When the pandemic began, I read they were not allowing cruise ships to dock and let crew or passengers off the ship.
- They were afraid that passengers who were already sick had infected everyone on the ship and it would make the pandemic even worse.
I got a frantic call from my best friend, who was stuck on one of those ships. She said there was no air purification, and she was worried everyone was going to get COVID 19 and die. I asked why the air prufication system wasn’t working and she said it was because there was no HVAC. When the ship docked, all the power was turned off, but the emergency lighting. There was no HVAC with the emergency lights. They were doing their best to accommodate everyone, but they had to ration what food they had, so no one starved. After two weeks in the ship, people were starting to be released, but by that time she wasn’t feeling well. She thought it was because of lack of HVAC and air purification, but no one wanted to take that chance. Instead of putting her in the sick ward with other COVID patients, they left her in her stateroom. It was just her and her husband and they were serving them in their room. I can’t imagine how scary it had to have been being cooped up in a small ship state room with no HVAC or air purification. She said they were having fun going to the casino and playing in the arcade until her allergies acted up. That’s when she realized they were taking the pandemic serious.