(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Nonfiction Views: Cabin Fever, by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-09-06

The dawn of the Covid-19 era in some ways seems so long ago, and in other ways remains perilously present. Makes me wonder why I would be attracted to the recently published Cabin Fever: The Harrowing Journey of a Cruise Ship at the Dawn of a Pandemic, by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin. I guess in part because I want to remember those early days, and in part simply because I love travel, and in fact, the cruise ship chronicled in this book, the Zaandam, wandered the coast of South America, being rejected at ports that I have visited in my own travels.

In truth, the idea of a cruise has never really appealed to me. Oh, the dining and dancing sounds fun, but still, being confined to a ship, with only short shore excursions, doesn’t do it for me. I’ve had just two boat experiences. One was a decidedly un-luxurious weeklong trip around the Galapagos in a small, noisy ten passenger four crew vessel. It was fabulous, thanks to the great destination and certain experiences like swimming in a vast featureless ocean that was who knows how deep beneath us, but the boat ride itself was not enthralling. And besides, there are always those news reports of food sickness outbreaks aboard a cruise ship.

Food sickness is nothing compared to the ordeal passengers aboard the Zaandam went through. The book begins with the passengers gathering in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Covid was becoming dominant in the news, including stories of outbreaks aboard cruise ships. The passengers were concerned, but on the other hand, it seemed so far away, in the Northern Hemisphere, China, Europe, and now the United States “We’re going so far south,” one passenger assured his girlfriend. “It’s going to be a bunch of Argentines aboard that ship; maybe some Chileans.”

As the day of boarding arrived, it was clear that wasn’t so. The passengers were predominantly from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, having just flown into Buenos Aires. They were in a festive mood, hugging and gathering closely together. The majority of them were age 60 and older. And while Holland America had been sending out reassuring communications about Covid to the arriving passengers, in fact there was little health screening or even temperature checks as people boarded. Some passengers felt increased alarm at that point, but since Holland America had a no-refund policy that close to the sail date, unless you could document that you were ill or had been exposed to someone with Covid, no one wanted to forfeit the thousands of dollars they had laid out for this dream trip.

And so the Zaandam sets sail, with 1.243 mostly older passengers, 586 crew members, two doctors, four nurses, twelve oxygen tanks, a few boxes of surgical masks, and zero Covid-19 testing kits.

At this point the global panic was just truly setting in, and the book brought back for me memories of those days of horror and uncertainty as businesses were shutting down and hospitals were filling up. Just 48 minutes after the Zaandam left port, the US State Department issued an advisory strongly warning against cruise ship travel. By the time the ship had rounded Cape Horn at the tip of South America several days later and reached the port of Punta Arenas in Patagonian Chile, the alarm had spread globally. A phalanx of Chilean government and immigration officials boarded the Zaandam, but in the end were convinced that there were no Covid cases among the passengers and allowed them to disembark for sightseeing.

Some hours later, the Zaandam set sail again, and now the hammer really fell. Just as they were leaving port, the ship’s captain got word that Holland America was suspending their cruises worldwide, and that the United States had issued an industry-wide no sail order. An announcement was made to the crew and passengers that the cruise would continue only up the coast to Puerto Montt and San Antonio, and passengers would have to make their own arrangements to get home.

Three hours later, word came through that Chile was closing all its ports at 8am the following morning. The Zaandam had no choice but to return to Punta Arenas before the deadline, but as the ship approached the city, they learned the port had already shut down due to angry protests by citizens fearful of disease being brought to their isolated city. Protestors had blocked the gates, wielding clubs and rocks, shining red laser penlights at the windows of the cruise ships offshore.

The ship turned northward again, heading through the Sarmiento Channel, the main route through the fjord-like coastline of Chile (and also the route of my other boat experience: a three day voyage from Puerto Natales to Puerto Chacabuco, on a cargo vessel with a handful of passengers and hundreds of cows and sheep in cages stacked three-high on the vast deck; again, not a luxury voyage.)

I’ve set the scene here. The book follows the Zaandam’s wanderings up the coast of South America, through the Panama Canal, past Cuba and on towards Miami, rebuffed at port after port as the disease spread among the passengers and crew. The authors tell the story with an exciting verve, switching back and forth from the ship to the cruise line executive offices to the CDC. They choose a number of specific people to center the tale around, giving the reader a personal investment in the story. Set pieces like the attempts to get food, fuel and medical resupplies to the ship are thrillingly recounted.

A good, recommended read.

THIS WEEK’S NEW HARDCOVERS

All book links in this diary are to my online bookstore The Literate Lizard. If you already have a favorite indie bookstore, please keep supporting them. If you’re able to throw a little business my way, that would be appreciated. Use the coupon code DAILYKOS for 15% off your order, in gratitude for your support (an ever-changing smattering of new releases are already discounted 15% each week). We also partner with Hummingbird Media for ebooks and Libro.fm for audiobooks. The ebook app is admittedly not as robust as some, but it gets the job done. Libro.fm is similar to Amazon’s Audible, with a la carte audiobooks, or a $14.99 monthly membership which includes the audiobook of your choice and 20% off subsequent purchases during the month.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/6/2120761/-Nonfiction-Views-September-5th-2022

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/