At least 17 passengers and crew who have disembarked from a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship docked in New Orleans have tested positive for COVID-19, including one suspected Omicron case.
Nine crew members and eight passengers were infected when the Norwegian Breakaway arrived on Sunday, a Louisiana Department of Health spokeswoman said Monday.
None had any symptoms and only fully vaccinated people are allowed on board, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) said. All passengers who tested positive were required to either self-isolate in company-provided accommodation, or to drive themselves home. All passengers on the ship were also provided with at-home rapid COVID-19 test kits.
The cruise line - which previously set sail from New Orleans and made stops in Belize and Mexico - has already set sail with a new group of passengers. The cruise line said all passengers who boarded the Norwegian Breakaway on Sunday were offered a chance to cancel without penalty.
The company did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com queries about whether any did cancel or how many passengers the ship now carries.
'Guests who opt to sail must wear masks while indoors except while actively eating or drinking and will be tested twice during the cruise,' the statement said.
The Breakaway can carry up to 3,963 passengers. Its Caribbean route from New Orleans includes Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico; Roatán, in the Bay Islands of Honduras; and Harvest Caye, Belize.
FILE - People pause to look at Norwegian Cruise Line's ship, Norwegian Breakaway, on the Hudson River, in New York, on May 8, 2013. A cruise ship that carried at least 17 passengers and crew members with COVID-19 breakthrough infections has left New Orleans with new passengers. The Louisiana Department of Health said Monday, Dec. 6, 2021 that nine crew members and eight passengers were infected when the Norwegian Breakaway docked in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
The Louisiana Department of Health provided updates on Twitter, breaking the news that seven additional COVID-19 cases had been identified that disembarked in New Orleans on Sunday, including one case of Omicron which has been identified among the crew.
A Norwegian Cruise ship has detected 17 cases of COVID-19 among its guests and crews
An earlier statement from Norwegian Cruise Line said that any passengers who tested positive on Sunday would either drive themselves home or 'self-isolate in accommodations provided by the company.'
The number of disembarked passengers who were provided accommodation by NCL, as well as their location, remains unclear. NCL has no yet responded to the Dailymail.com's request comment.
Some people who left the ship on Sunday told WVUE-TV that they had been told that people on board had tested positive for COVID-19, but others said they hadn't.
Don Canole of North Carolina said he got first word from overhearing the station's interview with someone nearby. 'It would have been nice to have known. We would have taken maybe a few more precautions,' he said.
Passengers said they were tested for COVID-19 exposure on Saturday before they were allowed to disembark Sunday. The cruise line also gave passengers take-home rapid tests as they left the ship, according to WVUE.
Passenger Wade Berry told CNN that he wasn't informed about the outbreak of cases on board the ship, and didn't know about it until his sister sent him a statement from the mayor's office in New Orleans.
'Everything was business as normal,' he said regarding the night before the cruise disembarked. 'The show went on and the bars were open. Everything was normal.'
He added that he was allowed to go home with a test to take in three days.
Another passenger who got off the ship on Sunday, expressed her dissatisfaction and confusion towards Norwegian Cruise Line on Twitter, saying that she has 'so many questions and some serious concerns, how about some honest direct communication from you to us...#ingoodfaith #NEVERasked forvacproof #wantmyresults'.
A passenger who was on the same itinerary a week ago but on a different NCL cruise ship said: 'Was just on NCL Joy on same itinerary a week ago. Fully vaccinated and PRE-embarkation testing. Something in this Breakaway story doesn't add up, as NCL says no one is showing symptoms but at least 10 tested positive. If no symptoms, why were they tested?'
In response to Sunday's outbreak, Norwegian Cruise issued a statement saying that the company takes the matter 'extremely seriously and will continue to work closely with the CDC, the office of Governor John Bel Edwards, the Louisiana Department of Health as well as the city and port of New Orleans.'
Passenger Lynne Smith tweeted that NCL never asked for proof of vaccination and appears to suggest that there was a lack of 'honest direction' from the cruise company to passengers who disembarked on Sunday
A twitter user, who only goes by Jeff, tweeted a picture of new passengers waiting to hop on board the NCL Breakaway on Sunday, a day after ten people who got off the ship tested positive for COVID-19
Another Twitter user questioned NCL's statement, asking why the ten people, who were described as 'asymptomatic', were tested if they showed no symptoms
Cruise ships were an early source of outbreaks at the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year, and some ships were rejected at ports and passengers were forced into quarantine.
The CDC issued a no-sail order in March 2020, prompting a standstill that ended last June as cruise ships began to leave U.S. ports with new health and safety requirements.
Some passengers died of COVID-19 at sea while others fell so ill they had to be carried out of the vessels on stretchers.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a no-sail order in March 2020, prompting a standstill that ended last June as cruise ships began to leave U.S. ports with new health and safety requirements.
According to Norwegian's website, the company requires all passengers and crew members to have been vaccinated against the virus at least two weeks prior to departure.
A No Sail Order was issued for ships in March 2020 due to the fears of spreading COVID-19.
The CDC issued a Framework for Conditional Sailing Order on October 30, 2022 which included creating laboratory testing sites for ship crew members, simulated voyages made to test the ship's operator's ability to handled COVID cases onboard, as well as operations to minimize the spread and transmission of the virus among passengers.
The order has continued to be extended and is currently set to remain in effect until January 15, 2022.
With COVID cases on the rise again, concerns over travel operations have been a major point of discussion, especially with the new Omicron variant.
The Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa and has now spread to different countries, including 16 states in the US.
It is not clear, however, if the Omicron variant is more transmissible than other forms of the virus or can be protected by current vaccines. It also remains unclear how the new variant will affect travel as well as other activities relating to large crowds.
Recently, a Minnesota man tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 after traveling to a New York City anime convention last month.
The man, who has not been identified, reportedly alerted health officials in his home state of the potential spread - which he says affected approximately 15 members of the 35-strong friend group.
It is unclear whether any of his friends contracted the Omicron variant - which is thought to be more transmissible than previous versions of the respiratory virus.
According to officials from the Minnesota Department of Health, the
