Tom Huntley: My life on board a COVID-19 cruise to nowhere
We boarded a ship for an anniversary getaway in simpler times, writes Sunday Mail and Advertiser photographer Tom Huntley. Since then we’ve been trapped; adrift in a frightening alternate reality. Please bring us home.
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Circling around the South Pacific in a game of musical chairs this luxury refugee boat has time-after-time been left stranded when the music stops. Passengers on the Norwegian Jewel haven’t set foot on land since departing Suva, Fiji on March 10.
Since leaving Sydney on February 28 we have been denied entry into ports in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Samoa, American Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand and were told Australia (even though the government has made exceptions for ships returning to Australia).
My wife and I departed from Sydney Harbour, excited to celebrate our fourth, or perhaps just first wedding anniversary, as we were married on the leap day February 29.
The crystal blue waters of Bora Bora became just a mirage in the distance, as the trip of a lifetime became the cruise to nowhere. We are now floating around the Pacific in a bubble of protection, spending our days glued to the TV in our cabin. Here we watch a never-ending sci-fi film simulcast on ABC 24 and Sky News Australia.
Each day the plot gets more and more intense, the world is crumbling around us. Life was so normal when we left three weeks ago. We will feel like aliens when we finally return to your planet.
Some may have no sympathy for our situation, thinking passengers should have know not to go on a cruise, however we boarded the ship in simpler times. On February 28 Australia had just 25 known cases on COVID-19. There are now more than 1000. Norwegian Cruise Line would not refund fares to guests before the cruise departed.
In my opinion, NCL hasn’t taken the coronavirus pandemic seriously. We could have disembarked in Australia if that was what NCL wanted. However, instead of looking after their guests and getting them off the ship safely, NCL had a single-minded mission, to get their multimillion-dollar vessel back to US waters at any expense.
We are now sailing towards Honolulu with no formal permission to dock there. I find it staggering we have been sailing for more than a week to an island in the middle of the Pacific that simply doesn’t want us there.
The Hawaiian Department of Transportation issued a release on March 18 stating the Norwegian Jewel would be allowed to refuel and restock but be sent back out to sea with no passengers allowed to disembark. To make matters worse one of the two thrusters on the ship has broken down and we are now cruising at half power.
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The captain announced we are in the safest place in the world. This may be true, as there are no known cases of COVID-19 on the ship. All passengers are in good health and the crew is working tirelessly to keep the ship squeaky clean.
Although, we are in fact safe, and well looked after, we are extremely concerned as to what will happen when we finally disembark the ship. Will we be stuck in quarantine somewhere? Will we be transiting through airports with the risk of infection? The majority of passengers are aged over 60.
Surely, the Australian government will come to its senses and charter a plane for the 300 Australian passengers to get home safely. It’s in everyone’s best interests we come home from a quarantined ship in a plane all together avoiding contact with the outside world.
What a great PR opportunity for Qantas. We are not asking for a free ride just a fair price. I feel particularly sorry for those passengers who booked (on the Norwegian Jewel’s request) air tickets home from New Zealand, Fiji and Honolulu as well as the original point of disembarkation, Tahiti. Most including myself have not received a refund for some if not all of these flights.
Many passengers are running out of medication, most have run out of patience and are becoming petrified of what our fate might hold. We feel abandoned but hope we are not forgotten. As Australians we meet daily, the support we are giving each other makes me damn proud to be an Aussie. It is now time for our government to step up and make us all proud. Aussies look after Aussies! Bring us home!
Aussie cruisers’ Hawaiian hope
A cruise ship with around 280 Australians on board, and which has been denied entry to multiple countries, is expected to dock in Hawaii tomorrow but passengers are still unsure if they will be able to disembark and fly home.
The passengers on the Norwegian Jewel – including Sunday Mail and Advertiser photographer Tom Huntley (see article above) have been rejected by New Zealand, Fiji, American Samoa, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Tahiti over the last week. The cruise, which departed Sydney on February 28, was scheduled to finish in Tahiti last Saturday.
A spokeswoman for the ship’s owners, Norwegian Cruise Lines, could yesterday provide no clarity on when passengers would be allowed to leave the ship.
“ Due to multiple port closures in the area, further modifications were made. We will share a further update as it becomes available,’’ the spokeswoman said in an email.
However, a spokesman for the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade said they had been “talking closely to US authorities and the ship’s operators about the prospect of the ship’s docking in Honolulu, so that Australian passengers could be transported to an airport and flown home’’.
But the spokesman also said DFAT had been iniscussions about “alternative ports’’.
Hawaiian authorities have so far refused permission for passengers to leave the ship. Another cruise ship was allowed to restock in Hawaii and is now sailing to San Diego.
“Presently, all state resources are focused and directed towards containing the spread of Covid-19,’’ said Jade Butay, director of the state’s department of transport. “Allowing more than 2500 passengers and crew to disembark will further strain those resources.’’
There are around 34 cruise ships around the world still with Australian passengers on board.
– Michael McGuire