Carnival Cruise Ship passengers say COVID overwhelmed ship

SEATTLE (AP) — Passengers on a Carnival Cruise Ship that docked Tuesday in Seattle say more than 100 people aboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19 and the ship was overwhelmed.

Multiple people say they’re in quarantine at Seattle-area hotels after testing positive or being exposed to someone with COVID-19. Carnival Cruise Line would not confirm how many people tested positive, but said there were a number of positive cases, KING5 reported.

Darren Sieferston, a passenger on the cruise from Miami to Seattle, is in quarantine after testing positive. He said the crew’s response was chaotic.

“They didn’t have enough staff to handle the emergency that was happening, period,” said Sieferston. “They were overwhelmed and they didn’t have a backup course in how to handle about 200 people affected with COVID. We all suffered.”

Passengers tell KING 5 they waited hours for meals, weren’t properly isolated and couldn’t get ahold of medical staff.

“We couldn’t call anybody…Basically, we sat in the room, you call and it would ring, ring, ring and ring all day long” said Sieferston.

Carnival said there were no serious health issues. The company’s website says guest are required to be fully vaccinated and tested before a trip. Some exemptions are accommodated with proper testing.