My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
With most huge disasters, there’s usually a ground zero. It affects everyone around the world, but some people are closer to the center of it than others. When I went home to California for Christmas in 2001, it was as if the repercussions of September 11 were as loud 3000 miles away as they were in New York. It’s an interesting story for me to say I was actually there. I could see the towers not only from my TV but from my window. It blows my mind that this disaster now literally affects everyone around the world. Everyone has a story. This is mine. So this is how my third contract at Princess ended with a global pandemic. Next I’ll tell you how it began, and, you know, the rest of it.
It’s hard to measure time on a ship. It’s both faster and slower than it is on land. Days of the week are recognized like a holiday that is celebrated on the other side of the world. So I think it was in January or February—it was after the crazy Christmas cruise, that’s for sure—that we started seeing the Diamond Princess on the news. Usually we get gossip about other ships from our friends who are on those ships and we spread it around verbally. That was happening too, but it was surreal to see the drama actually on the world news. I’d heard there was some hype growing out there in the real world, but I wasn’t that concerned. Why was the media making such a big deal about this? If they are so concerned about this strain of the flu why are they not concerned about the regular flu? The regular flu was all over the place making people hot and sneeze and cough and in some cases, die, but no one said a word about that. I was getting frustrated because I had requested to go on the Sun Princess with my mom in April (going from Sydney to Japan) using a program called Employee Space Available and Princess wasn’t getting back to me. Apparently they would let me know if there was space available the cruise before. If we want to make plans for joining or leaving the ship we have to submit a request at least 45 days in advance. If they want to make changes, they’ll ask us the day of. So I started making plans for my vacation. I applied for local leave in Sydney (when I was meant to disembark on March 25th), when that was approved I reserved an Air B&B in Sydney, made my reservation to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge on the 27th, and I would fly back to California on March 29th.
One morning we were docked in Auckland and the Captain made an announcement early in the morning before people started to disembark. He said that the crew in the terminals might be wearing masks, but this was being done just as a precaution. It turned out that before the news of the corona virus on the Diamond had been discovered, a crew member had been trans-shipped to our ship. From the time that he arrived (that’s all I found out—that he was a he, not what department he worked in or where he was from) he was quarantined in his room with no symptoms as a precaution. Auckland found this out and interpreted that our ship had the Corona (later we (crew) talked about it—we would make fun of the name until our ship had it. Anyone who ordered the beer of the same name at the bar ordered a ‘corona virus’). The Captain explained the situation—one crew member was from the Diamond, he had no symptoms and was being quarantined. They let us come ashore. Meanwhile, the locals were throwing rocks at my mom’s ship because they were afraid of the virus being on ships. It turns out that the crew member from the Diamond was only supposed to be on our ship for 2 weeks. So he spent the whole time alone in his cabin and then was sent home.
On February 25th I bought a one way ticket to London so I could see my friend Rose, and I got train tickets to go up and see Lauren, who I had bonded with on the Golden, while she was in her home town of Liverpool. Then we did a two week cruise to Fiji and Vanuatu with 9 SEA DAYS (we were used to doing 3 sea days (work more), 6 ports (work less) and then 3 more sea days) with only 4 port days and internet that was so slow that it was only good to see if there were any emails that indicated an emergency. On March 5th we had an amazing day in Port Vila—I’ll tell you about it later. There was a lagoon, waterfalls and a resort with Wifi as disappointing as the prizes we offered on the ship. Little did I know, that would be the last time I would be on land until I was taken to the airport to go home, and it was the last port day with minimal work hours until I signed off two weeks later.
