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     Similar to my last post, this is a post from the same past job. This one, much like the last post I shared, was also not very popular w...

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Life in a Cruise Ship in a World of People Infected with Fear

     I certainly find myself in an interesting position at a truly uncertain time. Standing before me is something that resembles, less a fork-in-the-road, and more like endless shifting paths, constant only in their change: there one moment, gone in an instant. 


     When arriving on the ship for the start of this contract, the coronavirus was just starting to pop up in the public consciousness. Having grown up in the age of bird flu, swine flu, ebola, and countless other pandemic scares, plus being preoccupied with my own superficial problems in my own little world, the news of a potential outbreak of a a new virus on the horizon barely registered. While working on a cruise-ship with limited internet service, following up on news and current events becomes difficult and the threat of coronavirus snuck up on me like an assassin. In the blink of an eye, it is breathing (or coughing) down my neck and the world I had just gotten used to was thrown into upheaval. 

     Much like the spread of a virus in the body, the changes started off small. Like whispers on the wind, the threat of coronavirus began to creep up in the conversations of crew and passengers. Then, the symptoms began to show when we heard our company wouldn’t be bringing in passengers who reside in China, our Asian itinerary ship would likely be changing their course, and additional notice was given that all passengers and crew would undergo health screening whenever leaving and arriving on the ship (screenings that consisted of questions of where we had traveled recently, our temperature, and whether we were experiencing any symptoms of the virus). Quickly it got worse when we were informed that we wouldn’t be able to go to Israel, one of our most anticipated ports of the itinerary, during what would become our final cruise. But they weren’t the only ones… soon Turkey (the replacement port for Israel) and Cyprus followed suit, throwing our itinerary into chaos. It became a guessing game of what ports we would or wouldn’t be able to go to. Though, after three successful days, it seemed like we may be in the clear…. Until IT happened…

     My feelings toward the 45th president of the United States and the difficulties he has caused for my family, myself, and the industry I work in could fill several blog posts. One of the only things I agree with him on is that fake news exists and that it is a huge problem (for proof, literally look up over half of “news” reported by FOX). Well, we got to experience what fake news can really do.
     While in a port of Greece, I was off-ship having lunch with friends whose jobs include translation and announcements for/to passengers. Suddenly, mid-meal, they received a message from their supervisor telling them to return to the ship ASAP. Little did I know that a similar message went out amongst excursions so they would start leading guests back to the ship. My friends left with such urgency that I was not able to get any information from them (not that they had any). It was not until I got back to the ship that I was able to learn the news: a passenger in the previous cruise tested positive for the virus shortly after returning home. As anyone could have predicted, this caused a small amount of panic amongst passengers and crew, despite regular health screenings and the fact no one, amongst crew or passengers, had shown any signs that they were infected. Unfortunately, one thing happened that no one could have anticipated: we had a journalist on the ship. 
     Due, once again, to my limited access to full-spectrum internet service, I was never able to read the article that was written in its entirety; but, everyone who read it reported to me the same thing (including friends who work on other ships who quickly reached out to me to find out what was happening). The person had reported that several people on the ship had tested positive for the virus, including crew members and people who were still on the ship and that the ship was officially quarantined. They had also taken this a step further by going around to the crew beforehand and asking them general questions, but then quoting them out of context for the article (which was reported to me, with a lot of exasperation, by my friends that were quoted). There are a couple problems here, everyone was screened again as they came back on to the ship and there was still no signs of symptoms amongst anyone on the ship and the ship had already left port and continued on with the itinerary WHEN they reported that we were being held in port for quarantine.
     Well, you might be thinking, “who cares?” Honestly, that was my first thought as well: who cares about someone writing a news article that could easily be debunked on an obscure news website? Well, we had been trained as crew to never talk to reporters so as to not disseminate inaccurate information regarding the situation, and with few news articles were coming out about the experience on the ship, it resulted in these articles getting more traction than expected. Following one more port and one day at sea, we were supposed to be making our way to Malta. Unfortunately for us, they had read the articles and it alerted them that we may be, in their minds, a threat to the spread of the virus, should we be allowed to dock. Despite being convinced by the documents we had from all the health screenings, they still decided that we would not be allowed to visit the country. By that point, the writing was on the wall and we suspected this would be the final nail in the coffin for the future sailings of this ship during the outbreak. 

     We were able to make it to our last two ports, though the word around the ship is that they were not happy about having us there and they, too, almost rejected us. Most businesses were closed in those ports (being that they were in Italy) and we found out during our first of two embarkation ports that we would not be taking on any new passengers. 
     The following day, when we were at our home port of Genova, Italy, we were summoned to a crew gathering hosted by the ship's command. The information we found was not terribly shocking, but it led to a flood of rumors. Even before the meeting, rumors were flying about what may happen to us and what this meant for the future. We received confirmation that we would not be taking on passengers or crew members for the time-being (we were given an estimated time frame of anywhere between a couple weeks to a month before being able to sail again), the ship would be opening some passenger areas to crew members to make our stay more comfortable because we would not allowed to leave the ship until further notice because the Italian government had shut down the country. This raised almost as many questions as it answered and the ship was soon a hot bed of suspicion, conspiracy, and confusion. 

