Hurtigruten boss Daniel Skjeldam has spoken openly about the company’s failure to observe strict protocols as a large scale outbreak of COVID-19 swept the MS Roald Amundsen during an Arctic expedition cruise.
“We have made mistakes and we have failed,” he told a news conference in Oslo yesterday.
“We thought we were ready to start the expedition cruises … we failed to follow our own coronavirus protocols.”
Skjeldam, , admitted that foreign crew members were not properly quarantined before embarkation, that passengers were not advised soon enough of a coronavirus outbreak on board, and that letting everyone off in Tromsø on Friday last week (31 July) was wrong.
What is surprising to everyone is that Hurtigruten is regarded as arguably the cleanest of clean cruise operators, with a second-to-none environment pedigree.
Daniel Skjeldam confessed that passengers were not advised soon enough of a coronavirus outbreak on Roald Amundsen
The company has cancelled all expedition cruises and ordered a full external investigation to get to the bottom of how things went so terrible wrong.
It is also cooperating with a police investigation.
“The preliminary review of what has happened on MS Roald Amundsen shows several deviations from our procedures,” Skjeldam said.
“It’s not good enough. This has created a demanding and serious situation. To our guests, employees and everyone who loves Hurtigruten, I want to apologise for this.”
He told the conference that advice and recommendations from the National Institute of Public Health had not been passed on to those responsible for making decisions, ultimately leading to the mistakes being made.
“Had our own procedures been followed, we probably would not have been infected on board, even though there are no guarantees,” he continued.
Tests of all 158 crew found 36 were infected with coronavirus. Four have been admitted to hospital in Tromsø. Five passengers have also tested positive.