Olympia woman among those stuck on quarantined cruise ship in Japan
Marianne Obenchain of Olympia is not angry or disappointed about her decision to take a trip on a cruise ship that is now under quarantine in Japan.
But she is a little scared, she told The Olympian Monday Pacific Standard Time via Facebook Messenger from the Diamond Princess. The ship is in a time zone 17 hours ahead of Olympia.
Diamond Princess was in Day 6 of a 14-day quarantine because passengers on board have contracted the coronavirus. A total of 135 people on the ship — five crew members and 24 Americans — have been confirmed to have the respiratory virus, National Public Radio reported Monday. There are about 3,700 people on board.
As of Monday, the virus had killed more than 1,000 people in China, where more than 42,000 people have been infected since it emerged in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei province, according to NPR.
Obenchain is among those Americans and other international passengers who are stuck on the ship after completing a 16-day cruise of Asia. The quarantine is expected to be lifted on Feb. 19.
“I’m a little afraid that once the quarantine is over, they will test us all and make us wait for those results before we are allowed to leave,” she said. “I’m also afraid that if tested, and (I) test positive (for the virus) but have no symptoms, they will keep me another 14 days.”
That is her biggest worry, she said.
“Tears fill my eyes as I consider that possibility,” Obenchain said. “I have an apartment, bills, a job and my pets in Olympia that I am dreaming of getting home to.”
She added: “I plan on going home as fast as I can, as soon as I can.”
NPR reports the cruise ship arrived at the Yokohama terminal south of Tokyo early last week. Japan’s health ministry has been taking people off the cruise ship using special sanitation measures, such as a tent-like tunnel and white medical suits. Patients are then transported to local hospitals with infectious-disease wards, according to NPR.
For the first few days of the quarantine, passengers were confined to their rooms, Obenchain said. Now, they get daily outdoor time.
Most rooms are booked for two, including hers. She is sharing it with an acquaintance who invited her to go on the cruise.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are still being served by the waiters, bartenders and room attendants who were working on the ship, but now they wear masks and gloves and act as caretakers, she said.
“We have (playing) cards, we get newspapers and puzzles daily, and each cabin has its own big wall-mounted TV, with free internet, movies and TV series,” Obenchain said.
Using social media, watching TV, playing with puzzles, or joking with her friend has helped stave off boredom.
“Restless and anxious to get home — yes,” she said.
They also receive regular updates from the ship’s captain, but she added, the “Japanese health authorities and the American Embassy have the final say on when we get to leave.”
Still, she’s not upset about taking this trip.
“How could I miss the chance to see Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and Okinawa?” she wrote. “I would have regretted it the rest of my life.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Olympia woman among those stuck on quarantined cruise ship in Japan."
