Indonesian authorities have requested that an Australian cruise ship carrying about 2100 passengers and crew abandon the Balinese leg of its 17-day tour, following a COVID-19 outbreak on board.
The Queen Elizabeth left Sydney on November 15, stopping at Airlie Beach, Cairns, Port Douglas and Darwin, but will cut short the final week of its tour and head straight to Fremantle.
A spokeswoman for Cunard, owner of the ship, confirmed there was “an elevated level of transmission” on board, but declined to provide case numbers.
“Unfortunately, due to the ongoing rise in community transmission across Australia and this being reflected on various cruise lines, we’re unable to visit Indonesia at this time,” she said.
“This has followed ongoing conversations with the respective authorities in Bali, and we understand and respect the current circumstances we’re operating in. In light of this, we will sail into Fremantle in the coming days as planned.”
The abandonment of the ship’s Bali tour follows the berthing of the Majestic Princess in Sydney earlier this month, carrying 800 COVID-positive passengers and crew. The positive cases, who were all either mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic, according to Carnival cruises, were able to disembark via a separate door and advised not to use public transport.
That ship was more than double the size of the Queen Elizabeth.
The Queen Elizabeth requires a 95 per cent vaccination rate among passengers over the age of 12, and only people with medical exemptions are able to be accommodated within the 5 per cent. All passengers need to return a negative COVID test before boarding and masks are required indoors.
