"Cover up" of COVID-19 outbreak on Hurtigruten ship

[icepeople]

From the article at this link:

 

An e-mail declaring ““Hurtigruten doesn’t want this to come out, they want to have control of this themselves,” regarding  COVID-19 infections aboard the Roald Amundsen is among the evidence escalating accusations against the company about its handling of the situation to new levels, as authorities and Norwegian media pursue an increasing list of violations involving its employees.

 

The outbreak resulted in Norway cancelling all cruise ships carrying more than 100 people for two weeks and global alarm about cruise tourism resuming during the pandemic. It is also heightening the already immense concern about Svalbard’s tourism, with local leaders saying the vast international media coverage mentioning the archipelago is omitting the fact the area remains free of known cases and the infected ship did not making any port stops while here.

 

Hurtigruten admitted violating several internal procedures, but did not provide specifics, when it announced Monday it was cancelling all cruises until further notice. But Norwegian media began reporting Monday afternoon e-mails showed the company tried to keep the COVID-19 outbreak from becoming public, based on communications between the companies public relations employees and local health care authorities in the northern town of Hadsel.

 

Hadsel authorities stated during the middle of last week they needed to send out a public announcement one of their local residents had tested positive for COVID-19 and his infection was linked to a cruise on Hurtigruten.

 

“Hurtigruten doesn’t want this to come out, they want to have control of this themselves,” Martin Larsen Drageset, a city-employed doctor,  wrote in an e-mail last Wednesday obtained by NRK and Nordlys. Hurtigruten claimed there there wasn’t enough information to support the claim, to the doctor’s disagreement.

 

But Hadsel “toned down” and “moderated” it’s wording, with a press release stating the matter involved an unnamed travel company.

 

Hurtigruten publicly announced its involvement Friday when crew members tested positive. Since then more than 40 crew members and passengers have tested positive, and authorities are scrambling to determine the extent of the spread as nearly 400 people aboard the ship during two infected cruises have been ordered into quarantine.

Norwegian Minister of Health Minister Bent Høie reacted harshly to the news at a press conference Monday afternoon, saying confidence in the company has been sharply undermined.

 

“Hurtigruten was one of those trying to get the government to open up for this type of cruise activity,” Høie said. “Therefore I think it’s sad we’ve landed in this situation.”

The outbreak is being reported by essentially every major media outlet and a high percentage of lower-profile ones, due to its potential global impact on efforts to restart tourism activities. But Visit Svalbard Ronny Brunvoll told multiple Norwegian media outlets including High North News this week he’s concerned that while many of the articles mention the Roald Amundsen was sailing in Svalbard during the infected cruises, none mention the ship made no port stops here (it did, however, pick up two women who met it by boat near Longyearbyen and drop them off at a remote cabin, in violation of health regulations).

 

“We fear it shall appear true and thus led to further challenges for a tourist industry in Longyearbyen that is already under much pressure” Brunvoll said.

[clo]

I'm curious if there's a point to your post. Not trying to be mean but I kept reading and never saw it.

[icepeople]

The obvious "news" in the story is top officials at Hurtigruten were aware Wednesday a passenger with the virus had been aboard the Roald Amundsen and tried to keep city officials in that person's hometown from announcing that fact (and indeed, the city only mentioned a travel company). That was two days before the company acknowledged publicly there were infected people on board. Aside from the obvious "need to know" for anyone in proximity of people on the ship, it's clearly illegal to suppress information the government requires you to report.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by icepeople
Fix minmor typo

[jonikal]

The article's main point, I believe, is the potential cover-up by Hurtigruten executives who did not want this problem to become public.  As it turned out, the story of their mishandling the Amundsen's Covid outbreak among crew and passengers has gained world-wide attention.

[bones774]

6 minutes ago, icepeople said:

The obvious "news" in the story is top officials at Hurtigruten were aware Wednesday a passenger with the virus had been aboard the Roald Amundsen and tried to keep city officials in that person's hometown from announcing that fact (and indeed, the city only mentioned a travel company). That was two days before the company acknowledged publicly there were infected people on board. Aside from the obvious "need to know" for anyone in proximity of people on the ship, it's clearly illegal to suppress information the government requires you to report.

