“We are stuck on this death ship”.
That’s what one passenger on board the Zaandam cruise ship said after what was supposed to be a fun voyage turned into a full-blown coronavirus nightmare.
The Zaandam, a cruise ship owned and operated by the Holland America Line, left Buenos Aires on 7 March and was supposed to arrive two weeks later at San Antonio, near Santiago, Chile.
But since a brief stop in Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia on 14 March, the cruise ship has been turned away from several ports.
Why? Because 42 people aboard were suffering from flu-like symptoms.
Now, no one wants this ship on their shores.
COVID-19 Hit Cruise Ship Stuck in Sea As No Port Wanted to Let Her Dock
The captain of the ship, originally carrying 1,243 passengers and 586 crew, asked passengers to quarantine themselves on 22 March after a number of people on board reported influenza-like symptoms.
The passengers’ anxiety only grew after four “older” passengers on the ship died and two individuals tested positive.
That sounds bad enough, but it gets worse.
A ship doctor from the cruise’s medical centre said that 40% of the crew are now sick.
Now, not only do these passengers have to worry about contracting the virus, they are wondering when they’ll even get off the ship.
According to Bloomberg, passengers on board the ship say they are desperate to get off because they have nowhere to dock.
Chile didn’t allow the vessel to dock, and all ports on the ship’s route have also refused entry.
Holland America Line President Orlando Ashford told passengers in a video message on Sunday (29 March) that they were still searching for a port that will allow them to disembark.
The situation was “difficult and unprecedented,” he said.
The announcement was made after the mayor of Fort Lauderdale turned the ship away from its intended destination – Florida city.
“We cannot add further risk to our community amid our own health crisis here with thousands of people already testing positive for the deadly and contagious COVID-19 virus,” mayor Dead Trantalis said.
Some passengers transferred to another ship
There was some good news, however.
On Sunday (28 March), passengers showing no signs of the virus were moved to a sister ship, the Rotterdam.
Only those who’d been deemed healthy after answering a short medical questionnaire and didn’t have a fever were allowed to move ships.
And, fortunately, the Panamanian government also agreed to let the Zaandam sail through the Panama Canal, reversing an earlier decision to block the passage.
Passengers still worried
Some relatives of crew members on board the ship say they are being asked to work despite falling sick, or shortly after recovering from a fever.
Food is being delivered uncovered, with one passenger describing finding hair and eyelashes on their plates of food.
That’s not a great sign.
That’s why there’s a growing concern about crew members spreading the coronavirus on the ship.
But with nowhere to dock and no additional crew members falling from the sky, there’s not much they can do at the moment.
“I am… on a boat that I cannot get off, with coronavirus patients, with four dead,” he said, adding that he was “full of uncertainty, without money… and without knowing if there is a plane back home”, one passenger said.
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Let’s just hope that the ship manages to find a place to dock before all its passengers end up getting infected.
The last thing we need is another Diamond Princess situation.
