Musician stranded on ‘ghost ship’ returns to Toronto
Being on mostly empty cruise at times felt like a ‘paradise,’ pianist says
For more than 50 days, Toronto-based pianist and singer Arny Galoyo was stuck aboard the Emerald Princess as the cruise ship sailed the Caribbean Sea.
It was a “ghost ship,” says Galoyo, who works on the cruise as an entertainer. After passengers disembarked in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic on March 15, 600 crew members remained on a luxury liner typically packed with more than 4,000 people.
For weeks, staff from countries around the world awaited news about when they could go home, hanging on the captain’s words for ever-changing updates.
So Galoyo couldn’t help but feel pure relief Saturday as his plane touched down at Pearson International airport, along with other Canadian crew members who’ve spent so long in limbo.
“It felt really good, of course, to be back,” Galoyo said in an interview, hours after getting off the plane.
Princess Cruises confirmed to The Canadian Press that 53 Canadians were scheduled to leave the Emerald Princess in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday and catch a chartered flight from Miami to Toronto. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that about 80,000 crew members remained on ships off the U.S. coast after most passengers had disembarked.
Galoyo, who considers himself a glass-half-full type, says there were major perks to his situation: the buffet was “extravagant,” and with no passengers the staff were upgraded from lower-level rooms, in his case a suite with a “big huge balcony.”
Before crew members were recently instructed to self-isolate, they were also free to use amenities, including a pool and gym, while Galoyo played music with his colleagues — teaming up for karaoke renditions of “My Way” and “The House of the Rising Sun.”
At times, he says, it felt like “paradise.”
But alongside cheerful updates on Facebook, Galoyo wrote about the uncertainty of when he might return to Toronto.
“No news as to when (we) will be allowed to disembark,” he wrote on April 19.
“Only chance for us North Americans is to have our country charter us a flight home,” he wrote a week later. “Just when you think you’re a step closer to stepping back on land.”
Galoyo told the Star that as it became clear that he and his colleagues were going to be waiting for some time, he was concerned that some would face challenges getting home.
“This pandemic has caused chaos in everyone’s lives,” he said.
There were several false alarms, when Galoyo believed he was headed home only to be told plans had changed — including one this past week. Crew members from Canada were told to prepare to fly home in a chartered plane, but in the end the Bahamian government did not allow the ship to dock.
Galoyo said he’d had his bag packed for the last month, while also worrying about his mother, who is in her 80s. Back in March, Galoyo’s partner was with him on the Emerald Princess, but they decided he would fly home to be with Galoyo’s mom, who lives near the couple in Toronto.
Galoyo says he is thrilled to be close to both of them again — although he will be isolating for another two weeks under quarantine rules — and that in the end, the experience was a positive one overall. Daily yoga, he says, left him calmer. He had time to appreciate the birds that would land on his balcony, and to write two new shows he plans to perform.
While acknowledging there is uncertainty about the future of the cruise industry as the pandemic continues, Galoyo adds he’s nonetheless looking forward to getting back on the Emerald Princess and performing again someday.
“I’m ready,” he says.