SAN FRANCISCO — Another COVID-19 outbreak on a cruise ship has hit the consumer media headlines, however all indications are that the cruise sector’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols are working and keeping the industry afloat.

Passengers disembarked Ruby Princess on Sunday and an undisclosed number of passenger and crew had tested positive for COVID-19.

The impacted passengers and crew were coming off a 15-day Panama Canal sailing.

Meanwhile the ship set sail again for Hawaii. And according to Princess Cruises, the passengers and crew who tested positive did not spread COVID-19 to other passengers or crew onboard the ship.

In a statement Princess Cruises said: “They were all asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and were isolated and quarantined while monitored and cared for by our shipboard medical team.”

The almost-normalcy of passengers and crew testing positive for COVID-19 is a far cry from the reaction two years ago.

Back in February 2020, Diamond Princess made headlines around the world as one of the first major outbreak sites of COVID-19. The ship went into an immediate quarantine with 2,666 passengers onboard, including more than 250 Canadians. That was followed by another outbreak in March 2020 complete with quarantine for Grand Princess.

These days all age-applicable passengers boarding Princess Cruises ships, as is the case throughout just about the entire cruise industry, must present proof of full COVID-19 vaccination, and extensive health and safety protocols are in place.