‘Trapped’ couple isolated on cruise

Winter Springs residents forced to stay inside cabin

It’s been three days since a Winter Springs couple have been able to step out of their tiny cruise ship cabin and breathe in fresh air.

What started out as a dream cruise around South America, has turned into a nightmare. Now, they just want to get home.

Laura Gabaroni and her husband, Juan Huergo, are among the 1,243 passengers aboard the Holland America Zaandam cruise ship that were told on Sunday to not leave their cabins after 42 people — including 13 guests and 29 crew members — reported flu-like symptoms.

By Tuesday afternoon, the liner was floating near the equator about 120 miles off the coast of Peru. South American countries have shuttered their ports because of the worsening coronavirus outbreak worldwide and denied the liner a place to dock.

“We are basically trapped in our rooms,” Gabaroni said. “It’s been excruciating.”

Holland America officials said their best hope is that the ship will be allowed to move through the Panama Canal and continue to Fort Lauderdale, where it plans to dock on March 30, nine days after the original scheduled end of the voyage, and passengers will be allowed to disembark.

“Alternative options are also being developed,” according to a statement released by Holland America, without any further details.

In the meantime, the couple, both 48 years old, are isolated in a tiny room, with just a queen-sized bed, a desk, a couch, a table and a bathroom. They don’t have a balcony on their second story state room, and their window doesn’t open to let in the fresh sea air.

“We do have control of the AC,” Huergo said. “So there’s that.”