The first cruise line to resume Caribbean trips just canceled all 2020 cruises after an outbreak infected 7 passengers

• SeaDream Yacht Club has canceled its remaining 2020 cruises following a COVID-19 outbreak on one of its ships, the company announced Tuesday.
• The company was the first to resume Caribbean cruises since the pandemic began, but seven passengers and two crew members tested positive for the virus on its very first trip out of Barbados.
• Major US cruise operators have voluntarily suspended cruises through the rest of the year, and are working to meet CDC guidelines for restarting operations.

SeaDream Yacht Club has canceled its remaining 2020 cruises following a COVID-19 outbreak on one of its ships, the company announced Tuesday.

The cruise line was the first to resume Caribbean trips when its SeaDream I set sail from Barbados on November 7. It had planned 22 such voyages, but a coronavirus outbreak onboard the very first ship forced the ship to turn around and led the company to suspend sailings for the rest of the year.

Seven guests and two crew members aboard the SeaDream I tested positive for COVID-19, according to the cruise line. According to initial reports from The Points Guy's Gene Sloan, who was on the ship, passengers learned November 11 that a passenger had tested positive for the virus. Several additional cases were reported in short order, according to CNN's Ana Cabrera.

SeaDream noted in a statement that it completed 20 sailings in Europe during the pandemic without any cases, adding that it had strengthened its COVID-19 protocols ahead of the planned Barbados cruises. Passengers on the SeaDream I were required to test negative for the virus several days before the trip and once again the day of boarding, Sloan reported.

"The company will now spend time to evaluate and see if it is possible to operate and have a high degree of certainty of not getting COVID," SeaDream said in a statement Tuesday.

A series of safe and successful Caribbean cruises could have served as a key stepping stone toward the resumption of cruises from major US cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean. But the SeaDream I outbreak shows instead how easily the virus can spread despite cruise operators mandating testing and enforcing other safety procedures.

Read more: Shipwrecked: How Carnival's high hopes for 2020 gave way to 'floating petri dishes,' stranded crew members, and a spate of COVID-19 deaths at sea

Since SeaDream operates outside of US waters and carries fewer than 250 passengers on its ships, the cruise line did not have to meet cruising guidelines set by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On November 1, the CDC lifted its no-sail order on cruising — which had been in place since March — giving cruise operators a pathway toward restarting operations. According to the agency's new conditional sailing order, cruise lines must satisfy a rigorous set of safety requirements before they can bring passengers onboard.

Major cruise lines have committed to voluntarily suspending operations through the rest of 2020, but Royal Caribbean is looking for volunteers to set sail and test out its new safety protocols.