Laura Angelo aka Royal Caribbean Karen booted off cruise after testing positive for COVID-19 despite insisting previously having tested negative. Ensuing meltdown caught on video.
Here we go again. Video of a female passenger being booted from a Royal Caribbean International cruise has gone viral after she contested results of a COVID test showing her testing positive.
Laura Franchi Angelo, 57, of the Bronx, NY, posted several profanity-laced videos to social media of herself and her travel partner, Valerie Murphy, 62, being escorted off the Freedom of the Seas ship in Nassau, Bahamas by crew members wearing protective suits and masks.
The unfolding drama happened after Angelo, since dubbed Royal Caribbean Karen on social media was asked to alight from the cruiser which had set off from Miami for a four night sailing trek – only for Angelo to stoke up her ‘white privilege‘ and adamantly refuse, insisting she had previously tested negative for COVID-19.
In viral clips, Angelo decries the turn of events, ‘Ridiculous.’ Continuing, ‘They closed off the freakin’ floor at our rooms. Look at our luggage; it’s wrapped in freaking plastic. Look, they sanitized everything, as if we’re really contagious, as if I really had COVID; I had COVID three months ago.’
Doing whatever it takes to stay onboard, Angelo yells, ‘I’m gonna be in charge of my own f***ing life.’
‘They’re f***ing lying!’
‘They’re f***ing lying!’ Karen yells, immediately claiming she is going to have a heart attack as she lists symptoms of her situation – most of which are common Covid symptoms, ironically. ‘Won’t this be a freakin’ story for the printed press,’ our collective hero rallies.
Angelo and Murphy claim that Royal Caribbean mistakenly identified the duo as being fully vaccinated during the boarding process in Miami on July 5, giving them purple bracelets meant for inoculated passengers that allow access to certain areas of the ship.
The cruise line allegedly realized the mistake two days later, prompting crew members to administer COVID-19 tests, with one coming back positive. The duo were subsequently disembarked in Nassau and put on a private jet to the U.S. while Freedom of the Seas continued on its voyage, returning to Port Miami on July 9.
‘These two guests provided a negative PCR test at check-in but did not take part in the required boarding day test per our policy for unvaccinated guests,’ Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson Jonathon Fishman told the Miami Herald in an email. ‘Once this was recognized, we immediately made the guests aware and tested them on board.’
Fishman also confirmed that 90 percent of the passengers and crew on the ship were vaccinated and close contacts of Angelo and Murphy tested negative for COVID-19.
Angelo told the Herald that she first got COVID-19 back in March and had tested negative three times since April. She also claims that she has tested negative three more times since returning home.
‘I feel they didn’t want us on the ship telling our story,’ Angelo said.
Karen abound…
‘If we had been given the proper entry, the right bracelets, we would have followed protocol as it was given to us,’ added Murphy. ‘The ship was making it up as they went. Their employees were not ready.’
Royal Caribbean currently recommends that all passengers sailing out of Florida are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus but doesn’t require it as a new state law bars cruise lines from requiring passengers to be vaccinated. However, the company does require unvaccinated passengers to pay for COVID-19 tests and bans them from participating in certain onboard activities. Beginning in August, unvaccinated Royal Caribbean passengers sailing out of Florida must purchase travel insurance.
News of Royal Caribbean Karen’s meltdown comes a day after Abigal Elphick aka Victoria’s Secret Karen, was caught on video accosting a black woman at NJ‘s Short Hills Mall, hysterically accusing her of attacking her and calling police when video seemingly showed the ‘white woman’ accosting Ijeoma Ukenta who feared being falsely accused and arrested by police. A fundraiser for Ukenta who now is fielding hiring legal counsel as of Wednesday had raised $91,683.
