Ruby Princess cruise ship nightmare: What went wrong and how it was doomed from the start
Police will probe how the Ruby Princess was allowed to disembark, as a special investigation reveals what happened on board the cruise ship before its passengers were hit by a wave of coronavirus cases that led to 11 tragic deaths.
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A criminal investigation will be launched into how cruise line operator Carnival Australia was allowed to disembark Ruby Princess passengers in Sydney, resulting in several deaths and COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the country.
“The only way I can get to the bottom of whether our national biosecurity laws and our state laws were broken is through a criminal investigation,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said on Sunday.
Mr Fuller told reporters transparency in information regarding patient health on board the cruise ship was a key question for the investigation.
“From my perspective there are many unanswered questions,” he said.
“There seems to be absolute discrepancies between the information provided by Carnival and what I would see is the benchmark for the laws of the federal and state government.”
He said there was clear evidence COVID-19 had come off the Ruby Princess and at least 11 passengers had died in Australia because of it.
The investigation will cover the actions of the port authority, ambulance, police, the NSW Health department and Carnival Australia.
Carnival Australia responded to Mr Fuller’s announcement on Sunday, offering full cooperation with the investigation.
“In addition to willingly participating in the investigation, Carnival Australia will vigorously respond to any allegations of which there must now be full disclosure and the basis for them,” a statement read on Sunday.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard is standing behind his staff who had allowed the Ruby Princess cruise ship to disembark in Sydney on March 19, despite knowing the results would be available within hours.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Friday said Mr Fuller would lead an investigation into the fiasco.
NSW Labor has called for Mr Hazzard to resign over the scandal, with the opposition labelling it “one of the greatest health disasters” in NSW history.
Detective Chief Inspector Jason Dickinson of the NSW Homicide Squad will lead the investigation from Monday and the coroner will be notified.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: WHAT WENT WRONG ON THE DOOMED RUBY PRINCESS
Maureen Dawes had always wanted to see New Zealand. When she decided to join friends on a cruise aboard the Ruby Princess, her partner of three decades Lenny Fisher said he’d come too.
“I’m sure Lenny only went for my sake, but he wanted to go as well. His bag was packed a week before we left,” Mrs Dawes, 77, of Hobart, told News Corp.
The pair flew to Sydney to join the cruise and spent 11 enjoyable days sailing around the coast of New Zealand with 2700 other passengers, soaking up the scenery, the boat and the evening concerts.
But days after they came home to Tasmania, Mr Fisher, an 81-year-old retired bus depot manager, became sick.
Last Monday, Mrs Dawes sat next to Mr Fisher’s hospital bed, unable to hold his hand or kiss him goodbye as he died from coronavirus.
“I couldn’t give him a cuddle. I could do nothing. Nothing,” she said, of those final hours in the Royal Hobart Hospital.
Doctors had given her permission to visit Mr Fisher because they knew the end was near.
He was terribly ill, but contagious, and thought only of protecting her.
“We got permission and I put on mask, gloves and a gown. When I walked in he put his hand up and said ‘don’t come near me’.’’
She pulled a chair up and sat with him. “He kept telling me ‘oh, what a lovely surprise’ it was to see me.”
Mr Fisher dozed for a bit and began to lose consciousness. Occasionally, he’d open his eyes and look at Mrs Dawes “to see if I was still there”.
“We were together for 29 years. We didn’t live together but he came here and I cooked him a meal every night and he helped me in the garden,’’ she said.
When it was time for her to leave at 6.15pm on Monday, she told him: “’I’ll see you later my love.’
“But I knew I wouldn’t.’’
He died at 8.20 that night.
“They took him to the funeral parlour and cremated him. No one was there. I will miss him so much, but it won’t bring him back.”
Mr Fisher is one of 612 Ruby Princess passengers and crew members who have now been diagnosed with coronavirus in what is rapidly emerging as one of Australia’s greatest peacetime disasters. He is one of seven who have died. More than 15 per cent of the almost 4000 passengers and crew members have now been infected.
Like families across Australia, Mrs Dawes wants answers.
“We shouldn’t have got on that ship that day.’’
THE RUBY PRINCESS DEPARTS SYDNEY
The Ruby Princess pulled out of Circular Quay just before sunset on Sunday, March 8, the elegant arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge receding behind her as she navigated the harbour and made her way out of the Heads.
On board, the mood among the passengers was festive, as they sailed across the ditch on the first night of a 13-day cruise around New Zealand, due back into Sydney Harbour on March 21.
