Several crew members have contacted Crew Center today saying that one crew member tested positive for COVID-19 on the German cruise ship Mein Schiff 3. A crew member has also sent us a recording of the announcement made on the PA system informing the crew about the test results. The announcement confirms one positive case among the crew which were tested, also adding that not all the crew was tested, only selected crew which had contacts with many people onboard did the tests.
There are about 3000 crew members currently on Mein Schiff 3 which is in Cuxhaven, Germany. The reason why there are so many crew members on one ship is because crew from other Mein Schiff vessels was transferred to Mein Schiff 3. The problem now is the space, as some crew points out that all the guest and crew cabins are occupied and they need to share one cabin. The crew says that they are tiered and all they want is to go home.
“ Many of the crew moved back to the crew cabin, where they get a cabin for two. So almost all of them in crew and guest cabin have again a cabin mate. Also, we were told a lot of times we’ll be send home, but always they tell us next time, we still need to wait. Today they announced one person positive for coronavirus.” says the crew member.
The news was also confirmed by the popular Geman cruise blog Schiffe-und-kreuzfahrten saying that there is a one confirmed case of the virus onboard Mein Schiff 3. However, rumors from the Mein Schiff 3 say that there are now three cases. TC has emailed that it is correct that there is a case and one is currently working with the authorities.
"All crew members should remain in their cabins. Most recently, 3200 crew members were on board, some of which had already been disembarked. There should now be just under 3000 people onboard Mein Schiff 3. In the past few days, German crew members have disembarked, as have European crew members who were taken to their home countries." says the cruise blog.