Carnival Freedom cruise passengers speak out following the ship’s COVID-19 outbreak
The Carnival Freedom cruise that was hit with a COVID-19 outbreak last week docked in Miami on Sunday morning — and some passengers expressed displeasure with how the company handled the health emergency that unfolded onboard.
The company on Sunday evening declined to say how many of its 3,609 passengers and crew members had tested positive or were in quarantine. The ship sailed from Miami on Dec. 18 before it was denied entry in Bonaire and Aruba, according to Carnival Cruise Line.
Carnival Freedom followed all protocols after a “small number” of people on board were isolated because they tested positive for the virus, Carnival’s spokesperson Chris Chiames noted in an email.
“This was a vaccinated cruise and all guests were also tested before embarkation,” he said.
This comes as Florida on Christmas Day saw its largest single-day increase of newly reported COVID cases since the pandemic began. The record breaks the previous one set on Christmas Eve.
It’s also the third COVID-19 outbreak in less than a week affecting cruise ships operated by Carnival and Royal Caribbean that have departed from ports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale as the omicron variant pushes Florida to pandemic daily records.
Ashley Peterson of North Carolina, a passenger on the ship, told the Miami Herald on Sunday afternoon that she initially learned of the outbreak on Tuesday from a scuba guide in the Caribbean island nation of Curaçao, and later from the local media.
Peterson said that it wasn’t until the next day — when the ship was scheduled to dock in Aruba — that the company officially informed the passengers about the outbreak. She also noted that the crew would not tell the passengers how many of them had been infected.
The crew also told her that the ship was going to dock in Aruba even as they were sailing away from the island and local news had reported that the ship wouldn’t dock there, she added.
“We were really kept in the dark,” Peterson said.
Peterson had not experienced any symptoms associated with the virus as of Sunday afternoon, but she decided to cancel a trip to Panama to be cautious.
“I feel like my Christmas vacation was ruined,” Peterson said.
Carnival offered passengers a $100 onboard credit per room and a free game of bingo for a chance to win a free eight-day cruise trip, Peterson added. In order to play, the passengers were instructed to gather in a large theater.
“I wish I was joking,” she said.
Naomi Fowler — who was celebrating her 40th birthday on the cruise — echoed some of Peterson’s frustrations. Fowler said Sunday night that she met Peterson on the cruise.
It wasn’t until Wednesday morning when the cruise announced via intercom that some of the passengers had tested positive for COVID-19, the woman from Plant City said.
“If they would have told me in Curaçao that we had COVID cases onboard, I can assure you that I would have gotten off the boat with my luggage and flown to Aruba with my negative COVID test,” Fowler said.
The food served on the cruise was many times cold or inedible throughout the trip, Fowler said, adding that at one point, people at her table returned 14 dishes.
“We were living off of French fries and melting cakes,” Fowler said.
After docking earlier Sunday, Chiames said the ship departed Sunday afternoon for its next voyage.
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 10:22 PM.
