Hell of a Cruise (2022)

[bunniefuu]

Hello, everyone.

I'm making this video...

just as a way of saying hi,

saying...

you know, I love you

to my family and friends

and just making this

in advance...

In case I don't have time

to make it...

in case...

We're gonna begin here

with the outbreak

of a mystery virus in China

that now has

the World Health Organization

on edge.

And it's also showing up

in Japan,

Thailand, and South Korea.

Dozens sickened on

a cruise ship docked in Japan.

Carnival Corporation

happens to be

the world's largest

experience enterprise.

A fleet of over 100 ships,

ten different

world-leading brands,

from the Italian warmth

and artistry of Costa

to the relaxation and

discovery of Princess Cruises.

Princess carries more than

two million guests each year

to magnificent destinations

all around the world.

The more we give people

the opportunity to connect...

the more spectacular

our world will be.

It was

a guaranteed dumpster fire.

The cruise-ship industry

is facing

its biggest ever crisis.

- And the numbers are rising.

- Coronavirus super spreader.

All of those ships at sea

with all the mixing

and demographics

and offshoring and ports of call

guarantee that the cruise ships

would be singularly effective

at propagating COVID.

You're all invited

to reserve your cabins.

♪ ♪

What's up, everyone?

This is Spencer,

and I am in Tokyo,

about to leave

with these fine gentlemen

to take a nice 15-day cruise.

So we're at the airport.

We're a few minutes

from getting a shuttle

down to the harbor,

and then we'll set sail.

♪ ♪

I was going to school in China,

and I have six weeks off.

We're gonna be

graduating in the spring.

We got to have

at least one big hurrah.

Initially, we wanted to go

to Thailand

and then Spencer came up

with idea to go on a cruise.

We are from Poland,

Dorian and I,

and, like, cruises like that,

we only see those

in, you know, American movies.

I stumbled across an ad

for the "Diamond Princess"

for a ridiculously

inexpensive ticket.

I shared it

with the rest of the guys.

And we decided, "Let's do it."

Whoa.

Look at that thing.

♪ ♪

This was billed as New Year's

in Hong Kong Harbor...

and knowing Chinese New Year's

was going to be

elaborate fireworks

and celebrations and parades,

we decided to take this trip.

Hello, and welcome

to Princess Cruises.

We were really excited.

We had several celebrations...

my daughter's 16th birthday.

It was going to be

Chinese New Year.

I thought, you know,

as a family,

it was a good way

to spend some holidays.

Oh!

So there's myself,

my husband, Mark,

and our best friends,

the Goldmans,

that travel with us.

We love Princess.

We've gone

on many Princess cruises.

And for us to unpack

our luggage once

and yet stop off

and see exotic places is ideal.

When we were planning

for our honeymoon,

we wanted something that

was memorable and different.

The idea of just different

country almost every day

and visiting different cultures,

it was definitely

something different.

We were doing, gosh,

sometimes two or three a year.

We've cruised

six or seven times.

This was our fourth.

About seven maybe.

Something like 14.

I have done 35 cruises.

I am a platinum cruiser.

Ron, though...

Ron has gone on five cruises.

So I think

I'm still a cardboard cruiser.

It has been a rocky ride

for Carnival Cruise Lines.

We begin tonight with

stories of fear and panic.

Holy crap! Let's go!

The Carnival-owned ship

ran aground

off the coast of Italy,

k*lling 32 people on board.

Then this past February,

an engine-room fire

left the Carnival "Triumph"

powerless and adrift for days.

Now Carnival is spending

more than half a billion dollars

in improvements

to right the ship.

Hi, guys. How are you?

Arnold Donald took over

as CEO of Carnival

after bookings fell,

shares plummeted,

and some passengers sued.

There's a lot that's right

about Carnival.

These incidents represent

far less than 1%

of the experience, you know,

for all of our guests.

How you guys doing?

The bottom line

for Arnold Donald

is now to reposition Carnival,

rebuild its reputation,

and fill his ships.

He was willing to be

the front-and-center guy

to say, "This is how we're

gonna prevent these events

"from happening again,

and, you know, this is the kind

of company we want to be."

We have a double-digit

capacity increase,

double-digit earnings growth.

And real results in business is

returning to the shareholders.

You know what I'm hearing?

Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

What you should be hearing

is excited guests

enjoying the time of their life.

Ka-ching.

Yes, that too.

Yo, Gordie.

Hey.

And there was a raffle

for the new members,

for the "fresh cruisers"

on the ship.

Three, two...

The grand prize was,

you would be an elite member

in the Captain's Circle program

for the remainder of the cruise.

The raffle started.

The number of the cabin is 604.

It was us.

Yeah, free laundry,

free alcohol.

We did it.

Get it, Gordie!

We felt like we were a

pretty big deal at that point.

We felt like we were the elites.

We had no idea at that

moment what was happening.

All we knew...

we were on a nice cruise,

and all of a sudden,

things are slowly becoming

not normal anymore.

And I've worked for

cruise ships for many years.

Working on a cruise ship

really is a dream job.

When I was able

to get off the ship,

I was having a good time,

seeing Asia.

We were about to go

to Hong Kong,

and a friend of mine mentioned

that there was some crazy virus

in Wuhan, China.

The epicenter

of China's k*ller virus

is tonight in lockdown.

The city closing

its transport network,

telling its 11 million people

not to leave.

Trying to contain a city

of 11 million people

is new to science.

17 people

are now confirmed dead,

while a new case

has turned up in Hong Kong.

The first news from Wuhan

came out December 31st.

So there was only two weeks

of information.

Friends and family said,

"Ooh, you're going to Asia.

Are you worried

about that virus?"

And we said,

"No, it's thousands of miles

"from where we'll be,

and we're not concerned

about it."

Ladies and gentlemen, please,

let's have

a big, big round of applause.

♪ ♪

Hong Kong was a great day.

It was also the first day

where we were

actually wearing masks.

Cheese!

- How does it work?

- I don't know.