 

 

yes, it was very informational, more than i have seen here in the states, thanks

[clo]

19 minutes ago, bones774 said:

yes, it was very informational, more than i have seen here in the states, thanks

I guess because we've sailed with them twice I was paying a lot of attention to the story.

[resistk]

Typical cruise line behavior.

[Etta1213]

On 8/4/2020 at 5:51 PM, resistk said:

Typical cruise line behavior.

Hopefully not typical going forward. Hopefully lesson learned by all.

[bluesea777]

On 8/4/2020 at 1:17 PM, clo said:

I guess because we've sailed with them twice I was paying a lot of attention to the story.

 

Same here, plus we have 2 trips booked with them for Dec 2020 (that we sadly are going to cancel anyway because we are not ready for air travel (long hauls) until well into 2021.

 

 

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, bluesea777 said:

Same here, plus we have 2 trips booked with them for Dec 2020 (that we sadly are going to cancel anyway because we are not ready for air travel (long hauls) until well into 2021.

You’re probably right about long haul travel but for your information MS Trollfjord and MS Kong Harald is still sailing. The Coastal Voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes is not cancelled - but things can change. Coastal Voyages have been sailing with limited capacity for a while without any problems.

Only the current expedition cruises operated by MS Roald Amundsen, MS Fridtjof Nansen og MS Spitsbergen are cancelled.

[icepeople]

1 hour ago, hallasm said:

You’re probably right about long haul travel but for your information MS Trollfjord and MS Kong Harald is still sailing. The Coastal Voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes is not cancelled - but things can change. Coastal Voyages have been sailing with limited capacity for a while without any problems.

Only the current expedition cruises operated by MS Roald Amundsen, MS Fridtjof Nansen og MS Spitsbergen are cancelled.

 

You're right - they key phrase is "expedition cruises," which carries a certain "commonly understood" meaning here. But of course I should be keeping in mind a wider readership (and I've tried to mention the distinction in stories, but I'm not always perfect since there's a lot to keep up with).

[bones774]

There is still the precondition of self quarantine in Norway prior to sailing. Makes any sailing prohibitively costly.

also have a 12/20 sailing deposit with final pay In Sept, not looking good

[cpl100]

On 8/4/2020 at 11:56 AM, jonikal said:

The article's main point, I believe, is the potential cover-up by Hurtigruten executives who did not want this problem to become public.  As it turned out, the story of their mishandling the Amundsen's Covid outbreak among crew and passengers has gained world-wide attention.

 

As it should!   Disgraceful behavior to cover it up or even delay important health crisis information.

[bluesea777]

On 8/6/2020 at 11:56 AM, bluesea777 said:

 

Same here, plus we have 2 trips booked with them for Dec 2020 (that we sadly are going to cancel anyway because we are not ready for air travel (long hauls) until well into 2021.

 

 

 

On 8/6/2020 at 1:08 PM, hallasm said:

You’re probably right about long haul travel but for your information MS Trollfjord and MS Kong Harald is still sailing. The Coastal Voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes is not cancelled - but things can change. Coastal Voyages have been sailing with limited capacity for a while without any problems.

Only the current expedition cruises operated by MS Roald Amundsen, MS Fridtjof Nansen og MS Spitsbergen are cancelled.

 

Hi, I thought I'd give you an update. I went online (.no, not .com) earlier this month and saw that you can cancel your Hurtigruten cruise(s) and request a future credit (125%) or a refund of what you already paid. So I applied for the refund, and today I received email from Hurtigruten saying they've refunded what we already paid (the 20% non-refundable deposit). 

 

I could have requested the 125% credit but it has to be used by end of 2022, and we already planned not to cruise in 2021 and booked a couple of big cruises in 2022, leaving no room for the Hurtigruten cruises. One year we'll do them.

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by bluesea777