     Trying to navigate the ship after that meeting was like trying to navigate the Republican National Convention. Through the air was flying news and rumors and conspiracy theories; but you would be hard-pressed to find any truth in a majority of what you hear. The main beliefs were that we would be placed in quarantine, like on other cruise ships, that everyone would be staying on the cruise ship until we could sail again and the time would be spent cleaning and fixing up things on the ship, or even that the ship would continue sailing shortly and that we were going to be changing itineraries to a season that was less impacted by the outbreak of Corona. Unfortunately for us, we were not getting a lot of information from our home office because they seemed to be equally thrown by the shocking turn of events brought about by the faster-than-expected spread of the disease. While, in my opinion, they did the right thing by immediately notifying the passengers of the threat of the virus, and barring passengers from coming on the ship until further notice (even if the notice did come somewhat suddenly), their next move was met with some hesitation and confusion by the crew members on the ship. Less than 24 hours after the meeting, where we were told we would likely be staying on the ship for a couple weeks (at least), we were told that crew members would start being disembarked off the ship immediately. This caused a level of relief in some crew, and panic in others. How long would we be without work? Would we even be able to come back? While we found out that our contracts were only being frozen instead of terminated, and we received confirmation that we would receive pay as long as we were on the ship, there was a scramble throughout the ship, and it slowly began to empty.

     So, where am I? Shortly after the alert came through that we would be disembarking, though before the news came out that the entire company would be ceasing operations, I reached out to the home office and requested a transfer. I asked whether or not I could be placed on a still-active ship because I didn’t have enough money to go home and survive until further notice without work. I would prefer to stay and continue my contract if possible. Although I do not know if this was the deciding factor, or if it is my position on the ship, it was decided that I would stay on the ship as part of the skeleton crew that remains while in port. It was estimated now that I will be here for about two months before the rest of the crew were likely to reembark, during which time I would be doing work throughout the department. In total, there would only be about 60 of us who stayed. This was great because at least I will continue to be paid during this time. The day-to-day would change, but we will manage in whatever way we had to. 

     But then, the plot thickened… Despite constant medical screenings and confirmation that no one on the ship had shown any signs or symptoms of the virus, and every crew member disembarking receiving a medical letter of release, most crew members were placed in quarantine when they arrived to their respective countries. This is probably for the best; because, in very quick succession, the ship was notified that a crew members and a couple passengers tested positive for the virus after they left the ship. Immediately, all remaining plans for disembarking crew were cancelled, and all crew who had regular contact with these passengers and the crew member were placed into isolated quarantine for two weeks. The remaining crew who were going about their day were forced to undergo social distancing, they are not allowed to eat within two meters of each other in the mess, they have access to masks and are encouraged to wear them, and the crew bar officially closed (for now).
     Well, I count myself among the close friends of the person who tested positive, and so I now find myself in isolation (a place I volunteered to go, even before I was directed to be here). The company has taken excellent care of those of us who are in this position. We were moved into large cabins (far away from the rest of the crew), we have our food and everything delivered to us (including medical screenings twice per day, all given to us by teams wearing protective gear), and they regularly check up on us (including calls from the captain). 
     I feel (as do many in ship command) that this should’ve been the course for all remaining crew members with non-essential functions,  though I understand that it would have been nearly impossible to coordinate quarantine and isolation with the limited crew remaining on the ship (just shy of 200). I also feel this should’ve been the best for us to do with all crew members since the beginning, but I think the company likely feared that the crew members wouldn’t have been able to go home after those two weeks because several companies were quickly deciding to shut down their borders (not to mention the expense to the company if the entire crew were confined to the ship until further notice). Also, up until very recently, there was no cause for belief that the crew on the ship had the virus. The ship had acted quickly and isolated all crew members who had been in direct contact with the guest who tested positive on the previous cruise, no one had shown symptoms, and we were doing everything right. Even now, it was possible that the passengers and crew member who tested positive could have contracted the virus during their travels after being on the ship, but the company had proven that they are willing to do the best that they can to take care of their crew members and passengers, from little things like making sure those who are forced into quarantine are comfortable and giving us free social-media internet so we can easily keep in touch with our friends and families, to ensuring crew knows that we will have jobs when this does finally pass and sharing all information they can to passengers and crew.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing Taylor. It’s interesting to hear about it from a friend half way around the world. Hang in there! I know it’s hard and will be difficult at times. But you have family and friends here! Stay healthy!! 😘

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  2. As always Taylor I love your blogs. It is such a great way to hear how you are and your emotional state. Just know we all love you and we are so happy you are safe. Keep up blogging!! You tell competing stories.

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