After Port Vila we had 4 days at sea, where we heard that Trump was banning travel to and from the EU. Well here was a bright side of Brexit! If England was still open, I was going! As soon as I had enough internet, I would finish planning my trip—I’d go to Prague from England…
On March 10 (Turnaround in Melbourne), it was my turn to work turnaround day in Melbourne. I didn’t mind. It was a Tuesday which meant that my favorite sushi place was closed (not that I knew which day of the week it was—I had to work that out weeks in advance), which meant I could go the next time we were in Melbourne, a couple of days before I went to Sydney. I used my Australian SIM card to buy the minimum 5 days of internet so I could call home. Rumors were going around that the ship wasn’t at capacity—people were cancelling whether by choice or by circumstance. My friend and fellow Cruise Staff, Randi, welcomed her cousin, Sara, on board for relative travel. Sara had had to rebook her flight about three times to avoid a layover in a country that was banned to board. My favorite Captain, Gavin Pears, joined that day. Captain Gavin is from Ireland and he would hang out with us more than other Captains. He had left before Christmas and left me a contract saying he would participate in Entertainment-related activities (since I would only be there for 1 cruise). I was excited to get him involved with the lip sync challenge and our Dance competition for the guests, plus he was just fun to hang out with. Erin also joined us—a brand new Junior from Indiana. We had been short staffed for a cruise and were excited to get someone who would get in on the rotation so we could get off the ship for more ports. I had begged and pleaded and traded around to get Napier and Tauranga off. I wanted to hang out with my mom’s friend Antoinette who lived in Napier, and I wanted to go Skydiving again (I had an appointment booked) and hang out with my friend Susan in Tauranga. So I had fewer days off and worked more days in a row so I could get those ports off. Randi and I had done a dry cruise the cruise before. That night we had some wine in the Officer’s Mess at dinner, and the Cruise Director commented that we were especially funny that night. One lady said she was from a place that sounded like ‘Ah choo’ in Australia, and I asked, “And they let you on board?!”
March 11 (Sea Day 1) Nothing special happened. It was my last cruise, well, kind of, I would be there for the first day of the next one, so I wasn’t sure what to savor as doing it for the last time. What else was memorable? Oh yeah! There were no suspicions of COVID-19 on board, and they were only letting people on board who had no symptoms and who hadn’t been to high risk countries, but AS A PRECAUTION, we were sanitizing everything all the time (like the sports and the games and the library) and the wait staff had to serve everyone, including us in the Mess (usually there is a line where we can help ourselves). This was really slowing things down (plus more staff than usual was needed upstairs in the buffet for the same procedures).
March 12 (Sea Day 2) Again, business as usual. I ran into Captain Gavin during the day and asked him if he wanted to go skydiving with me in Tauranga (the plans were attempted but never worked out to go Skydiving in Tauranga in December). He said he’d think about it. It probably wasn’t the safest thing to do as master of the vessel, but we thought it might get the media talking about something other than Corona virus if he went splat.
That night was formal night, and Erin and I were scheduled to mingle at the Captain’s welcome champagne waterfall. The Captain introduced the officers and then said that there had been an issue with the Pilot boat in Fiordland (where we were scheduled to go the next day), so we were planning on picking up the pilot after sunrise, which would be a little later than planned. Other than that, the weather looked good for our first three ports, but there was a storm that might interrupt things once we got to Napier and Tauranga.
Friday, March 13 (Fiordland National Park). Fiordland National Park was always a gamble. Because of the weather we had not gone in more often than we had. When the Captain’s announcement woke me up that morning, my first thought was that it was going to be a surprise sea day instead. But that wasn’t what he said. He said we were still going to Fiordland—we would pick up the pilot shortly. We would still finish the cruise as scheduled and there was a video playing on one of the channels continuously. I turned on the TV. Jan Swartz, President of Princess Cruises, was announcing that Princess was taking a 60 day ‘pause,’ it was a very tough decision, etc. Now this was drama. I logged on quickly to the expensive internet to send a message to my mom. She was on the Sun Princess on her way back to Australia from Africa and was probably getting the same message at the very same time. I stuck my head out into the hallway where my half asleep co-workers were also processing the news. I tried to go back to sleep, but that wasn’t happening, so we got ourselves together and went down to breakfast. The rumor circulating there was that we would head back after Wellington. At noon there was an announcement by the Captain to that affect that I didn’t hear. But it was still a beautiful day, so we went out by the crew pool and enjoyed the scenery until we were called back inside to entertain.
I looked at my schedule—Akaroa would be my only day off that cruise. Everyone else got two days off. Eight days in a row without a day off was making me feel selfish and cranky. That evening I ran into the Captain in the Ward room (the bar just for officers). He had thought I said Wellington when I asked him to go skydiving. I should get the day off in Wellington. We would go skydiving or just go to an Irish bar and then to some fun house across the street. I could only swap with people on my team, and I only had one day to trade.
