1,000 passengers stuck on cruise ship after 21 crew test positive for Covid

1,000 passengers stuck on a cruise ship for Xmas Day after 21 crew members test positive for Covid

It looks like more than 1,000 passengers will end up spending their Christmas Day stuck on board the Holland America Line cruise ship, MS Koningsdam. This comes after port authorities in Jalisco, western Mexico, refused to allow anybody to disembark after 21 of the 873 crew members produced positive Covid results.

A dream Christmas cruise out of San Diego last Sunday 19, has now turned sour for this ship full of Americans. The trip had scheduled ports of call in the Mexican resorts of Los Cabos, and Mazatlan, and then arrived in Puerto Vallarta at around 8am last Thursday, December 23.

Mexican news outlet Milenio had originally reported that the state health department of Jalisco was considering allowing the 1,035 passengers off the ship as long as they could show a negative Covid result. This idea quickly met with a change of mind, after officials decided the possible risk of the outbreak spreading was not worth it.

In a statement, the health department explained, “This option was discarded because the health protocols indicate that no one could disembark when positive cases were registered on the boat, so the decision was finally made not to disembark”.

Paulette Laussane York, one of the passengers, posted images taken from the ship on Facebook, accompanied by, “Puerto Vallarta from our veranda. Mexican authorities won’t let anyone off our cruise ship, Koningsdam. Some crew members (fully vaccinated) tested positive for Covid. Ship is headed back out to sea”.

Last Saturday 18, after one passenger submitted a positive test, all the others were required to take a Covid test. It is unknown how many tested positive. It is now believed that the MS Koningsdam will depart this coming Sunday 26 for San Diego, as reported by dailymail.co.uk.

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