How do I put my hands inside?

Well, let's find out.

Let's find out.

We're gonna be safe,

but we're not gonna lock

ourselves in a ship.

- Three...

- Two, one.

Three, two, one, seven.

We met Spencer and his friends.

They were fun.

Yeah, they were students

in China, so...

So they were the ones

that started talking

about this virus.

I says, "You mean

like Corona beer?"

And they said,

"You're not wearing masks?"

And I go, "No."

Hong Kong... it's just

an awesome place,

but it was also

Chinese New Year.

And the city's

actually quite dead.

No one from China

was going into Hong Kong

because they were scared

of this virus outbreak.

The really big

fireworks and festivities

were canceled

because they didn't want

Chinese mainland folks

coming into Hong Kong.

We were disappointed because

it's one of the things

we were looking forward to.

- You're right.

- Dude...

It was just starting

to take hold

that you shouldn't have

large groupings of people.

So they had a lot

of the festivities

for Chinese New Year's

in the lobby,

and that was really fun

to watch.

A happy Chinese New Year.

Oh...

♪ ♪

Happy New Year!

Cheers.

♪ ♪

The highlight of the trip

was definitely Vietnam.

Oh, my gosh, dude.

Just a sea of people

in this massive cave.

♪ ♪

No virus.

No virus, no virus, no virus.

♪ ♪

China is urging its citizens

not to travel abroad

as it struggles to contain

the virus

that has now k*lled

more than 100 people.

The total number

of confirmed cases

is now at more than 4,500.

Part of the risk

we face right now

is that we don't yet know

everything we need to know

about this virus.

The World Health Organization

says it is still too soon

to call it a global

public health emergency,

but the new virus is spreading.

♪ ♪

I started feeling sick

the day after we left Vietnam.

I was with the other three guys,

and I started

to feel really weak and tired.

Went back to the room.

Something wasn't right.

I was feeling concerned

that whatever I had

wasn't just the common cold.

♪ ♪

Hey, everybody.

So...

I just put a video on YouTube

about getting ready

for this cruise.

17-day cruise

from Costa Cruise Line.

And although my nerves

were more about going

on a vacation by myself,

especially for that long and

being on a boat for that long,

now we've got to worry

about this little icky virus.

Even when I kind of started

getting whiff

that the virus

was gonna be an issue,

I still didn't really think

about it.

Honestly, I thought probably

people were overreacting.

♪ ♪

My wife and I...

we debated it for weeks,

whether or not we should go

on this trip,

and we rationalized

going on the trip

because we're just going

to Hawaii,

and Hawaii is part

of the United States.

It's a state of the States.

When I look back,

it's impossible that head office

didn't know what was going on,

that they were not informed

of those possible case of COVID,

but I felt still good

to go on the "Ruby Princess."

We have cruised

quite a number of times,

and I can say that

the cruise line that we felt

the most comfortable with

is Princess.

We got to Taipei, Taiwan,

and everybody

was wearing a mask.

There was something in the air

that made everybody

a little bit anxious

about what's happening.

Okinawa is really where

things started to get real.

There was a very

strict health inspection.

They don't want anybody sick

getting on that island.

I thought, "This is

probably a good thing

"we're wrapping this up,

'cause who knows

what's gonna happen from here?"

February 3rd, we're headed

back to Yokohama Bay.

Dorian goes to the gym.

So bye.

Kamil and I go

up to the top deck.

And we see a text from Dorian.

It says the manager of the gym

says that there was a...

there was a person on our ship

who had the coronavirus.

Dorian got this gossip info

that there was this guy

who got off in Hong Kong

and he was infected.

He was tested positive.

And we went downstairs.

We were drinking coffee,

and you could have felt

this tension,

like, around the table.

People on their phones...

Whispering to each other...

about this guy who got infected.

♪ ♪

We were told we were speeding up

so we could get

in there quicker...

And that we would be all

getting temperature tested.

And that way,

once we get in there,

we could actually disembark.

♪ ♪

The "Diamond Princess" left

Yokohama on January the 20th.

On board, there was

a man from Hong Kong.

The ship spent five days

going from Yokohama

to Hong Kong.

That passenger disembarked

in Hong Kong and fell ill.

Hong Kong authorities notified

the "Diamond Princess"

on February the 1st.

But it took four days

before any real action

was taken on board the ship.

Not bad.

We were never told

of any individuals

on the ship that had come down

with the coronavirus,

other than they were going

to keep their eye out.

♪ YMCA, it's fun

to stay at the... ♪

We went out of our room

with no reservations

about where we could go

or what we could do.

♪ Clock strikes two,

three, and four ♪

We did know at that point

that coronavirus was serious.

We didn't know that it

risked k*lling people,

and we particularly knew

at that stage,

it risked k*lling

elderly people.

And bear in mind there were

a lot of elderly people

on board

the "Diamond Princess."

The incubation period

can be as high as 14 days,

but it can be as low as 2.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

So if you go from

two days to three days

to four days

with everybody acting normally

in an environment

that's really conducive

to spreading pathogens

of all natures...

- Hip-hip...

- Hooray!

I would say the majority

of the spread

probably happened

in that window.

This is the captain speaking

from the bridge.

Please be advised that we have

been notified

by the Hong Kong

public health authorities

that a Hong Kong resident

who traveled for five days

on "Diamond Princess,"

disembarking in Hong Kong

on January 25th,

tested positive for coronavirus

on February 1st.

We are indeed closely

recording and monitoring

all persons who have reported

to the medical center

with cold and flu symptoms

during this voyage.

If you have experienced

any of these symptoms...

fever, chills, or cough...

we ask you to check

with our medical staff.

As you can see,

ladies and gentlemen,

the situation is under control,

and therefore there

are no reasons for concerns.

♪ ♪

I was just dripping with fear.

I started making my walk

down to the medical center,

and I don't know that I've been

that scared ever before.

♪ ♪

The Ministry of Health

has notified us

that ten people

have tested positive

for coronavirus.

