Passenger Ships

Fifty crew members infected on Carnival Vista

By Charles A. Tower


the Vista Carnival arrived in the port of Roatan, Honduras this morning with at least fifty (50) crew members who tested positive for COVID-19. A guest from the Carnival cruise ship also tested positive.

The vessel would not have allowed any crew member to disembark. Only passengers were allowed to disembark.

This information was provided by a trusted Carnival crew member on the ship who wishes to remain anonymous and employed by the cruise line.

the Vista Carnival joins a growing list of other ships owned by Carnival Corporation that have experienced recent outbreaks of COVID-19:

  • the Panorama of the Carnival had 69 cases apparently only involving his crew;
  • Owned by Carnival Corporation Koningsdam operated by Holland America Line (HAL) had 21 cases involving crew members and was stranded by Puerto Vallarta from its port;
  • the Carnival freedom was not allowed to stop at two Caribbean ports, Bonaire and Aruba, after many learned what Carnival would say are just a “small number” of cases. Carnival declined to identify whether those infected included crew members or guests. the newspaper reported that Carnival “did not disclose how many people aboard the Carnival Liberty tested positive.

Earlier this week, a passenger from the Vista Carnival cruise ship commented on Twitter that she had learned there was thirty-eight (38) infected crew members on the previous cruise.

Corporate / Crisis Communications managers for Carnival cruise ship brands have a policy of responding to media inquiries by never discussing the actual number of guests or crew infected with COIVD-19 on their cruise ships. Instead, Carnival Corporation still declares only that a “Small number” guests or crew members were infected. Five, fifteen or fifty infected crew members? It’s the same answer every time – “a small number”.

This lack of transparency is emblematic of a cruise line and an industry that has struggled with honesty over the years. Carnival Corporation has been found guilty of lying to the United States Coast Guard, the federal government and its lawyers on multiple occasions in connection with environmental crimes it has committed over the years. Carnival also violated the terms of his criminal probation which he continues to serve in the criminal case against him in the Southern District of Florida.

Time magazine reports on the wave of COVID-19 cases that the Omicron variant has inflicted on the cruise industry. The magazine reported that there are currently 89 cruise ships with sufficient cases of COVID-19 on board to issue yellow and orange warnings to the public. He cited Carnival’s Roger Frizzell, spokesperson for Carnival company communications department, which says each of the escapes aboard Carnival’s ships is only a “small number,” saying Carnival’s COVID protocols were “effective.”

Carnival has yet to comment on this latest outbreak, on the Vista Carnival. Rest assured that when he does, he cannot help characterizing this epidemic as involving only a “small number” of crew members.

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Image Credit: Gordon Leggett / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 commons / wikimedia.



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Charles A. Tower
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