March 14 (Port Chalmers/Dunedin) I was IPM (In Port Manning—basically I had to stay on board in the event of an emergency and while I was there, I did the activities). I spent the morning doing port day activities with Erin. At lunch I ran into the Captain who said I should try harder to swap Akaroa for Wellington. I was able to get some service with my New Zealand SIM card, so I was able to call my aunt in California during my break. At this point, we knew the cruise was scheduled to arrive on March 20th and the guests would disembark, but we didn’t know what would be happening to the crew. They would keep a skeleton crew onboard, but who would that be? So I could be coming home early or who knows? I went to HR to request that my local leave be honored—If I could keep my flight from Sydney on the 29th, I would find my own way there from Melbourne. I was able to talk to my mom. They had gotten the announcement at noon. Their cruise was ending early, but she and Ron Voyage would be getting off in Adelaide and flying home from there. As I write this, the time doesn’t seem to match up. It felt like I hadn’t heard from my mom in days. Each of these days of not knowing what was happening felt like three days.
Finally late in the afternoon, I was able to convince one of the other cruise staff to trade Wellington for Akaroa. Another day of work to get to hang out with the Captain.
March 15 (Akaroa) Akaroa is a water shuttle port. Because I’d worked so many days in a row, I didn’t have to show up to hand out tickets until 9am. I met Randi at the table. She’d been writing down the times—hand out tickets, stop handing out tickets. Hand out tickets, stop. The ship was literally going around in circles. We had cancelled Akaroa before and the announcement came about an hour after we were supposed to dock. This was later than that. We were let into the harbor, but we weren’t allowed to let anyone off the ship. Some activities were added, but we spent the day waiting. Randi and I spent the morning waiting by the water shuttle ticket table not handing out tickets. When our side of the ship was closer to land I had enough signal on my phone to do a little business. I sent an email cancelling my skydive. I tried to contact the Sydney harbor bridge people, but they just said they could postpone my ticket—they wouldn’t give me my $400 back. At noon we learned that there was a flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne. There was a person on that flight who had been diagnosed with COVID-19. That person was not on the ship, but there was a passenger on the ship who had been on that flight. That person was now being isolated and would be tested for the virus. They asked for anyone else who had been on that flight to make themselves known. We waited. I was able to talk to my mom. They had gotten off the ship (which seemed like a miracle considering we couldn’t get off the one we were on) in Adelaide and would fly out the next morning. The cruise would continue on to Sydney without them. The Captain would make periodic announcements saying he was waiting to be told what to do next. Later I learned that about 20 tests had been sent to Christchurch (a couple hours away) and all of them had come back negative. Eventually we learned that we would be heading back to Melbourne the next day instead of going to Wellington. So much for all that swapping around!
March 16 (Return Sea Day 1—would have been Wellington) I taught Zumba that morning. When I came in there were about 5 guests. My head was spinning. They wanted updates. When were we getting home? I said, this is what I know: We are scheduled to berth in Melbourne on the 20th, which is 4 days from now. Typically it takes 3 days to get back to Melbourne from New Zealand. I can’t speculate about what is going to happen, but I would listen for announcements from the Captain. We were continuously being scolded for gossiping in crew areas about what would happen and spreading rumors we’d heard. The noon announcement had no updates about our future. But the Captain was in the Mess at lunch and invited me to sit at his table. We joked and laughed as I prodded for gossip. My team was giving me a hard time for sitting with the Captain instead of sitting with them. But then I got what I had been waiting for! The Captain said DON’T TELL ANYONE—ESPECIALLY YOUR BOSS that he wasn’t sure we would get in on the 19th or even the 20th! All the ships in Australia were being called back to their home port and there may not be room for everyone. We might have to sail to Adelaide and go in circles until March 25! Five more days at sea?! How would we entertain these people?! So by not telling anyone, I told Randi. We went back to the office and ordered more champagne for prizes. My Cruise Director implied that I was an alcoholic and that I just wanted to drink the terrible champagne that I wouldn’t drink even if it was free. I was looking forward to showing off when it was announced that the cruise would be 5 days longer that I had inside information (spoiler alert- we didn’t end up staying 5 days longer, and I don’t know what happened to the extra champagne. I didn’t drink it.) That evening in the crew area there was an announcement that the guests would be disembarking on March 20th and there was no information about crew at the time. They were working on it. We were in the Officer’s Mess during the 6 o’clock hour before my evening trivia at 7pm. I ran into the Entertainment Director and asked if he had a list of people who were being sent home first. He said there wasn’t a list, but some people had requested to go home ASAP. We could be on board for a couple more days or a couple of months. While we were there in the crew area, there was an announcement in Passenger Areas saying that the guests would disembark on the 19th. The crew who were in crew areas were oblivious. On my way to hosting the first audition of the Voice of the Ocean (an event involving 2 auditions, rehearsals and guests singing in the Princess Theater) at 9pm, the Cruise Director paged me and told me we were arriving on the 19th instead of the 20th, so we wouldn’t have time to do the finale of the Voice of the Ocean, so I would need to modify the event. So now we would have 2 more Sea days instead of 3. And we still didn’t know what was happening with the crew.