The ship will remain

under quarantine in Yokohama.

The length of the quarantine

will be at least 14 days,

as required

by the Ministry of Health.

We were awoken

by the captain's announcement.

Phil got up and went

out on the balcony,

and it was

the "oh, my God" moment.

♪ ♪

Military trucks.

Yikes.

When the captain said,

"Oh, we will be quarantining,"

everyone looked

at each other like,

"Did he really just say

what I think he said?"

♪ ♪

So this is our room

when you come in from the door.

Kids are busy with homework

and doing some puzzles.

Husband's at work.

Just toilet and shower.

Getting through 14 days

in the cabin with no windows

and the four of us in bunk beds,

it was quite daunting.

Mostly we stand up

to have our dinner...

except for Caitlin,

who's sitting down.

Today we're gonna do

chair Zumba.

We had to set up a daily routine

to make sure

that we didn't slump

into a sort of dazed time line.

Exercise time.

Here's Jerri and Jerri.

Little Jerri says she's done

a mile of this today.

Over a mile.

We are washing our clothes

in the bathtub.

♪ ♪

It should stand up.

There we go.

Lunch is here.

Salmon, ooh.

♪ ♪

You know, one of the

mistakes they made was,

they said anybody that needed

any type of special food

or drink,

they would supply it

at no charge.

Three, two, one.

By the next day,

they put a limit

on how much alcohol

we could order

because they ran out 'cause

people were all getting drunk.

It's a party!

There wasn't much else to do.

Whoop! Whoop! Ha!

♪ ♪

Carnival knew

that there was a pandemic.

They knew that there was

a worldwide health hazard.

There was no

justification whatsoever

for Carnival continuing

to offer cruises

and to sail on cruises

past the "Diamond Princess"

debacle.

My office number

was ringing off the hook

at the end of January

of people contacting me,

saying, "I can't get a refund.

I'm afraid to go on a cruise,"

and they're stuck in going.

And the way the cruise tickets

are drafted,

there's really no way

to get your money back.

I was very, very much aware

of the "Diamond Princess,"

but we always thought,

"It happened to them.

It won't happen to us."

At that time,

if we would have canceled,

we would have lost

about $7,000 to $8,000.

I never thought

about canceling my cruise

on the "Grand Princess" at all.

Princess sent us a lot of emails

saying they were taking

precautions

so that

we wouldn't have to fear.

The "Grand Princess"

left San Francisco

on February 11th.

On February 21st,

a male passenger

visited the medical center

reporting flu-like symptoms.

I kept expecting

Costa to cancel,

but we had all sorts of

assurances from the cruise line

that, you know, the cruise

was going forward.

I called them

at least seven times,

and every time,

I got the same answer.

"No, no, no.

Everything is fine.

"There's no problems.

No refund, no problems."

This cruise was so cheap.

Ah!

Going on the plank.

Because I booked it

so last minute,

they're just trying

to fill the rooms.

So excited.

I still didn't really think

the virus was gonna be an issue.

Going on.

And my husband

didn't want to go.

He doesn't like boats,

so I'm just gonna go do it

without you

and then see if you like it,

you know,

watching me have fun.

Oh, my gosh.

I came to regret...

you know, it's kind of one

of those karma things.

This is the captain

from the bridge.

I've finally been notified

by the Japanese

Ministry of Health

that an additional 41 people

have been tested positive

for coronavirus.

You got to get this.

Our picture.

Okay, they've got a bunch

of people in white coats...

- They were marching.

- Lined up there.

They're not white coats.

They're white hazmat suits.

They're white hazmat suits.

No one knew what was going on.

I mean, the scientists

didn't know.

The crew didn't know.

The ship's captain didn't know.

Japanese Ministry didn't know.

People in government

back in America...

no one really knew anything.

We were isolated

from information.

It is very important

that you continue

to listen to these

announcements until the end...

The only information we got was

from the captain

over the loudspeaker

and little pieces of paper

that appeared at our box.

Being isolated from the rest...

We had television

that was working

with the "Diamond Princess"

being the lead story

on every channel.

61 people have tested positive

for coronavirus on the...

The huge jump

in these numbers in one night

is a cause of enormous concern.

Okay, come out.

There's the main crews.

You can see there are

satellite trucks behind them.

We got very busy trying

to communicate with people

in the news industry

and to try to tell people

that this was not a good place

for us and the other

passengers to be.

This is not a safe environment.

The whole thing is,

here we are quarantined...

healthy people and sick people

in the same location.

I think that whole idea that

that's how you're supposed

to do quarantine is crazy.

On board, other stressed

American passengers

described rising tensions

between health authorities

and people who say

they aren't being told

if and when they might go home.

And that concern

is felt very acutely

by the people who are

on that boat.

♪ ♪

Good morning

from the Seratti-Goldman room.

We woke up

to more ambulances parked.

Not a good sign.

We would see them bringing

in ambulance after ambulance

after ambulance.

Look how many

they've got out there...

unloading.

Periodically, you know,

someone

wouldn't be around anymore.

Ah, sorry. Okay.

You want to go next?

I probably had COVID.

It went from a fever

to mild sore throat.

Coming.

When I actually got tested,

I was kind of left to assume

that that test

had come back negative

because I had not been taken

off the ship.

This is your captain

speaking from the bridge.

I kindly ask you to continue

checking your temperature.

I was starting to show symptoms,

and then the day

we got the thermometers,

I checked the temperature,

and it confirmed

what we thought...

that I had a fever,

and we reported that.

There were some mornings

I wasn't sure

I was gonna come back.

It was nasty.

It was the worst flu

I've ever had.

If you combine that

with the angst and the stress

of being confined in a room

that's probably 4x3...

it took them two days

to get me the results back,

and I was taken off the boat.

Of those who were symptomatic,

I believe the positive test rate

was in the 20% range,

thereabouts, initially.

Say ahh...

After they had tested

the folk who were symptomatic,

they started then testing

folk who were over 80.

There was a lot

of elderly people.

