In what has to be a huge setback for cruising, four cruise lines have reported new Covid-19 cases onboard. Hurtigruten, the first cruise operator worldwide to return an oceangoing cruise ship to service in mid-June, has so far had over 40 passengers and crew on board the MS Roald Amundsen test positive for the coronavirus, while hundreds more on board were told to self-isolate for 10 days.

Local public health officials said on Sunday that at least 41 staff and passengers were infected with coronavirus on two sailings of Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen from the northern Norwegian city of Tromso to the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard at the end of July.

Hurtigruten which had touted reduced passenger capacity, social distancing and strict rules on hygiene, will now suspend all expedition cruises until further notice.

The Financial Times reported that Hurtigruten, “conceded it failed to follow its own guidelines in a further blow to the industry’s image.”

“This is a serious situation for everyone who is affected. We have not been good enough and we have made mistakes. On behalf of everyone at Hurtigruten, I am sorry for what has happened,” said CEO, Daniel Skjeldam.

Four of the MS Roald Amundsen’s crew members were hospitalized on Friday when the ship arrived at the Norwegian port of Tromso. They were later diagnosed with COVID-19. Tests showed another 32 of the 158 staff were also infected.

The majority of the infected crew were from the Philippines while the rest were Norwegian, French and German nationals. The company said the foreign crew had been tested for the coronavirus before leaving their home countries but did not quarantine before starting work on the ship.

Aside from that astounding information, here’s another incomprehensible action – passengers were allowed to disembark before anyone had been diagnosed. A complex operation to trace those passengers is now underway.

The Financial Times reported that, “Norwegian health authorities said close to 400 passengers from the two affected cruises on the Roald Amundsen were spread across 69 municipalities — as well as outside the country — and needed to go into quarantine. Hurtigruten has faced criticism from the health authorities for not informing passengers earlier after it found out on Wednesday that one person from the first sailing had come down with coronavirus.”

Over the weekend, Skjeldam said cruise ship officials did not know that they should have notified the passengers after the first case was reported Friday. He said they followed the advice of the ship’s doctors. However, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said its advice was to inform passengers and crew as soon as possible so they could monitor their health and go into quarantine if needed.

Norway stopped all cruise ships with more than 100 people on board from disembarking at its ports from Monday and is in contact with Germany, Denmark, Austria, Philippines and Latvia as passengers and crew on board came from these countries, officials said.

Ships that have already departed will be able to offload passengers and crew at Norwegian ports, but those yet to start journeys will not be able to do so, Norwegian Health Minister Bent Hoie said. The new rules are effective for the next 14 days.

Hoie said confidence in Hurtigruten was shaken after emails leaked to local media quoted a doctor in northern Norway saying Hurtigruten had asked him not to name the company when announcing a local resident that had been on a cruise had tested positive last week.

“A preliminary evaluation shows that there has been a failure in several of our internal procedures,” Skjeldam said in a statement. He said the company is “now in the process of a full review of all procedures, and all aspects of our own handling.”

Skjeldam also said two Filipino workers on the Fridtjof Nansen, which is on a cruise to Germany, had been put in quarantine as they had Covid-19 symptoms.

Hurtigruten was the first company in the world to start up cruises again after the pandemic effectively brought the industry to a standstill.

The company said it would keep its route from Bergen on Norway’s west coast to Kirkenes in the far north — which is also used to transport mail, goods and passengers — but that its expedition cruise ships would be docked when the Fridtjof Nansen and Spitsbergen boats ended their current journeys.

Norwegian police have initiated an investigation into the company, and public health authorities suggested that Hurtigruten had failed to follow infection guidelines by allowing workers from the Philippines to avoid quarantine.

Paul Gauguin
In Tahiti, about 340 passengers and crew are confined on the Paul Gauguin in Tahiti after one traveller tested positive for the virus, the commissariat for French Polynesia said late Sunday.

Everyone aboard is being tested and are being kept in their cabins pending the results. The results were expected Monday. Official results will be communicated by the French Polynesian government.

The South Pacific archipelago started reopening to tourists last month and required that all visitors get tested before arriving and test themselves four days after entering the territory.

A passenger aboard the Paul Gauguin reported a positive self-test last week, and a second test carried out by medics confirmed the infection Sunday. The person travelling with the sick passenger tested negative and both were taken off the ship. Crew members and passengers who were in close contact with the infected passenger have tested negative, according to the release.

The ship is reportedly en route to its home port, Papeete, Tahiti.

Aida
Last week, 10 crew members on AIDA Cruises’ AIDAblu and AIDAmar learned they tested positive for COVID-19 after boarding in Rostok, Germany, on July 22.

The infected crew members were taken off the two ships after receiving positive results, and the remaining crew members were secluded on board waiting for another round of test results, Roger Frizzell, spokesperson for Carnival Corp., parent to AIDA Cruises, told USA TODAY.

“The crew on board these two ships have already tested negative twice, so the additional testing is purely precautionary,” Frizzell explained. The 10 positive cases were not related to onboard activities — the crew was tested prior to boarding and received the positive results while isolated on board.

Costa
Italian media reports three crew members on Costa Favolosa and Costa Deliziosa have also tested positive for coronavirus. The ships are moored in port at Civitavecchia, with crew, but no passengers, on board.

Cancellations
Crystal Cruises announced it has cancelled the remainder of its 2020 ocean, river and yacht sailings. It said ‘constantly changing variables’ around international travel restrictions and uncertainty relating to Covid-19’ hinders the ability for all cruise lines to operate’.

NCL, owner of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, has cancelled worldwide cruises until 31 October; Princess Cruises has cancelled departures until mid-December.