Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Couple: Vacation a nightmare at sea
They tell of misery on cruise ship with 77 sick people
Cliff Kolber and his wife from Miramar say they felt it was safe to take a cruise in early March, at a time when the Trump administration was advising Americans not to let the virus upend their lives.
Now, they’re stuck on a Holland America cruiser that’s being treated like a pariah because more than 70 aboard are sick. They are forbidden from leaving their cabin. The couple turn away delicious pastries for fear it will make them deathly sick.
The Kolbers, speaking for the first time about their ordeal, described in vivid detail Wednesday how their vacation has become a nightmare at sea. What bothers this South Florida couple the most: Their own government might not let them come home.
“This is my country, where am I supposed to go?” Doris Kolber told the South Florida Sun Sentinel by cellphone. “If my country doesn’t want me, who will? And I’m not sick, so why am I being punished?”
With scores of passengers and crew on board who have “influenza-like” symptoms — possibly coronavirus — the Holland America cruiser is headed for Port Everglades in Broward, where it hopes to dock Monday, nine days after the original scheduled
end of the voyage.
The ship had set off on the voyage on March 7 as the rate of new coronavirus infections was rising around the world. Several Broward County commissioners want the ship turned away, worried the vessel poses a health risk to the community at large.
That is distressing to Cliff, 72, and Doris, 65, who is on cancer immunotherapy medication. They do not have any coronavirus symptoms.
“It broke my heart,” said Doris Kolber by cellphone. “Everything we’ve been through we’ve been able to tolerate. [But] our commissioners stab us in the back: ‘Go and die.’
Kolber said, “Leave them [the ones who are ill] on board and quarantine them but don’t punish those of us who are not sick.
“I just can’t even wrap my head around it.”
Holland America said as of Tuesday, 77 people were showing influenza-like symptoms. Local leaders worry it would be a health risk for the county to let them disembark because of the rapid infection rate of the new coronavirus.
A statement from the cruise line was not available Wednesday.
Bertha Henry, Broward’s administrator, did not respond to queries Tuesday or Wednesday whether she would issue an emergency order to stop the ship. But even without her, Commissioner Michael Udine said he would call an emergency meeting within days to force a commission vote before Monday’s scheduled arrival. He has the support of at least two other commissioners.
Udine argues the passengers boarded the ship after the coronavirus outbreak began globally.
The Zaandam ship was sailing a South America voyage that departed Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7 and was originally scheduled to end in San Antonio, Chile, on March 21.
The company said in a statement that “due to globthing.” al health concerns, Holland America Line made the decision to suspend its global cruise operations for 30 days and end its current cruises in progress as quickly as possible and so guests could return home.”
The Kolbers’ son, Jerry Kolber, bristles at the idea that his parents were wrong to continue their scheduled vacation.
“My folks literally followed the exact advice of President Trump and Gov. DeSantis at the time of their departure, who were both encouraging everyone to live their lives and keep working [and] traveling,” he said.
President Donald Trump suggested on multiple occasions that the virus was less serious than the flu, telling a TV host on March 4: “It’s very mild,” and that people infected with the novel coronavirus may get better “by sitting around and even going to work.”
Cliff Kolber said he thought they would be fine because their itinerary didn’t include Asia or Europe, and restrictions in Florida didn’t begin until after the cruise began.
Some county commissioners are sympathetic and won’t say no to the ship.
“I don’t think having them adrift at sea is the right thing to do,” said Commissioner Beam Furr on Wednesday.
“I know fear makes people look at things differently but we have to look at fear in the eyes and do the right thing,” Furr said. “We do have a responsibility to our fellow man. We are our brother’s keeper. This is one of those times when you step up and do the right Still, he knows there’s a problem. “We are suffering form capacity issues here. Broward and Miami-Dade County have been affected by the coronavirus. I do think if it came into port that here has to be a responsible way to do this that doesn’t affect the health of this county as well.”
Udine doubled down on his stance Wednesday and said he feels he is doing the right thing to prevent deaths in Broward by minimizing the potential spread of the virus, and keeping hospital beds with lifesaving equipment open for the county’s most vulnerable population.
The Kolbers are spending their hours reading on their iPad and Kindle, and watching TV.
They aren’t allowed to leave their rooms, so the crew delivers three meals a day, and leaves it outside the door.
“When the crew passes we bring it in and wipe everything down, wash our hands, then we eat,” said Doris Kolber.
If the food was brought uncovered, they refuse to eat it. So far that’s included juice for breakfast and a breakfast pastry.
They are getting regular updates from the captain by intercom who assured them he is working everything out about where they’ll end up.
“He has taken the role of the mama bear protecting his cubs,” Doris Kobler said. “He is fighting for us.”
She is saddened by Broward’s response: “Our commissioners want us to jump into the ocean and die.”