Hurtigruten Expeditions will cut short a sailing in the Antarctic region after a COVID outbreak, the Norwegian cruise company announced on Thursday, January 6.
10 people onboard the ship MS Roald Amundsen had tested COVID-positive and the boat will now return to homeport Punta Arenas (Chile) 2 days ahead of her schedule, a spokesperson for Hurtigruten revealed.
The cruise ship, carrying 362 passengers and crew-staff, had set out for an 18-day roundtrip voyage (New Year-themed) to Antarctic Peninsula from Punta Arenas, and will now sail back to the same port.
The itinerary started on December 26, 2021, and was scheduled to end on January 12, 2022. Call ports and destinations included Beagle Channel/Glacier Alley, Chilean Patagonia (Dec 28), Drake Passage (Dec 29), Cape Horn (Dec 30), South Shetland Islands (Dec 31-Jan 2), Antarctic Peninsula (Jan 3-Jan 5), Port Stanley, East Falkland Island UK (Jan 8-Jan 10), Magellan Strait (Jan 11).
The cruise ship was also hit by a Coronavirus outbreak in August 2021, in which dozens of passengers and crew tested positive, public health officials in Norway announced at the time.
For more MS Roald Amundsen incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.