He has had

two kidney transplants.

So that's why we got flagged

to even be tested

- Thank you very much.

- All right. Thank you.

As they began randomly testing

people who were elderly,

they kept getting

the 20% positive rate anyway,

which told you the thing

was spreading through the boat.

We were worried

about the numbers rising,

and our bigger concern

was the ventilation system.

So we asked about that,

and we were assured

that the ventilation system

was not a problem.

There is no current evidence

the illness

breaks through

the air ventilation systems.

Please know that

your health and safety

are our number-one priority.

The chief medical officer

would come on

and say, "We've talked

to the best medical experts."

We're like, "Nah,

the numbers are going up.

"This is not the safest place.

"You don't quarantine

sick people and healthy people

together in the same location."

Okay, we just heard sirens.

They came running out

to see what's going on.

I'm gonna go in and listen

to this announcement.

To give you an update

about the additional cases

that were confirmed earlier.

- Record him.

Well, let's write this down.

We have now been advised

that the number of cases

of which five were crew members.

♪ ♪

The crew was interacting

with other passengers

and interacting with us

eight to ten times a day

or more.

Coming.

- Hello.

- Hi, sir.

So there was

no quarantine on the boat.

Thank you.

I immediately saw that.

The crew was being asked to work

as both service professionals

and medical professionals

without adequate protection.

♪ ♪

Thank you.

- Stay well.

- You too.

There is an extremely high cost

to the low prices

that people pay for cruises.

Cruises have become so

unbelievably cheap

and part of that is 'cause

they want to get you

on the ship

so that you can spend money

on drinks

and on shore excursions.

Having said that,

the real underbelly of it

is there are literally

thousands of crew members

on every single cruise ship

that are making pennies an hour.

They're generally speaking

from third world countries.

They can only make a fraction

of what they would make

on a cruise ship back home.

Cruise lines like Carnival

register all their ships

in foreign flags

of convenient countries.

Princess itself

is incorporated

in the country of Bermuda,

and they do this

to avoid U.S. taxes,

U.S. wage and labor laws,

and U.S. occupational health

and safety laws.

So maritime law permits them

great flexibility

in avoiding

their legal obligations

under U.S. law.

♪ ♪

Okay.

The company policy is we're told

to not really speak

to the media.

If you speak to the media,

the repercussions

are that you will not

have a job.

The Indian nationals

have, in fact,

put out a video message

requesting the Modi government

to pull them out of the ship.

Please, this is a request

that say please help us.

Right now we are really scared.

Our family is scared.

Everybody's scared.

I got really sick.

I got scared, and I called up,

and they asked me

to stay in the cabin.

I had a roommate

who was sick a day before me,

who was being also isolated

in the cabin along with me.

There was nobody

who showed up on our door

to come and test us.

They were saying that they were

pretty busy dealing

with more serious patients and...

which is why we got

a little furious

and is why I made

the first video.

I just want to inform you

that we need help.

We need extra manpower

from the Japanese authority

or from different authorities

who could come in and help us...

everyone be tested and be

separated from the people

who are infected.

♪ ♪

It was definitely hard

on the "Diamond Princess"

because it felt

that some people's lives

were more important than others.

But back then, I was still

in the service mode,

and we tried to have fun

with the passengers

and keep their spirits high.

I had got up early,

and I went down

to the international café,

and I was having my typical

morning cup of coffee,

and my wife came down

and handed me her iPhone.

And on the iPhone

was a posting on Cruise Critic

of a previous passenger

that had been on the ship

from February 11th

through February 21st...

had died of coronavirus.

And I looked at my wife,

and I said,

"We are in deep crap."

♪ ♪

Carnival learned on March 2nd

he had tested positive

for COVID-19,

and he died two days later.

♪ ♪

The main thrust

of all of our reporting

was, why did the cruise ships

keep sailing...

When there was

an abundance of signs,

warnings, and cases

that suggested there were

enormous risks

to continue

cruising on these ships?

♪ ♪

They told us they were gonna put

all these protocols in place.

And there's people coughing

in front of us, behind us,

and I'm thinking to myself,

"Oh, well, surely

they're gonna get turned away.

They're not getting on."

And then they just let them

right on the ship.

Right now there's

not a whole lot left.

As you can hear, there's still

coughing in the background.

A lot of these people

are smokers, though.

So it's really hard to tell

what is a significant cough

and what's not.

So just kind of put up with it.

Hopefully, we're okay, and I

will talk to you guys later.

♪ ♪

Good morning, good morning,

good morning.

It's day 11.

No updates yet from the captain.

He did not make any

announcements yesterday at all

about new cases.

So that was very good news.

But we're just hanging out

and enjoying our breakfast.

There's my lovely wife, Jerri.

I get a call

from the medical office,

and they say, "We want

to come up and see you."

He hands me this paper,

and it just says, "Because

of something on your test,

you will be removed

from the ship."

And I says, "You mean right now

I have to get packed and go?"

And he says, "No, her."

They escorted me

down off the ship,

down in the little tunnel,

got into an ambulance.

I go, "Okay, they're taking me

somewhere."

On the "Diamond Princess"

in Yokohama, Japan,

the number of confirmed cases

also rising.

Did you just say

that there are 67 new cases?

Is that what I heard?

285... that's a number

that I was not familiar with.

At the very beginning

of this quarantine,

I had complete confidence

and trust and faith

in the information

that we were being given

in the captain's announcements.

I realized mid-interview

that I had been

a little bit naive

in believing

that "Diamond Princess"

was going to be as transparent

as possible with me.

We felt like the longer

we were on the ship,

the more likelihood of us

getting sick as well.

Every day

it's exponentially increasing,

and we are in a petri dish

waiting to get infected,

if we're not infected.

I sent several emails

to our local senators.

My last email to him

was not very nice.

I said, "You need to do

more than monitor.

"You need to get off your a*s

and get us off this ship

before we all get sick

and die."

And they

didn't really answer that.

We heard a report that

the U.S. will be evacuating

Americans off this ship.

