Playing by the rules after cruise quarantine
CAPITOLA >> An adventure to Hawaii aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship in February 2020 ended with a 14-day quarantine in the San Francisco Bay for one Capitola resident and her friend. That was nearly a year ago. Now Dixie Guzzo, who is in her 80s, is looking forward to getting her COVID-19 vaccine.
A year after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the United States, more than 24 million people have tested positive for the virus and more than 401,000 people have died. In California, more than 34,000 have died.
For the past year, Guzzo has been heeding directions to shelter in place, only adventuring outside for essential things such as mail and groceries.
“I’m playing by the rules,” Guzzo said. “It’s not that hard. Those who say it’s infringing on their rights — baloney! I’m taking care of my health, I’m taking care of your health.”
For Guzzo, this includes not going to visit family during the holidays and instead opting to stay in touch through phone and Zoom calls.
“My grandson came to visit with his new girlfriend, we sat outside in the driveway,” she said. “I’m really not lonely, there is so much to do, so many books to read.”
Guzzo has been staying busy with volunteering her time with Compassion and Choices in Palo Alto, the Mid-County Senior Center and her homeowners association, staying connected through the internet and her laptop.
She’s also adjusted to buying things online, is a frequent shopper on Amazon. com, but does venture out once a week donning a mask to run local errands such as grocery shopping and visits to CVS and the post office. She also checks in on a local woman with disabilities.
Recalling the trip
A lot has happened since Guzzo and her dear friend Lois Duncan, a Washington resident who is also in her 80s, boarded the Grand Princess cruise bound for Hawaii. The two traveled many times together and were ready for another cruise adventure.
Admittedly the destination isn’t what Guzzo and Duncan enjoy the most about cruises, it’s the ride on the ship and all it has to offer. That’s why the two didn’t go for the expensive room, only using it as a place to sleep and shower.
“The ship is the trip more than the land,” Guzzo said.
“There is something for everyone … ukulele lessons, line dancing lessons. We’re active little old ladies.”
Those festivities came to a screeching halt when employees and passengers aboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19. Ultimately two passengers and one crew member died and at least another 103 who were on board the ship tested positive for COVID-19.
The friends’ “basement” room, a mere spot for sleeping and showering, was quickly turned into their 24-hour living quarters until they were allowed to disembark.
“It was hard,” Dixie Guzzo told the Sentinel in March 2020. “But Lois and I are good friends, we didn’t have any problems. We sang a lot.”
On the evening of March 4, passengers were notified by Princess Cruises that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was investigating a “small cluster of COVID-19 cases” connected to a Grand Princess trip that sailed roundtrip from San Francisco Feb. 11-21, which was prior to Guzzo’s and Duncan’s trip. Princess Cruises subsequently canceled its last leg of Guzzo’s trip to Ensenada.
What followed was another adventure.
The cruise ship was eventually docked in the Port of Oakland where passengers were then taken to Travis Air Force Base to quarantine for 14 days.
“They did an excellent job,” Guzzo said in March and reiterated that this week. “I didn’t like it, but it had to be done.”
She said the quarantine area was nice, but was enclosed in fencing.
“We couldn’t escape,” Guzzo joked. Disembarking with only one carry on, meant luggage was left behind. “There was mass confusion, it took two days to figure it out. But it worked out.”
Additionally, they were able to get their luggage and order things such as shampoo, dental floss, even Flonase — three truckloads of deliveries, Guzzo recalled.
Guzzo and Duncan were also tested for COVID-19 — they had negative test results.
Recalling the ordeal, Guzzo said it was “not wonderful.”
“That’s life. It is what you make of it. They did their best,” she said of the cruise staff and Travis Air Force Base.
Guzzo said they called us by name, provided nutritious food and checked our temperatures twice a day.
“I can’t fault the government or Princess. They did the best they could with what the they had,” she said.
Those sentiments weren’t shared by some of her fellow passengers.
One month after the ordeal, a group of northern California residents accused Princess Cruises of negligence in its response to the COVID-19 outbreak on the Grand Princess, in a lawsuit filed in a San Francisco federal court.
The cruise line “chose to place profits over people, including the safety of their passengers, crew and the general public,” the lawsuit alleges, manifesting in “utter failure to provide even a modicum of care” to those onboard the Hawaiian island-hopping excursion that set sail from San Francisco.
Guzzo, however, said Princess Cruises went above and beyond in taking care of its passengers and refunded all of her money — all of it, the trip itself as well as the cost of shuttle service to and from home, and anything bought during the trip and quarantine.
Future trips
That’s why Guzzo is still keep her next cruise reservation, booked more than a year in advance, for October.
“I will eventually go back,” she said. “I’m not a scaredy-cat, but I want to be safe.”
Guzzo hasn’t been sick and neither has her immediate family.
“I just say thank you, thank you God. I don’t question it,” Guzzo said.
For more information about COVID-19 and vaccinations, visit santacruzhealth.com.