The Ruby Princess was usually based in the US and spent most of her time on tours around the Caribbean, although she had visited European ports in the years following her launch in 2008. But the cruise industry was booming, and the company operating the ship decided to bring her to Australia for the southern hemisphere summer. She’d arrived on October 23.
By early March, coronavirus had spread out of China and was infecting people across the globe, including in Australia, where the first case was recorded on January 25. But there were no restrictions on cruising.
The ship was late departing and passengers experienced minor delays checking in. It had returned from another cruise just that morning. The cruise, which had arrived back into port at 6am that day, had reported 158 ill passengers on board and been deemed a medium risk by NSW Health.
But none of that was known to the new group of passengers, who fanned out across the ship’s 19 decks, unpacking bags and exploring the elegant vessel and her four pools, her restaurants, bars, wedding chapel and casino. Many of them were experienced cruisers. Others were on their first trip. Some were there celebrating wedding anniversaries, birthdays, reunions. There were couples, families and friends. There were also around 1100 crew members – cleaners, chefs, butlers, waiters, performers – welcoming the new passengers on board.
Nick and Joyce Nicolai, from Otford, south of Sydney, were part of a group of 23 Australian members of the Air Dispatch Association of Australia.
The military veterans had decided to hold their international reunion on board the ship, and quickly developed a comfortable routine – daytrips sightseeing book ended by breakfast and evening drinks together on the ship.
“We would meet for breakfast at Horizons, a serve-yourself buffet on deck 15 overlooking the water,’’ Mr Nicolai, 70, said.
“Then some of the ladies went line dancing and some of us watched movies.
“We managed to congregate each afternoon at the Wheelhouse bar which was a sombre little bar all done out in timberwork, it was a very nautical theme and we would have happy hour which turned into happy evening and happy night.
“There was about 15 restaurants so plenty of choice, then there were live shows with impersonators. The Rod Stewart impersonator was very good and the band and crew line up was great. I have no complaints about the cruise.’’
Two others in the group were Jerry Lieben and his wife Janet. A popular couple, they brought a good dose of fun to the group. But by the end of the cruise, the Liebens, along with other members of the reunion group, had contracted coronavirus.
Last Thursday, Janet died from the virus at the Orange Base Hospital. She was 67 years old.
“Both Janet and Jerry tested positive,” Mr Nicolai said. “Many members of our group did.
“We were not told on-board the vessel there were any suspected cases.
‘We did not know there were people who were sick, we didn’t see them, people were told if they had ‘flu-like symptoms to present to medical, but none of our group had ‘flu-like symptoms,” he said.
FIVE PASSENGERS WITH FLU-LIKE SYMPTOMS
Nothing seemed amiss on Friday the 13th of March when the Ruby Princess manoeuvred her way into Akaroa Harbour, south of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island.
The ship had been making her way up the east coast after stopping in at the stunning Fjordland National Park on the Wednesday, then Dunedin on the Thursday, travelling overnight to arrive at each port by dawn.
Tour guide Robin McCarthy from Mini Bus Tours did three trips that Friday with Ruby Princess passengers when they disembarked at Akaroa. They were short tours along the coast, dropping in for tastings at Barrys Bay Traditional Cheese farm.
“We chatted to them intermittently on the stops, how they were, what the cruise was like,’’ he told News Corp.
“I don’t recall any of them making any comments about anyone being ill on board.’’
But by Saturday, March 14, some of the Ruby Princess’s passengers were starting to become seriously ill.
The boat pulled into Wellington at dawn. Five passengers with ‘flu-like symptoms reported to the medical centre on the ship. They stayed on the ship, and underwent coronavirus testing. Their results were later found to be negative. But across the ship, people were contracting the hidden virus. Their symptoms, mostly, wouldn’t emerge for another few days.
The cruise continued overnight to the stunning little town of Napier, where passengers spent the next day exploring its art-deco architecture and the neighbouring wineries. One of the passengers unwittingly passed on coronavirus to a local tour guide. The guide later unknowingly passed it on to an elderly family member, who resided at the Gladys Mary Care Home in Napier. By March 29, three residents at the home were struck down by the virus – all of it traceable back to the cruise ship which called there on Sunday, March 15.
‘WE WERE WAITED ON HAND AND FOOT’
Janet Dixon Hughes, from Turramurra in Sydney’s north, hadn’t had a holiday in five years.
But with her 60th birthday approaching, along with the one-year anniversary of her father’s death, she decided to take the Ruby Princess cruise, joined on the trip of a lifetime by her 95-year-old mum Wynne, and 24-year-old daughter Polly.
