Disney Cruise Line delays test sailing over COVID-19 results
PORT CANAVERAL, UNITED STATES – 2020/03/13: A man seen fishing as the Disney Dream cruise ship departs from Port Canaveral in Florida the day before the cruise line suspended its operations for all new departures effective March 14, 2020 in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Testing on staging11
(NEXSTAR) – A scheduled Disney Cruise Line test sailing is on hold because of COVID-19 test results, the company said in a statement.
The Disney Dream was set to leave Florida’s Port Canaveral for a two-night trip on Tuesday, the first test cruise since the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the industry. Three hundred employees had volunteered for the “simulation” cruise.
But the trip was postponed until next month because a small number of employees had inconsistent results for COVID-19.
The federal government is starting to allow cruises to sail again, but only if nearly all passengers and crew are vaccinated.
Disney Cruise Line said in a statement Monday:
“We are delaying our simulation cruise due to a small number of inconsistent COVID-19 test results, which are considered positive by the CDC. The rigorous health and safety protocols we have in place helped us identify the situation, though the test results were ultimately negative.”
News of the delay follows a similar statement from the Royal Caribbean Group earlier this month announcing the positive diagnoses of two passengers on the Celebrity Millennium, the first cruise to set sail from North America since the pandemic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.