March 17 (Return Sea Day 2 – would have been Napier, St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas Eve Eve) The news was always on now. The weather person was talking about the storm in Napier. Remember when that was the drama? That there might be bad weather? We were sitting at dinner when there was an announcement from HR that played in the crew areas. Those who were scheduled to disembark on the 23rd or the 25th of March may be repatriated on March 19th or the 20th if flights were available. They would let us know personally when our flights are booked. That was me. I still had an evening full of activities and on top of that, it was a holiday. It was St Patrick’s Day and we had an Irish Captain. There was going to be a huge party in the ward room (and probably one in the crew bar too). On top of that, we’d started a tradition. The last night of the cruise is always really busy and people are packing and doing last minute things, so it’s not the best time to say goodbye to people who are leaving. Plus if we get carried away buying drinks for the person who is leaving, it really sucks to feel ‘under the weather’ while waiting at the airport or being on a really long flight. So if the night before turnaround in Christmas Eve, the night before is Christmas Eve Eve. It’s the night to party and say goodbye. My Christmas Eve Eve was that night and I’d just found out a few hours before. With the rest of the world in lock down, we especially celebrated the opportunity to have a party—we were probably having more fun than the people who were IN Ireland! This was the place to be!
March 18 (Return Sea Day 3 – would have been Tauranga). The next morning I got a page from the Entertainment Director at 8:30am. That list I asked about? I was on it. This was not new information after the announcement last night, but I appreciated that he was keeping me updated. Was I leaving the 19th or the 20th? He didn’t know. I checked the crew self service website. It said I was flying from Sydney to San Francisco on March 25th. I went to do Zumba. After Zumba my flights were there. I would fly out at 2pm the next day from Melbourne to San Francisco. The day was packed with activities and the evening was probably the busiest of my contract—we were trying to fit all of the end of the cruise activities into 1 day instead of 2. I signed my appraisal in the afternoon. When I filled out my time card, the day in the cruise hadn’t been updated. We were supposed to be in Tauranga today. The difference between that reality and the one we were in seemed worlds apart. Between these activities I tried to pack. It was a disaster. I managed to get two big suitcases relatively full, and took those down to security 5 minutes before the deadline. I figured they would get, excuse me, let the guests off first (no offense, I was really tired and still worried that we might have to keep entertaining while processing the world shutting down in the spare moments in between) so I would have time in the morning to finish.
