Winnipeg couple grateful to be home after cruise ship turmoil

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This article was published 01/04/2020 (1737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg couple who had been facing an indefinite stay aboard a cruise ship amid the COVID-19 pandemic say they are grateful to be home.

“We’re perfectly happy to be at home, in our house, with our cats,” Irene Schwartz said Thursday, while under self-isolation with her husband, Mike.

The couple boarded French cruise line Ponant ship Le Boréal on March 7. As the spread of the novel coronavirus ramped up around the world, the ship was turned away from its scheduled stop March 20 in Chile.

Le Boréal then set sail around the tip of South America, with the goal of finding a port in Uruguay or nearby Argentina or Brazil. Had the Canadian couple not been able to disembark, they feared they would be at sea for roughly a month before arriving in France, which has gone into lockdown.

According to its online profile, the 126-metre Le Boréal has 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members.

Days after initially speaking March 20 with the Free Press about their plight, the Winnipeggers learned they would be allowed to fly home via Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“When we were first told, we were cautiously hopeful and happy, because we had already been turned away from several ports — four ports in three countries — so once we knew it was happening, we were very, very happy, and we just wanted to get home,” Irene said Thursday.

“We were still nervous, and weren’t really happy until we landed in Canada,” Mike added.

They left Brazil on March 26, and were back home March 27. They’re now self-isolating.

The couple had reached out to the media and politicians through email and social media while on the cruise ship, seeking support in their efforts to return to Canada. In turn, the couple said they had received comments from the public criticizing their decision to go on a cruise at that time.

It was indicative of just how fast the COVID-19 crisis spread, Irene said, as there was no concern about it when the cruise began.

“We would like people to understand that very likely, when they left home, the world was not like it is today, and the cruise companies and tour companies obviously felt it was safe to travel, or they wouldn’t have gone,” she said.

“In these kind of times, we’d encourage people to be less quick to judge and more supportive of each other,” Mike added.

The couple were quick to list the people that helped them get home: from the Canadian consulate in Brazil to a travel agent on board the ship who had helped them book flights home to their house- and cat-sitters.

“Lots of people have been helping us, and we’re very grateful for that,” Irene said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_