Dallas Couple Stateside After Coronavirus Fears Sink 'Trip Of A Lifetime' Cruise
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A Dallas couple is back on American soil after a cruise that went awry, thanks to fears about the coronavirus. The Viking Sun is still at sea, but they - and others - decided it was time to come home.
Harry and Liz Joe boarded February 11 in Sydney. They were supposed to go all the way to London on an 82 day cruise. It was the trip of a lifetime, a chance to sail on the world's longest continuous passenger cruise. But the couple soon realized the itinerary wouldn't go as planned.
"It would have been a lot of fun to be able to go all the way to London, stopping at the ports the they had planned, but unfortunately, it was clear the world was closing down," Harry Joe said.
Ports began closing, so the Viking Sun criss-crossed the Coral Sea.
"That's when we started going toward Indonesia. That's when we ran into trouble," he said.
The ship was denied entry at two Indonesian ports.
"It was disappointing, as you can imagine. The food was great, but you can only eat so much of it for so long," he said.
Joe says several people on board were ill but not with the coronavirus. Indonesian health officials checked everyone three times.
"They would line us up and look at our passports, and then they would take this thermometer and hold it up to your forehead and take your temperature and see if you had any temperature."
Bali also initially denied their entry and then reversed course.
Joe, an immigration attorney, used his experience to help guide cruise management. He and his wife - along with around several other passengers - were finally able to disembark and make their way home. He credits Viking for the way it was handled.
"The most important thing is they kept us safe and they got us home," he said.
And he says, regardless of the hiccups, it was truly an unforgettable experience.
"We're all living a part of history right now. We just happened to get stuck in it."
Joe says he has no symptoms, but he does plan to self-quarantine for two weeks out of an abundance of caution.