All right, bye-bye

- Bye.

All right, Gordon,

one out of ten,

how helpful was that?

- Zero.

I talked to Phil Roe.

He's a Congressman

from the first district here

and also a personal friend.

It was during

a congressional briefing

that Congressman Roe raised

the question about the status

of Americans on that boat

because he had talked

to a passenger

and heard that the conditions

on the boat

were actually worse

than being reported.

Dr. Kadlec called.

I think we all recognized

at the time

that the "Diamond Princess"

was ground zero

at that particular moment.

If we could get

on the "Diamond Princess,"

we would get

a significant leg up

into understanding the virus.

Also, if it were my family

members stuck on that ship,

I think I would have wanted

somebody to go get them

and bring them home.

Myself and Lawler had worked

in a number of big outbreaks,

including Ebola outbreaks.

I didn't think I was gonna be

jumping out of aircraft again.

It's been a while since

we've deployed like that.

This was a rapid response,

even though there was

no special-operations

infectious-disease

response capability

in the U.S. government.

So it was quite disorganized.

I literally bought clothes

at the airport.

We got a taxi and then headed

down to Yokohama.

♪ ♪

Our team went on board

to do an initial assessment.

We're going into a relatively

unknown environment.

We're dealing with a virus

that we still don't understand

very well.

We decided that we would treat

the entire ship

as essentially a hot zone.

Within minutes

of stepping on that ship,

we knew coronavirus

was everywhere.

It was like water.

It was surreal.

I feel like I'm

in an Ebola outbreak

'cause I'm wearing

all the stuff.

I got the same smells.

I got the same feel

except I'm surrounded

by really bad art

in the art gallery

of a cruise ship.

I was pretty shocked,

to be honest,

when we got on board the ship

to see how varied

the infection control

practices were.

Several state room doors

were open,

and people were unconscious.

We'd go down a stairwell

and find really inconsolable

crew members

who just had

one of their bunkmates

go off to the hospital.

Their future was uncertain.

So it was quite terrifying

for the crew.

We thought we had

quite a bit more time

and started to lay out

some of the plans.

By the time we eventually got

back off the boat,

that plan had changed,

and we understood now

that the aircraft were gonna be

there the next day.

♪ ♪

A producer with CNN

sent me a message on Skype,

and she said, "Hey, I hear

you're getting evacuated.

Congratulations."

And I had no idea

what she was talking about.

Sunday early a.m...

we started off with two teams...

Team Charlie and Team Lima.

Two aircraft were en route.

CDC decided,

and we agreed with them,

anybody who is visibly ill

or symptomatic

would not be subject

to repatriation.

We were going to have

to pass a medical inspection

in order to get on that plane.

Two officers from the CDC

came to our door

and asked, "How are you feeling?

"Do you have a cough?

Are you sick?

Do you have a fever? Okay."

That was

the medical examination.

They said, "Okay, just people

who don't have the COVID."

but the problem was, they

didn't know who had the COVID.

We were not done

seeing all Americans

before they started to load them

for transport to the airport.

So we looked

out a porthole window,

and, sure enough, they were

loading the passengers.

Hand the passport to this

gentleman in the yellow.

He will hand it

to the State Department folks

on either side.

They will keep your passport.

Then they'll put you on a bus.

The bus will take you

to the airplane.

The airplane takes you

to United States,

and then you get your passport.

- Whoo-hoo.

- All good with that?

- Okay.

- Whoo-hoo.

- Sayonara.

- Sayonara.

- I'm just gonna say "papa."

- Papa.

I'm gonna miss you guys so much.

- All right, Gordie.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where's bus two?

Our deck was like the

last deck to disembark.

So Spencer and I were literally

some of the last people

to get off the ship,

but that also means

that there are people

on the bus for, like, four hours

just waiting

outside the cruise ship.

Bus number two.

Yes.

- Get on board.

- Okay.

Any idea how long

until we get moving?

The CDC had given assurances

that no one

who had tested positive

or was symptomatic

would get on the aircraft

to be repatriated.

What we had not considered

as a possibility is...

on the way to the airplane

that test results

would come back

to indicate that people

were potentially positive.

We there yet?

The U.S. officials find out

that 14 of the Americans

have tested positive

for the virus.

Worse... they're all sitting

on the buses

with the other

healthy Americans.

The whole load of passengers

were at risk.

We contacted Dr. Fauci,

Dr. Schuchat from CDC,

Dr. Walters from State.

The conversation

got a bit contested.

This debate

over whether to bring

the infected Americans back...

it's very animated.

It's very intense.

They're trying to make

this last-minute call

with serious repercussions.

♪ ♪

What happened on the

"Diamond Princess" operation

is there's multiple leaders.

So there was no unified command

and no single person

that was responsible.

- That's it.

- That's it.

Yep, that's the exact plane.

Ultimately,

the decision was made

that we would bring

all of these folks

together and load them

on the aircraft.

In order to get off the bus

and board the plane,

they had to give us

our passport.

We sat there

for about three hours

because they lost our passports.

Stanley.

Can you grab your stuff

and come on down, please?

They had accumulated

this big box of passports.

So they'd go

through the whole thing,

give have a couple

of passports out,

go to the next bus,

do the same thing.

Kamala Rhodes.

They're passing them back.

This is not a good way

to, you know, prevent spread

of this virus.

If you have a passport,

you can get off

and board the plane.

♪ ♪

They transferred us

to the cargo plane,

where we sat

another couple hours.

♪ ♪

I was in a long line

for the porta-potties

when one of the guys in these

hazmat "Ghostbuster" -type suits

came up to the lady

right in front of me...

and said,

"You've just tested positive."

She said, "I feel fine."

He said,

"Well, you're asymptomatic,

"but you're positive.

"So would you please come

with me

and get in this tent

over here?"

Well, I'm in complete shock.

I haven't seen anybody

for two weeks

until I got on the bus,

and now I'm standing

for 15 minutes

next to somebody

who was positive.

