Nicko Cruises has announced cancellation of the current voyage on its ocean-going vessel Vasco Da Gama, due to positive Covid-19 cases on board.
The German tour operator released an announcement saying that positive cases were detected among the crew during the recent testing, therefore a decision was made to cancel the voyage as a precautionary measure. Due to the number of crew in quarantine and the isolation of close contacts among the crew, the ship can offer only limited service in some areas, Nicko Cruises said in a statement.
Vasco Da Gama will now sail from Mindelo to the Canary Islands, and will disembark the current guests in Gran Canaria on Saturday.
“Both the guests and the entire crew of the "VASCO DA GAMA" want to feel safe and comfortable on board at all times. For this purpose, we have carried out COVID tests in the last few days. Despite careful and comprehensive infection protection and hygiene measures, we have detected some positive COVID cases among crew members. Due to the regular tests, the infected were quickly identified and the few affected crew members were isolated immediately after the positive test became known and are in quarantine.
In addition, we have also isolated close contacts for safety. All affected crew members are both vaccinated and boosted and have mild or no symptoms, which is why we are very confident about a further mild course. All infected are in strict quarantine. We, therefore, do assume that the virus will not spread further among the crew.
The wellbeing of our guests is always our top priority and we are currently unable to guarantee the quality service we are used to. Therefore we have decided to end the current trip with VASCO DA GAMA prematurely. Of course, this is also a precautionary measure for the guests.
The ship will leave Mindelo tomorrow morning and after three days at sea make its way to Las Palmas/Gran Canaria, where we will organize disembarkation and the journey home on Saturday.
We will do our best until disembarkation in Gran Canaria on February 26th, 2022 to continue to make the stay pleasant and safe for the guests. Of course we will offer an attractive support program for the remaining time on board. We strive to provide the best possible service on board, but due to quarantine and the isolation of contact persons within the crew, we can only offer limited service in some areas.
We are very sorry that we cannot carry out this trip as planned, but of course, the safety and health of all guests and crew come first. We will immediately refund the full travel price to the guests. We deeply regret the current situation, but hope that our guests can understand our preventive decision. We work hard to ensure a comfortable return journey from Las Palmas.”
