Cruise Lines are starting to see the COVID-19 cases climb and are tightening restrictions for passengers onboard. NBC 6’s Cristian Benavides reports.
A Royal Caribbean ship returned to Miami on Saturday with 48 guests and crew members testing positive for COVID-19, a company spokesperson said.
Now, a woman who was on board the cruise ship says she believes there may have been more positive cases on board.
Alicia D'Amico says as she started feeling sick on night six of the Symphony of the Seas voyage.
“Nobody picked up the phone, so I just said I’ll wait until the morning and see if I’m feeling any better,” D'Amico said.
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Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas set sail on December 11th with 6,091 passengers -- 95% of whom were fully vaccinated. D'Amico is also fully vaccinated, but has not received her booster shot.
When she finally got ahold of someone the next day, D'Amico said she was told she would have to pay for a doctor's visit in addition to the COVID-19 test.
“I said testing should be automatic. I have a dry cough. This is your policy,” D'Amico said.
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D'Amico tells NBC 6 she was seen by staff who took her temperature, but said she did not need a test.
“She’s like you can go back to normal and you can go back to the cruise and I was like that’s not right,” D'Amico said.
It is for this reason D'Amico feels there were likely more COVID-19 cases on board the ship than the 48 Royal Caribbean reported.
D'Amico and her daughter -- who was also experiencing symptoms -- got tested on Sunday. Both tests came back positive.
Royal Caribbean announced last week they are implementing a new policy where all guests must wear masks indoors at all times.
Industry insiders say cruising is still one of the safest ways to travel.
“I can tell you, having been on 12 cruises since June restart, I’m not concerned,” 'the Cruise Guy' Stewart Chiron said. “There were 48 cases on a ship that had 6,100 passengers. We could have a lot more at a grocery store or theme park. It’s a very low number”
A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said they are looking into D'Amico's story and added that, “if a guest is symptomatic, they should get a test regardless of temperature.”
