PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – For some passengers getting off the Norwegian Escape Monday, they weren’t catching a ride home. They were catching a ride to quarantine.
Without a plan to get home to Ireland, Mark Luxford was one of the passengers who said he’s now quarantining at the Radisson Resort near Port Canaveral.
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Passengers who talked to News 6 said they have COVID-19 or had traveled with someone who does.
Luxford said his wife and daughter tested positive, but he did not after the 11-day cruise.
‘’We’ll be here for five days and I’m negative,’’ Luxford said. ‘’What happens if I get positive in a few days because I’m in the same room? That means that I’m going to have stay here longer again.”
Some passengers said they felt safe booking their cruise, and even traveling to the port on packed airplanes. It was the safety onboard the ship they said disappointed them.
Heather Silvis, of California, said in her vaccinated and boosted family, one of her three teenage sons had a 105 degree fever, but crew members took two hours to give him a COVID-19 test and six hours to bring him medicine.
Silvis said she had even more trouble getting other family members tested.
‘’I’m not mad that I got COVID. I’m not mad that my sons got COVID. I’m not mad that my mom got COVID,” the passenger said. ‘’We knew the risks of traveling abroad. What I’m mad about is that I demanded tests for family and they refused to test my family.”
Luxford said he regrets booking his trip.
‘’Absolutely, Norwegian has managed the whole thing, badly,’’ he said.
All ten cruise ships based at Port Canaveral fall under the CDC’s yellow status which indicates recent COVID-19 cases.
News 6 reached out to the cruise line about the passengers’ criticisms, but have not received a response at this time.