“Because of mum’s mobility issues, we did spend a lot of time on the deck just taking in the scenes of the Milford Sound and the Fjordlands, which was gorgeous,’’ Mrs Dixon Hughes said.
“We would wake up and have a shower and we always went to the buffet for breakfast for bacon and eggs.’’
At night, they would get dressed up and make an event of going out to dinner.
“We always had a table at the Michelangelo restaurant and we were waited on hand and foot with a three-course meal. The food was amazing. Sometimes we went back to the cabin to watch a movie, but they had Voice of the Seas which is like karaoke and I encouraged Polly to go in it as she is very musical.’’
The group would also check out trivia nights and whatever shows were on in the entertainment lounge. But on March 15, something changed.
“We were steaming across Hawkes Bay and the commodore comes across the PA and said the Australian Government had announced a 30-day ban on cruise ships,’’ Mrs Dixon Hughes said.
The coronavirus crisis in Australia was escalating.
The Ruby Princess had been based in Sydney for the past five months and had thousands of Australians aboard. But she was registered in the tax haven of Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. Her flag of convenience meant she was considered an overseas ship.
The only way around the Government ban was the exemption offered for ships who were deemed to be returning to an Australian port and were at sea on March 16. The captain of the Ruby Princess abandoned her final few stops and turned her south, back down the coast and across the Tasman Sea.
RUBY PRINCESS GOES INTO LOCKDOWN
Princess Cruises knew passengers would be disappointed the cruise had been cut short, and handed out flyers offering discounts and partial refunds. On their final night at sea, a farewell party was held, and events organised in the various bars and entertainment lounges. Dancers in bowler hats and bow-ties entertained, while guests donned colourful scarfs and played ukuleles.
At 1am on Thursday, March 19, the ship pulled quietly into Circular Quay. Things had changed in Australia in the 11 days the ship had been away. Social distancing, requiring everyone to stay 1.5m away from each other in public, wouldn’t be announced for another 24 hours, but everyone arriving from overseas had to self-quarantine in their home or hotel room. They were allowed to board planes to get home if they lived interstate and overseas.
NSW Health had contacted the ship on March 17 and asked the senior doctor for a list of passengers and crew presenting with fever, acute respiratory symptoms or both, along with their travel histories. The Ruby Princess was also asked to detail whether rapid ‘flu tests were conducted, and what the results were.
According to Border Force chief Michael Outram, NSW Health also asked the Ruby Princess to isolate any passengers with ‘flu-like symptoms, and provide them with hand sanitiser and masks.
On March 18, the senior doctor on the Ruby Princess told NSW Health that viral swabs had been conducted for several cases of ‘febrile influenza’ which had returned negative tests, and those passengers had been isolated. Ambulance transfers were requested for several other passengers with unrelated illnesses.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the Ruby Princess “met all the pre-arrival reporting obligations under the Biosecurity Act 2015.’’
The vessel declared 128 persons were ill in the previous 14 days. The symptoms declared by the vessel include 24 persons with temperature over 38 degrees Celsius, six persons with muscle aches, diarrhoea, severe headaches or vomiting.’’
Some of these people, we now know, had coronavirus.
One of them, a woman in her 70s, was so ill she was taken off the ship on a stretcher at 2.30am and taken directly to hospital.
She died a week later in Sydney’s RPA Hospital from coronavirus.
Who told what to who will now be the subject of a police inquiry.
Border Force says the Department of Agriculture reported the illness details to NSW Health.
At 5.07pm, NSW Health advised the Ruby Princess that: “the New South Wales Health panel has assessed the Ruby Princess as not requiring on-board health assessment in Sydney.’’ NSW Health also asked the ship send the 15 ‘flu samples to a lab for COVID-19 testing.
Reminding the ship about the new self-isolation rules, NSW Health told the Ruby Princess: “You are free to disembark tomorrow.’’
Those six words would prove catastrophic.
At 6.10am that day, six Border Force officers and four Department of Agriculture officers boarded the vessel for routine checks.
The vessel’s agent told the surprised Border Force officers there were a number of passengers isolated in their cabins. Agriculture officers, with responsibility for the Biosecurity Act, told their Border Force colleagues they are aware NSW Health has rated the vessel low-risk and health officials would not be attending.
In an email sent to all passengers on Friday, April 3, the Ruby Princess’ bosses defended the actions of those in charge of the ship.
“ … guests who presented to the medical centre with flu-like symptoms were immediately isolated,’’ a spokesperson for Asia Pacific Princess Cruises, wrote to the passengers.
“The ill people were reported to NSW Health who advised that we could proceed with disembarking all guests prior to test results being received.
