don’t take COVID seriously.”
Another passenger praised crew and the cruise.
“Fantastic, no problems. The crew were terrific, and we’ve had a great time,” they said.
“You’ve got to accept that this is how it’s going to be, and no we thoroughly enjoyed it.”
The Princess Cruises spokesperson said that in light of the current spike in NSW cases, “it’s critical everyone plays their part in keeping the community safe, and that includes tourism operators”.
“We have been planning for many months that at some point we were going to see a surge in community transmission and that it was likely we would see that reflected on board,” they said.
“Finally, to all guests who did the right thing by themselves, other guests and the community today, we thank you.”
Majestic Princess sailed into Sydney in October after a 31-day trans-Pacific voyage from Vancouver, The cruise stopped at Los Angeles, Papeete, Tauranga, Auckland and Bay of Islands without a major incident.
