Omicron cannot be stopped Cruise boss says COVID-19 protocols are working
The boss in charge of the Coral Princes cruise ship said COVID-19 protocols are working, as more cases were identified on the vessel as it docked in Sydney Harbour.
Marguerite Fitzgerald, president of Carnival Australia and P&O Cruises, said they’re working to the rules established with health authorities which allowed the restart of the $5 billion industry in May.
Four passengers and 110 crew had earlier tested positive.
Fitzgerald said rapid tests were used today before passengers disembarked for a day in Sydney and “around ten” more tourists tested positive and were put into isolation.
Fitzgerald defended the COVID-19 protocols, which she said were agreed to with NSW Health and Queensland Health to get cruises restarted in May.
“These protocols were designed with the knowledge that Omicron cannot be stopped from any place where people congregate,” she said.
“They were designed to manage COVID on board a cruise ship.
“They were designed to ensure the safe operations of a cruise ship and the health and wellbeing of the guests, crew and communities that we visit.”
She said all guests and crew are vaccinated, with crew regularly tested.
She added that some of the passengers likely brought COVID-19 onto the ship when it left from Brisbane, despite having to declare they’d tested negative on a RAT.
“This is the protocols working,” she added.
“It shows we are very successfully able to operate a cruise in a COVID environment.
“We knew this was going to happen.
“Nobody expected we were going to keep COVID off ships.
“It was just about managing it.”
She said cruising is the only industry subject to the higher protocols and Fitzgerald said operators had to declare cases to authorities.
She said NSW Health had agreed RATs would be self-administered with an honesty system in place.
Passengers getting off this morning confirmed this was the case.
“They treat people as though they are honest,” a passenger said.
Fitzgerald noted it was the first time a cruise ship has visited Sydney with passengers for a day in more than two years, as Coral Princess is based in Brisbane.
The Coral Princess docked at Eden on the NSW South Coast yesterday and 800 passengers visited the town.
Many praised the on-board safety regulations.
“I feel much safer on board the ship than I do on land,” one said.
“There are no safety protocols on the land anymore.”
Another said they had not encountered anybody with COVID-19 on board.
The ship will set sail back to Brisbane at 9pm.
Cruises resumed in Australia on May 31, with P&O Explorer the first vessel to return.
The two ships are the only ones currently in Australia.
The arrival of COVID-19 in Australia is often attributed to the Ruby Princess, a cruise ship that was allowed to release COVID-positive passengers into Australia in the early days of the pandemic, before vaccinations.
Meanwhile, on shore, NSW recorded 10,622 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours and 15 deaths as infections continue to remain high amid the winter surge
