Cruise ship ended up being safest place for Dallas-Fort Worth woman amid coronavirus
When Dana Lindberg boarded the cruise ship the longest she should have to be at sea consecutively was five days. But by the end of the four-month trip she had been at sea for 40 consecutive days.
Last Friday in Genoa, Italy, the native of Arlington and current resident of Grapevine walked off a cruise ship that she boarded in Venice five days into 2020, and was scheduled to take her around the world.
The Costa Deliziosa was the last of the three remaining passenger ships still sailing to dock. With ports denying cruise ships entry, before Friday, the last time she had been on land was March 14, in Albany, Australia — nearly six consecutive weeks at sea.
While cruise ships became the symbol of floating “hot zones” for the coronavirus, Lindberg’s cruise is the antithesis of the perception that the last place in the world you want to be is on a boat with 1,500 other people.
Lindberg’s voyage didn’t stop at every scheduled port, but her ship did make it all the way ‘round the world, and gave her an experience no “cruiser” has ever had before.
“It was incredible what they had to do. I am not sure it’s ever been done before in the history of cruise ships,” Lindberg said in a phone interview while she was in her hotel room in Milan. “Most of the cruise ships had to abandon in the middle of their trips and sent passengers back home.
“We never got the virus. We were one of the only ships without it. If we had, it would have been horrible.”
After a bus ride from Genoa to Milan, Lindberg arrived at the airport on Friday for her return home. But the flight arrangement was off, which forced to her to do the one thing she dreaded: Stay in a hotel in Italy.
She arrived at back home Sunday evening, and the first thing she had to do was self-quarantine for 14 days.
It could have been so much worse.
The safest boat in the world
Lindberg saved up and bought her ticket in June of 2018, but had planned it since the start of that year.
When she boarded as a single passenger on Jan. 5 in Venice, with a pre-assigned roommate from another country, the coronavirus was still mostly a quiet echo in the United States.
With Internet access and European news channels available, everyone aboard could monitor what was going on around the world.
Cruise ships became coronavirus carriers. According to a report in the Miami Herald, 2,592 COVID-19 cases were related to cruise ships. Sixty-five passengers died.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has implemented, and now extended, a “No Sail” order for all cruise ships until this pandemic is declared “over.”
The Deliziosa had 1,631 passengers and 900 crew members. However, their ship turned into one of the safest places in the world.
“We saw all of these ports were closing, and we thought the places we had to go were not going to let us dock,” Lindberg said. “The people who had booked flights could get off. The captain said if you get off the boat, go straight to the airport. No one was allowed back on the ship.
“The only time was in Australia. We had people who went to the interior [of the country]. When they got back on, they had to be quarantined in their room for 14 days.”
When items, such as food and drink, were put on board, they were encased in plastic wrap atop a pallet. The plastic wrap was then returned to the loading area.
“Most places did not want us to stop. They were afraid of cruise ships,” she said. “One place did not let us dock. We had to drop anchor, and they brought everything to us.
“When we were in Albany, it was right before everything just stopped and I thought it was only a matter of time before we got it on the ship. We were porting in places that had it. These ships have a lot of passengers who are in their 70s and 80s, and I was very concerned for them.”
During the trip multiple passengers had to be taken off the boat for medical reasons. But none of those passengers tested positive for coronavirus.
Life on a cruise ship during a pandemic
Lindberg was able to remain in contact with her four sons and other loved ones easily. They often thought her experience must be hell on water.
“It was a little mundane, but that’s all,” she said.
The cruise ship functioned like any other voyage — with the lone exception that they concluded with 40 straight days at sea.
For some perspective, when Ferdinand Magellan made his round-the-world trip in 1519, the leg of the trip across the Pacific Ocean lasted 99 days between dry land. Of course, that leg of the journey included a shortage of food, and starvation.
Aboard the Costa Deliziosa, cruise ship passengers didn’t exactly starve. They relaxed. Ate. Drank. Read. Went to the spa. Watched movies. The shows still continued. The gyms were still open.
“I think we had more freedom than people do at home,” she said. “I’d tell my kids I was a little bored. They said, ‘Mom, nothing is going on here, either.’”
Once ports started to close all over the world, there was no option. The safest option was to stay on the ship until the cruise was scheduled to end, on April 26, although they wound up disembarking two days earlier.
The ship docked at five continents, and literally sailed through the seven seas. It was scheduled to stop in 18 countries, and make a total of 40 stops. Most stops were missed.
The ship missed several ports of call throughout Asia and Sri Lanka, but those weren’t the only lost moments. Lindberg said the Carnival line is offering a rebate, or different alternatives, to accommodate passengers who did not receive the advertised “Round The World” experience.
The only time she felt uneasy was not on the boat, but on land, in a hotel room in Italy. At the end of her trip.
Back home in Grapevine where she is quarantining, Lindberg said she plans to cruise again. But, like so many other aspects of life these days, she has no idea when.
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