And I walked back to Phil,

and I said,

"We've got a problem."

♪ ♪

We had our hands full

for all types of medical

problems on the aircraft,

and there was only one

physician on each aircraft,

with hundreds of patients,

in my case.

I had nine medical emergencies

on board.

I had a syncope,

a self-limiting seizure,

lots of nausea and vomiting,

to chest pains,

respiratory distress,

as well as I had two patients

become symptomatic

with coronavirus.

I got up and went

over to the card table

where the air force doctor was.

He took my temperature,

confirmed that it was over 103,

and immediately put me

in the quarantine area.

♪ ♪

It was past midnight

in California.

There's a line

of military personnel,

and they keep saying,

"Welcome home, welcome home."

The "Diamond Princess"

demonstrated this is

a highly transmissible virus.

It almost certainly has to be

spreading by aerosol route,

and it really looks

as if people without symptoms

are capable

of spreading the virus.

That really hit us, in terms

of understanding

how difficult

this would be to control.

I had a conversation

with my family this morning,

and I told my children

that while I didn't think

that they were

at risk right now,

we, as a family,

need to be preparing

for significant disruption

of our lives.

It's not so much a question of

if this will happen anymore

but a question of exactly

when this will happen

and how many people

in this country

will have severe illness.

After that telebriefing,

the market tanks,

and just pandemonium ensues

across the administration.

The president is in India

at this time,

but when they catch wind

of what she has said

on the telebriefing and how

much the market has fallen,

they go into this overdrive

of message control.

I think Dr. Messonnier talked

about the potential

for community transmission.

It's helpful to think

about a bad flu year.

The White House, at this point,

views the pandemic

as a public relations crisis

and not as much

a public health crisis.

It's very important to say

that our efforts at containment

so far have worked.

On February 20th,

"The Washington Post"

writes this article

that says the CDC was overruled

on this decision in bringing

back the infected Americans.

And the president sees this

and is just furious.

At this point,

he is obsessively watching

the coronavirus numbers

the same way he watches

the stock market...

as a direct reflection of him.

So he calls Alex Azar and says,

"Who made the decision

to bring these people back?

This doubles

my numbers overnight."

I was called

into the Oval Office

with Secretary Azar,

Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Redfield.

It had been reported that the

president wanted to sack me.

President Trump said,

"Anthony."

He always referred

to Dr. Fauci as Anthony.

"Anthony, did we do

the right thing

by bringing those people home

from Japan?"

I don't think I had enough time

to either break a sweat

or pass out

because Dr. Fauci said,

"Well, Mr. President, I think

it was the right thing."

And the president, without

acknowledging me at all,

said, "Yes, it was.

It was the right thing to do."

I think the fact

that they didn't know

how to handle the situation

on a single cruise ship

off the coast of Japan

and that people at the top

levels of the U.S. government

would be arguing about it

and contradicting each other

and that the president

would threaten to fire

multiple people because of it,

because of one cruise ship,

that would foreshadow

all of the things

that were to come.

They can't get that right.

How are they gonna get

the rest of this right?

♪ ♪

After disaster response

operations,

we have to report

into our harbor.

We realized there were many

more cruise ships out there.

♪ ♪

And then within two days,

we were back in San Francisco

for the "Grand Princess."

ACT 1...

we're heading to the blue boat.

Got a ways to go.

This is a safety announcement.

A helicopter operation

is about to take place.

You should remain inside.

We were fortunate that

my wife had booked a balcony,

that we could look outside,

and we saw the helicopter

bring the test kits in.

Well, the sample collection

continues.

We expect the test results

sometime tomorrow morning.

As a reminder, we do not have

any confirmed cases

of COVID-19

on the "Grand Princess."

This is

the "Grand Princess."

About every 17th patient

is infected.

And so we're getting them

off the boat.

The "Grand Princess" cruise ship

has been moored

off the coast of California

since Wednesday night.

21 individuals

on the "Grand Princess"

tested positive.

On the flight to Atlanta,

the president was watching

Fox News on "Air Force One,"

and he was seeing

the case numbers rise,

and he knew

there was this cruise ship,

the "Grand Princess," floating

off the coast of California.

If it were up to me,

I would be inclined to say

leave everybody on the ship

for a period of time,

and you use the ship

as your base.

But a lot of people would

rather do it a different way.

They'd rather quarantine

people on the land.

Now, when they do that, our

numbers are gonna go up, okay?

Our numbers are gonna go up.

There was exasperation

on the part

of a lot of U.S. officials

when they heard those comments,

because the cat's

out of the bag.

The virus is spreading.

Do you not realize

we have a much bigger crisis

on our hands

than this one ship?

So we just had a great meeting.

Tremendous unity

in the Republican Party.

When you mix disastrous

disease outbreak and politics,

you get politics

in this country.

It'll go away.

It will go away.

Just stay calm.

You know, cruise ships are

not a source for coronavirus.

We need a little separation

until such time

as this goes away.

It's gonna go away.

There's lots

of natural social distancing.

The ships are large.

You know it is going away?

I think there was a lot

of movement

to figure out what was going on,

but the response time

from a CDC that wasn't warm

to admitting that there was

a problem at the time

and an administration that

was downplaying it, you know,

led the cruise companies

to behave this way as well.

We're doing a great job

with it, and it will go away.

Just stay calm.

It will go away.

We want to protect

our shipping industry,

our cruise industry,

cruise ships.

The CDC wanted to issue

a No Sail Order,

which is within

the agency's purview.

Cameras keeping

moving to the wall.

- Guys, keep...

- Keep moving to the wall.

You guys got to keep going

all the way back, come on.

But a lot of the cruise

industry is in Florida,

which was a crucial swing state,

and it would mean

a massive shutdown

to a pretty big industry.

So there was a big fight

with the White House

over getting

this No Sail Order out.

March 7th, Grant Tarling,

the Chief Medical Officer,

is publicly promising

that they were using a cleanser

that was proven

to eliminate coronavirus

within 30 seconds.