March 19 (Melbourne—would have been Auckland) At 5am there was an announcement in the passenger hallways. I don’t know how I woke up to hear that it was being made, but I scrambled out of bed and stuck my head in the hall (Randi asked me several times who I was sleeping with—who’s cabin was I in to have heard that announcement. When I helped her recall how well I’d been able to keep secrets in the past, and reassured her that she’d be the first person I would tell, she calmed down). Captain said they were testing some people as a precaution. We should be able to disembark today, but it might be slightly delayed. I’d heard on the news that it can take 3 hours to get test results. It took all day to figure out what was going on in Akaroa. I woke up Randi and Erin to let them know. Randi’s friend Sara was supposed to disembark. Erin was supposed to say goodbye to guests at the gangway starting at 6am. I tried to go back to sleep, and couldn’t. I tried to pack. We went to breakfast. I probably had more breakfast that week than I did my entire contract. A little more sleep was always more important than waking up for breakfast. In the Officer’s Mess, I heard from the Customer Services Director that we won’t start disembarkation until 1pm. So I wasn’t going to make my flight. Randi, Erin, Sara and I were having a hard time getting cell service in the hallway, so we knocked on the music manager’s door. Party Rave Flava Flave Dave answered the door. We asked if we could use his window. He invited us in. The Australian news was on and we lounged all over his bed calling home and trying to figure out what was happening. At about 10am, my flight changed. It was at 10:30pm but one thing said it was that day and one thing said it was the next day. It turned out to be the next day. More time to pack! I went and retrieved my suitcases. I could do better. The rest of my team took turns doing activities for the guests. Our friend Erich (from Boston) and Sara were both flying out at 10:30pm. They were doing the math to try to figure out if they’d be able to fly that night. We heard through the grapevine that about 40 people were being tested- everyone from Akaroa plus ANYONE suspicious or with symptoms. I saw the Captain at lunch—You have me for one more day! He said, where are you sleeping tonight? We may have to go out and anchor and they may not let us back tomorrow! I’m sure he didn’t know, and was trying to push my buttons. I didn’t care – it was in Princess’s hands. I’d either sleep in a hotel that night or on the ship. I have to say I found it so entertaining that NONE of the gossip I’d gotten from the Captain turned out to be true. Anyway, it gave me more incentive to finish packing. So I packed, went out by the crew pool to get updates from the world, while my friends came and went.
At about 3:30 the Captain made an announcement saying he still didn’t know anything. Then 15 minutes later, another announcement. The tests came back negative! Please stay in your cabins until your group is called. At 6pm they called the crew who were disembarking. I whispered to the right people to get the gossip—I’d stay on the ship that night. Relief! We just had to show our passports to immigration. By 7pm I was showered (I still hadn’t packed my shower stuff anyway), and all of my belongings were fit into suitcases. My friends leaving that night were on their way to the airport. When the last guests were off the ship, we went to the mess for my 3rd or 4th last meal on the ship and then to the Wheelhouse Bar. Captain had opened it up as the ward room. Quiet, trepidatious relief with a hint of celebration and a lot of gratitude. Over the last 3 days, the Australian guests seemed to be happy and going with the flow. That day, while I was battling with my suitcases, my friends were getting yelled at as people were missing their flights. As I write this, there are still ships that have passengers. We were so glad ours were able to go home. There were strawberry daiquiris on the menu but I ordered prosecco. You have to get something you can’t get in the regular crew bar!
March 20 I couldn’t sleep. I went to breakfast. I checked Crew Self Service. My flight had disappeared. I ran into the guy from the crew office, he said to meet in the dining room at 12:45.
Since I was packed I helped my team desinfect (I know it’s misspelled. It’s an inside joke) the areas we’d been assigned.
(Our friend Lauren is in Gibraltar- you’ll meet her later)
People kept asking me if I was going home. At that point, I said, I thought I was going home yesterday. I had a flight that night, but I won’t believe it until the airplane takes off. My friends helped me carry my suitcases down and the Captain met us at the gangway to say goodbye.
I spent 10 hours waiting at the airport, my flight was delayed, but then I boarded and took off.
Now I’m in California at my aunt and uncle’s farm doing what I usually do here—staying home. I walk along the vineyards with the dogs, there’s plenty of homemade wine. I sleep, I read, I’m catching up on 6 months of movies and TV shows. I have internet to connect with my friends.
During those last couple of days, the best part was that all of my options were awesome. On the ship I had great friends that I was sad to leave, I love hanging out on a ship with no guests—this would be like wet dock last year, without the construction. At home I get to hang out with my aunt and uncle and my cousin and his fiancé.
Both are really good lives full of leisure and people I love. And now I’m caught up with the rest of the world. I’ve been devouring podcasts trying to find the most unbiased message about what’s going on and what will happen. Like everyone everywhere, I’m taking it day by day. People ask me what’s next, but what I’ve learned from all this is to stop making plans. Will I go back to Princess? One thing at a time. It was like the day when we were supposed to disembark—are you going home? First we have to find out if those tests come back negative or positive. It’s looking like Princess probably won’t come back as soon as the 60 day pause they announced. My cousin’s wedding in May has been moved to August and I want to be there. But everything else is up in the air.
