Couple tell of horror cruise
Stuck in Rome amid Covid-19 pandemic
A CAPE TOWN couple are among 40 South Africans stuck in Rome after their cruise took a turn for the worse amid the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Ivan Carr, 77, and his wife Pamela, 71, from Brackenfell, have been married for 51 years and their Mediterranean cruise on the Costa Luminosa was meant to celebrate that milestone.
Their son Randall Carr is in Cape Town frantically trying to get his parents back to the country: “My dad is an avid cricketer and always wanted to visit the West Indies, while my mother longed to visit the Vatican.
“This cruise afforded them both the opportunity to tick these destinations off their bucket list. They’re pensioners and they deserved this holiday.”
The Carrs left South Africa on February 22 and travelled via Dubai to Fort Lauderdale in Florida where they boarded the Costa Luminosa just days later. The 26-day cruise, meant to end in Savona, Italy, soon turned into disaster for many on board.
According to Robyn Terbrugge, a family member of one of the people on board, a passenger was disembarked by cruise liner operator Carnival Corporation on February 29 in the Grand Cayman Islands after showing symptoms of Covid-19.
At this point, all passengers on the Costa Luminosa were oblivious to what was happening.
According to the Miami Herald, a 68-year-old Italian became the Grand Cayman Islands’ first Covid-19 patient, and the country’s first virus-related fatality. It later emerged that the passenger from Northern Italy had been evacuated from the Costa Luminosa with pneumonia, along with her 70-year-old husband.
The woman’s test was run in Puerto Rico’s newly-established public health laboratory; the man’s results were reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The publication reported that the Costa Luminosa management was later notified by the Puerto Rican authorities of the positive Covid19 cases, but at this point no passengers on the cruise liner were alerted to the situation.
The cruise continued on its course despite passengers possibly being exposed to the coronavirus.
On March 8, a further two people were evacuated off the boat in Puerto Rico. They, too, were showing symptoms of the virus.
According to Terbrugge, as of March 18, passengers were confined to their cabins, with limited wi-fi access and only able to send text messages. At this point, passengers were still in the dark, ultimately causing mass panic.
Carr said his father – currently in quarantine in Rome – described the ordeal as feeling as though he and his wife were prisoners in their cabins.
The Costa Luminosa left the Port of Marseille on Saturday, towards Savona, a journey many of the family members of the South Africans stuck on board tried to stop, because Italy has the most recorded cases of Covid-19 infections outside of China.
In a statement to passengers on March 23, the cruise line said: “Costa Luminosa has registered positive cases of Covid19 to which you may have been exposed. International and national health authorities require that you undergo a 14-day quarantine for your safety and to avoid spreading of the virus… The location of your quarantine will be a hotel accommodation in Rome.”
According to Carr, the condition of his parents has deteriorated mentally. “Being stuck in a 17mx2m room is mentally challenging and my parents have been confined for nine days.”
A spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of International Relations, Lunga Ngqengelele, said the department was aware of the South Africans stuck in Italy, and the matter was being handled by embassies in the area.
“Our mission colleagues in Paris are in contact with the authorities,” said Ngqengelele.