There was no enhanced

protocols that we saw.

The only enhanced protocol

that I'm aware of

is that we had to fill in a form

confirming that we had not come

through a list of countries

within the 14 days

prior to boarding.

That was nothing

out of the ordinary.

They were just walking around

wiping hard-surface areas,

and there were

hand sanitizer stations.

Nobody was wearing masks.

♪ We all live in... ♪

We didn't felt

that the virus was around

or a threat to us at all.

It was very positive.

So we're about to disembark

in San Juan

and then do a little shopping,

do a little exploring.

Our first stop

was in Puerto Rico,

and my husband and I grabbed

our gear,

and we headed off the ship.

And the first thing I noticed

was an ambulance.

The people working the ambulance

were wearing, like,

a hazmat outfit,

and I looked at my husband,

and I said, "That's COVID."

First, we thought

we were gonna be docking

back in San Francisco,

and we just kept floating

and circling and floating.

The "Grand Princess" was

a different kettle of fish.

We had to take what we did

in "Diamond Princess"

and put it on steroids.

The number of patients

we'd have to put in quarantine

was over 1,000.

It was, if you will,

the last stand

for coronavirus cruise ships,

and realize that we were

probably on the precipice

of a full-blown pandemic.

The problem

with the government's fixation

on getting people

off these cruise ships,

which was well-intentioned,

is that it took so many people

and so many resources.

It meant that there

was less attention paid

to what was actually

happening on the home front

and all the spread

that was happening

and the delay in getting

a No Sail Order out.

There was a meeting

with the cruise ship

executives, the CEOs

to tell them they really got

to come forth

with a plan to tighten up

the protection

of people who go on,

as well as what happens

when they go off.

So they've been given

the mandate to fix it,

and if they don't fix it,

then they're gonna maybe get

some regulations

that they don't like.

To give you a sense

of the time line,

I think it's important

to remember that at March 7th,

Grant Tarling is promising

in a press conference

that they have this sanitizer,

and six days later,

they're agreeing

to the voluntary shutdown.

In the interest

of doing what's right

and upholding our core values...

And we will do everything

in our power

to return each guest home

with the greatest amount

of care possible.

We're steaming on to Antigua,

which is our final stop

before we cross the ocean.

We're talking about

whether we're gonna get off,

and I look out the window,

and the ship is sailing

past the island of Antigua.

We absolutely were held hostage.

If they had told the truth,

we would've never gotten back

on the ship in Puerto Rico.

We would've gotten

a flight home from there.

It was a very scary feeling

to spend five days

going across the Atlantic Ocean,

where there's no cavalry coming.

They decided

that we weren't gonna have

any, like,

organized group activities,

but they didn't shut down

the casinos,

and they didn't shut down

the bars.

Anything that didn't make

money was canceled.

The things that made them money

remained open

for quite some time.

We were in Wellington

on the Saturday

and then Napier on the Sunday,

and it was as we left Napier

that we were informed

that the ship was being sent

back to Australia

effective immediately

and the cruise

was being cut short.

We were told at the time

that it was because

of the bad weather

that was north of the island.

In the medical center,

there's at least

a dozen individuals

who are suffering

from COVID symptoms,

and some of them

are in severe states...

and yet the cruise director

is leading

this grand old party time

at the moment that people are

going through major suffering

in the medical center.

♪ Got this feeling in my body ♪

It felt like you were

in a different world.

They made us all feel

that there was no COVID

on the ship.

We could go along and have fun

and do what we wanted to do,

and we'd be fine.

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much!

Have a great day!

Enjoy this day!

Go out! Enjoy the bars!

Enjoy the dining here!

Eat everything!

Eat everything!

You have to eat everything!

Please, eat everything!

Have a great afternoon.

We'll see you later. Bye!

We actually learned

through the media

that our woman and man

in Puerto Rico

tested positive for COVID

before the ship admitted it.

They kept telling us that that

COVID test has not come back.

That COVID test

has not come back.

Why was it so important

to pretend that there's

no COVID on the ship?

Why were they interested

in allowing all of us

to continue to mingle

and to continue this cruise

as though there's not a problem?

Carnival's share price

is down 30% today,

but it's 85% down

since its highs

just a few weeks ago.

For us right now

with pausing our sailings,

the critical thing

for us is cash.

The cruising companies...

I think they want to protect

their image first.

Image is big, 'cause image

is what brings

passengers to them.

I think the image

is based on security.

They will always say

that passenger well-being

is their priority.

Our highest responsibility

and our top priorities

are compliance.

Compliance.

Compliance.

Environmental protection.

Environmental protection.

And the health, safety,

and well-being of our guests.

Of our crew and the people

and the places we touch.

And, of course, our crew

and our shoreside personnel.

It's, "We got two ways of

making ourselves profitable.

"We either increase

the amount of money coming in,

"which is often onboard revenue,

or we decrease our expenses."

You get a cheap cruise

because Carnival Corporation

pays no corporate income tax.

That's not true.

It's true

from an income tax standpoint,

but we pay lots of other taxes.

They have found a labor force

that is willing to be

routinely taken advantage of.

They have found ways to avoid

government regulation

so that they can have

Get Out of Jail Free cards

wherever they need them.

Unfortunately, I think,

in a lot of ways,

what's going on

with the cruise industry

is capitalism taken to the max.

The day before it returned,

"Ruby Princess" reported

to Sydney health officials

over 100 cases

of acute respiratory distress.

Authorities

are tonight scrambling

to track down

thousands of people

who were allowed to disembark

a cruise ship

that docked in Sydney

riddled with coronavirus.

The government is pleading

with every passenger

to stay at home.

We got to the airport.

We were just scanned

straight through.

No temperature checks.

We got on our flight.

We arrived in LA,

and from there,

we flew out to Chicago.

We did not wear a mask.

We still felt that we were fine.

Quite unannounced,

we were told we were

all getting off in Marseille

and being flown home to Atlanta.

It appears that we're

gonna be getting on a bus

and going to the airport.