“We gave full disclosure and followed the instructions of local authorities.’’
NSW Health issued a statement on Friday night saying the outbreak: “could not have been prevented by NSW Health staff” and that no coronavirus cases were identified on board before the Ruby Princess docked.
“The illness and test results identified on board was consistent with influenza,” it said.
‘LIKE A BUNCH OF ANIMALS RUNNING OFF THE SHIP’
Passengers who disembarked the Ruby Princess on March 19 felt something was amiss with the arrival proceedings.
The crew had lined up for the usual guard of honour, calling goodbye to the passengers. Some held letters forming a sign: Princess Proud. Thousands of happy passengers trooped off with their luggage, many flying home interstate and overseas.
But the official part of the disembarkation felt rushed.
Mrs Dixon Hughes was sitting on her balcony and watched the woman being stretchered away at 2.30am.
When it was their time later that morning, the family was whisked off the ship.
“They got us off the ship so fast, I was astounded how fast we were shipped out of there.’’
Ben Hardimon, 27, and his fiancee Channese Pintar from Lethbridge Park in NSW were on the cruise with Ben’s grandparents, Ray, 75, and Doreen, 74. Doreen Hardimon would later be diagnosed with coronavirus.
What shocked the foursome was the fact there was no testing when they disembarked, despite knowing several passengers on board were sick.
“We expected to be tested and have an all-over health check, but it was six to seven minutes from the ship to the taxi rank, passports weren’t checked and the declaration card was just taken off us,” Ben Hardimon said.
“It was like a bunch of animals running off the ship,” he said.
Ray Hardimon agreed the brisk disembarkation was highly suspicious.
“I am annoyed, they did not seem to keep up their duty of care. I’m pretty sure they knew because they just got us off the ship so quickly,” he said.’’
The very next day, NSW Health announced four passengers had tested positive for coronavirus, and the race to find the passengers began.
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QANTAS FLIGHT HAS NO VIRUS WARNING
On Saturday, March 21, a double-decker A380 took off from Sydney Airport in the early afternoon, bound for Dallas Forth-Worth in the US. Flight QF7, one of the longest direct flights in the world at almost 16 hours, was carrying 170 passengers from the Ruby Princess. The flight took off 24 hours after people from the ship had been diagnosed with coronavirus, but Qantas had been given no warning the passengers were on board.
Eight hours into the flight, cabin crew staff noticed the Ruby Princess bags and clothing some of the passengers were wearing, and asked them if they’d come off the ship.
The cabin crew reported the discovery to the captain, who called through to Qantas’ operations centre at Sydney Airport, where discussions commenced with the Qantas team of medical experts.
As no passengers were displaying any signs of illness, it was decided the fight would be allowed to continue.
The captain and cabin crew were furious. Qantas later put up signs at check-in requiring passengers to declare if they had come off a cruise ship.
A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services told News Corp the department was notified about the flight, but “do not have any cases associated with the Ruby Princess.’’
Contagious diseases are an unfortunate fact of life on cruise ships and it wasn’t the first outbreak the Ruby Princess had suffered.
According to reports from the US Center for Infectious Diseases, the ship had three outbreaks of norovirus, which causes vomiting, in 2012 and 2013.
On July 27, 2009, the ship was hit by an outbreak of the deadly swine ‘flu as it cruised the Mediterranean. Seven people were diagnosed with H1N1. The disease was detected at Piraeus in Greece and briefly impounded by police in Venice before being cleared to leave.
‘NO INFORMATION ONCE THEY GOT OFF’
Craig Blackburn was scrolling through his phone on his lunchbreak on Friday, March 20, when he saw something that made his heart skip – an outbreak of coronavirus on the Ruby Princess.
Mr Blackburn’s mother Bev Williams, stepfather Des Williams and two aunts had just got off a cruise ship, where they’d been celebrating the Williams’ wedding anniversary, and had arrived home in Toowoomba the day before.
He rang his mother immediately and asked if it was the same boat.
“I thought, ‘this isn’t going to be good.’
“She was a bit alarmed to find out that it was on their boat.’’
Mr and Mrs Williams had no idea there’d been an outbreak of COVID-19 on the ship.
Two weeks later, Mr Williams, 85, was dead, and his new widow was fighting the virus, the pair rushed to Toowoomba Hospital after falling gravely ill.
Mr Blackburn is heartbroken, furious, and demanding answers.
“I think mum called her two sisters that were on the cruise with them to tell them, but she didn’t ring the Ruby Princess cruise line and they certainly didn’t ring her.
