Majestic Princess arrives in Sydney on Saturday with 800 passengers infected
with COVID-19 Princess Cruises’ Majestic Princess returned to Sydney on Saturday from a 12-day round-trip to New Zealand with 800 COVID-19 cases onboard.
It is the biggest shipboard outbreak since Ruby Princess arrived in Sydney from a cruise to New Zealand on March 19, 2020, with hundreds of infected passengers.
‘We understand this current wave of COVID-19 is concerning to many in the community and we take our responsibility in keeping everyone safe very seriously,’said Stuart Allison,SVP Asia Pacific, UK & Europe for Princess Cruises.
Private transport
‘We are working with all guests who have tested positive forCOVID-19 to assist them with accessing private transport and accommodation to continue isolation when they disembark,’ Allison said.
‘All positive cases will be separated from non-impacted guests.’
Allison said all disembarking passengers had undertaken a rapid antigen test in the past 24 hours and that all passengers would be masked, regardless of COVID status.
NSW Health tier three transmission level
‘We continue to work closely with NSW Health and thank them for their support as our highly skilled crew continue to manage these cases,’ Allison said.
NSW Health assessed the Majestic Princess’ COVID-19 risk level as ‘tier three,’ which is the highest in its cruise ship classification and indicates a ‘high level of transmission.’ Tier three means more than 10% of those onboard tested positive.
