Royal Caribbean delays Odyssey of the Seas inaugural sailing

Cruise ship

Royal Caribbean confirmed the first few scheduled sailings of the ship were to be cancelled due to positive cases of Covid-19 onboard the ship amongst several of its crewmembers

According to the cruise line, all the crewmembers on Odyssey of the Seas were vaccinated on 4 June when the ship arrived in Port Canaveral, as part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Conditional Sailing Orderv, which requires all crewmembers to be inoculated against the coronavirus. The crew were then tested on 10 June, at which time eight crewmembers tested positive for Covid-19. Royal Caribbean's medical team is monitoring the crew that tested positive, and they are ‘in good health’.

The ship was scheduled to begin sailing on 3 July but will now start sailing on 31 July. Guests booked onboard will be contacted with refund and rescheduling options. Royal Caribbean said the change was unwelcome, but the safety of everyone onboard is the top priority: “This was an unexpected but necessary decision to make, and we are committed to doing the right thing for everyone’s wellbeing.”