“Queensland Health rang them daily after that to make sure they were in isolation, but the cruise line definitely didn’t contact them.
“We want justice.
“There was no information from Ruby Princess once they got off … Even on the boat they said if you have a sniffle or a temperature to go see a doctor when you’re home,” Mr Blackburn said.
“And when they got back to Sydney they were just shown off and told to go about getting home and quarantine from home.’’
Mr Blackburn said his parents’ journey home to Toowoomba had brought them into contact with hundreds, possibly thousands, of people.
“They pulled up in Sydney beside the Opera House, got on a train or in a cab, went to the airport, got a plane to Brisbane, then a bus back to where their car was parked in the long term parking area and got in their car and drove back home. Unknowingly (potentially), infecting everyone along the way,” he said.
Graeme and Karla Lake celebrated Karla’s 75th birthday aboard the Ruby Princess and had returned to their home in Caboolture in Queensland when a relative called them after seeing a story on the Friday night TV news about the outbreak.
The pair checked their inbox and found an email from the cruise company.
Days later the couple were both diagnosed with COVID-19. A week and two days later Mrs Lake died, while her husband lay in another hospital bed beside her.
Mr Lake’s condition deteriorated after the death of his beloved wife, but relatives said the latest advice from doctors was that he was improving.
‘THE CREW IS GETTING SICKER’
Jim Walker is a maritime lawyer based in Miami who runs a cruise blog. On March 29, he posted what he said was a message from a crew member stuck on board the Ruby Princess as she hovered off the coast of NSW.
“The crew is sick and getting sicker,’’ the message said.
“Two days ago they off loaded in the dead of night a Senior Officer to the hospital – tonight three more crew members, one on a ventilator, were also sent off.
“I need to remain anonymous. Please help this situation is now dire.”
In an updated message, the crew member said 700 crew members had been moved into guest cabins, while 300 of their colleagues were delivering food and checking their temperatures.
“Crew are terrified. No solid information only pep talks broadcast by Hotel Director,’’ the message states.
“No idea how many actually have Covid but MANY have symptoms including lack of taste & smell.”
The Ruby Princess, built by Italian shipbuilders Fincantieri, is an up-market boat, with an older, more cashed-up target market than the more budget-friendly P&O ships Australians often see cruising around the Pacific.
The parent company of both P&O Australia and Princess Cruises is, ultimately, the behemoth Carnival Corporation and plc. Its head office is in California but it is registered in Bermuda.
The company’s corporate website shows it employs 150,000 people across 150 countries and operates 100 cruise ships.
It operates many of the famous cruise lines around the world including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America, Seabourn, P&O Cruises Australia, Costa Cruises, Aida Cruises, P&O Cruises UK and Cunard. Its revenue last year amounted to $32 billion in Australian currency
Until coronavirus hit, the company said there were 350,000 people cruising on its ships every day.
Now, the ships are either stranded at sea, or empty. The company has offered the use of the vessels to the US Government as floating hospitals.
In Australia, Shine Lawyers is investigating a potential class action on behalf of Ruby Princess passengers.
‘THE WORLD WAS NOT READY FOR THIS’
Adelaide grandmother Diane Davies shared one of the 260 cabins on the Ruby Princess’ Baja Deck – deck 11 – with a recently-widowed friend. She enjoyed the cruise, and it wasn’t until a week after she got home that she developed joint pain and a sore throat.
She was in self-isolation, as required by the Government, when she was diagnosed with coronavirus. Fortunately, her symptoms are mild and she remains at home in quarantine.
“The cruise to New Zealand was great – what I experienced,” she said.
Mrs Davies said passengers were told they would have to turn back to Sydney seven days into the cruise. The Australian Government, she said, wanted passengers back home due to the COVID-19 outbreak unfolding around the nation and the world.
“The staff on board were very friendly and informative – I received Government documents in my cabin once the decision was made to return to Australia and at no time did I feel as if I wasn’t informed,” she said.
“The world was not ready for this situation and I believe I was as informed as I could be based on the directives I received.
“I place no blame on any one department or company and just hope we will learn from the tragic situation.”
Another Adelaide-based passenger, 59, said his wife had contracted coronavirus, and that he was deeply concerned about the company’s response.
The retired accountant, who asked not to be publicly identified, said the company’s only concern had been for its profits and its shareholders.
“It turned out to be an absolute disaster. With the benefit of hindsight it was clear they were trying to keep an air of ‘keep calm and carry on’.
Originally published as Ruby Princess cruise ship nightmare: What went wrong and how it was doomed from the start
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