We were told there was

gonna be social distancing.

Well, those buses

were crammed packed

full of people,

many of them coughing

and hacking, et cetera.

They load us

on this big airplane,

and I can see

that a lot of the people

are starting to really fade.

I noticed a gentleman

that was coughing every breath.

This gentleman later died

once he got back to the States,

but at that time,

we just knew he was

in very, very deep trouble.

And the man next to me

was coughing the whole time,

and he had a mask

that was kind of

halfway up and down his face,

and he kept wanting

to talk to me.

And I was like,

"No, I can't talk to you now."

So everyone had this

fantastic expectation

that as soon as we landed

in Atlanta,

everything's gonna be great.

Imagine 250 people

are getting off this airplane,

and if you don't have

a temperature

and you mark no to their little

three-checkbox questionnaire

that you're fine,

you're going home.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye!

See you...

That very last day

when we disembark

there were all those crew member

with, you know, signs,

and they were sad

to see us go, you know,

and we were sad too.

And, boy, we didn't know

what was waiting for us,

but the worst was for them.

Immediately after the

"Ruby Princess" disembarked,

they took the ship out to sea.

They know that they had

over 100 very sick people

on the boat,

and they had a party

for all the staff.

Initially,

the cruise industry's position

was that they thought they'd

be sailing again in July.

They went out to sea.

They were gonna give the crew

a bit of a vacation.

And then in a month or two,

they would be back at work.

Send us home.

Send us home.

Revolt on the high seas

as fed-up cruise ship workers

demand to get off.

Send us home.

Send us home.

They were not receiving

their paychecks

but would resume

once business started again.

And, in fact,

that never happened,

and then the next issue became,

how are we gonna get

these people home?

The U.S. Coast Guard says

at least 54,000 crew members

remain aboard 85 ships

in U.S. waters,

but it's reported more than

100,000 crew members

around the globe

have been given no firm details

on when they can disembark.

The crew stayed out there

longer and longer,

and they became

more and more concerned

for their repatriation

and their well-being,

and more concerns came forward

until the point

that we realized people

were in great need of help.

Crew members

started reaching out to me

just after the "Ruby Princess"

and the "Diamond Princess."

I created a group on Facebook

as a way

to just connect crew members

who were waiting

for repatriation,

but very quickly I realized

that the crew members

didn't want to post.

There was a lot of fear

around posting.

Some were moored

in the United States.

Some were out at sea,

and other people waited

for months with no information.

They spoke about the suicides

that had taken place

on other ships.

I had messages that said, "What

do we have to do to go home?

"Does somebody

have to sacrifice themselves?

Does someone on our ship

have to commit suicide?"

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

It is with great sadness

that I share with you

that earlier this morning,

one of our teammates

went overboard

and was found deceased

once recovered.

We have lost a member

of our Princess family.

The next of kin

has been informed.

I wonder if you have

any regrets, Arnold,

looking back on some of

the ways this has been handled,

given what we learned

about the "Diamond Princess,"

which was back in January.

The "Ruby Princess" still went

to sea 5 1/2 weeks later.

With hindsight, do you regret

letting that ship go to sea?

I would tell you this...

that you make the decisions

with information

you have at the time.

If you know everything today,

you know, we're at stay

at home and shelter in place.

And if we had known

that information at that time,

that that was the best way

to deal with this,

then, clearly,

we would have done that.

All the efforts were to take

a position

that they, too,

were a victim of COVID-19,

they were caught by surprise,

and that they have

no responsibility

and, in turn, no liability.

When we were

on the "Diamond Princess,"

we were guaranteed a pandemic

because of the international

demographics of the crew

and the passengers

and how long that ship

had been sailing

around Southeast Asia.

To deny it is a failure

to understand catastrophic,

contagious, infectious disease.

Cruise ships pose

a direct threat

to the rapid spread

of respiratory viral diseases

around the world.

I'm gonna tilt your head back

just a little bit.

Hundreds of Americans are

under quarantine this morning

after landing at military bases

in California and Texas.

We know that 14 more people

have been diagnosed

with coronavirus

since leaving the cruise ship

and getting on the plane.

Now they're all in the U.S.

Good afternoon, everyone.

This is Spencer.

I'm no longer

on the "Diamond Princess."

I'm currently

in sunny California.

We're in basically a giant

fenced-off yard

where we can walk

anytime that we want.

I'm just keeping hope alive

that, you know,

I don't develop symptoms

over the course

of the next couple of weeks,

but I have been evacuated.

Again, Spencer coming to you

from not the

"Diamond Princess."

♪ ♪

55 years ago,

Princess Cruises sailed

its first voyage.

Never in those 55 years

have we been tested in

the ways we have been tested

over the past 40 days.

Literally thousands of you

have sent us notes

asking how you

could support Princess...

and to all of you,

I have a simple request.

While our ships

take a brief pause

for 60 days out of service...

we ask you to book

a future Princess cruise...

And we're looking forward

to more cruises.

I mean, this is not souring

our appetite for cruises.

We're definitely, absolutely

going to go cruising again.

We were scheduled

to cruise again in May.

We had kids graduating

from school.

If Costa said,

"You can have a free cruise,"

I would not take it.

I'll go

on many other cruise lines,

but I will not go

on Costa ever again.

We'll see what life...

what the future holds,

but our goal is to...

certainly my goal is

to return to cruising if I can.

Right now, I am not ready

to go back.

If, in the future,

this virus goes away,

I would thoroughly love

to go back to my job,

because I love what I do.

Everyone's talking up

the enormous extent of demand

and the bookings

that are coming through.

So outline for us, Arnold,

exactly where we are

with U.S. cruises.

Concerning U.S. cruises,

we're excited to finally get

guests back on board.

July 3rd, "Carnival Vista"

will be sailing

out of Galveston.

July 4th, "Carnival Horizon"

out of Miami.

And we have ships sailing

elsewhere around the world,

so we're excited.

We finally are gonna get

people back on the ships.

♪ ♪