First cruise ship to resume on Caribbean has COVID outbreak

There are even more cases of COVID-19 aboard that first cruise ship to venture into the Caribbean since March.

Five people on the SeaDream 1 cruise ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, the ship’s captain has told passengers, CNN reported Thursday night.

News of the first passenger catching the virus broke Wednesday.

The ship is the first to resume sailing in the Caribbean since last spring, when the pandemic turned multiple cruise lines into COVID-19-infested floating quarantine wards.

There are 53 passengers and 66 crew members on board.

SeaDream has not confirmed the number of people who have tested positive with the virus; one passenger told CNN that the captain revealed in an announcement that 5 were infected.

“SeaDream I has paused its current Caribbean voyage and returned to Barbados after guests’ tests for COVID-19 returned assumptive positive results,” the company said in a press statement.

All guests and non-essential crew are quarantining in their staterooms and the ship is docked off Barbados, the statement said.

“SeaDream is awaiting authorization from the Barbados government to disembark guests safely,” the statement said.

No crew members have tested positive; all guests were tested twice prior to embarking and are now being tested again, the statement said.