{"id":250369,"date":"2020-03-28T23:19:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T03:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=250369"},"modified":"2020-03-28T23:19:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T03:19:54","slug":"families-await-return-of-canadians-on-cruise-ship-stuck-off-panama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/28\/families-await-return-of-canadians-on-cruise-ship-stuck-off-panama\/","title":{"rendered":"Families await return of Canadians on cruise ship stuck off Panama"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: MS Zaandam in Glacier Bay, AK, USA (Photo by Barek\/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It should have been the trip of a lifetime for Ottawa residents Catherine McLeod and Paul Innes, but it has turned into a nightmare as they remain trapped on a cruise ship where COVID-19 has taken hold and four people have died.<\/p>\n

McLeod and Innes left Ottawa and boarded a cruise in early March, before the spread of novel coronavirus became a pandemic, and they now find themselves without a clear way to get home.<\/p>\n

The MS Zaandam is anchored off the coast of Panama, and no one can leave because until Saturday, no country would accept them. Holland America, the company that owns the ship, said two people on board have tested positive for COVID-19 while 53 passengers and 85 crew have flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Saturday night that his counterpart in Panama agreed to allow the ship to pass through the Panama Canal and on to its final destination in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.<\/p>\n

He said Global Affairs Canada will continue to work with Holland America to bring asymptomatic Canadians home.<\/p>\n

But for now, 1,243 passengers and 586 crew remain on board and more tests are being done every day, the company said.<\/p>\n

Among them are McLeod and her husband, retired teachers. In an email to The Canadian Press, McLeod said what had been a mostly enjoyable trip was turned on its head last weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boom hit last Sunday when we were asked to return to our staterooms and not exit,\u201d McLeod recounted. \u201cMany passengers and crew members had reported to sick bay with flu-like symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

That’s where the couple have been \u2014 in their room awaiting news of a way out \u2014 ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first few days we hoped it was just the flu,\u201d McLeod said. \u201cWe were still hopeful that we would get through the Panama Canal and dock in Fort Lauderdale. Then that hope was destroyed when Panama would not allow us passage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email is the only way to communicate with family, said Patricia Morrell, one of the couple’s children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have good contact with them, but they’re really frustrated because the information I’m giving them is different from the information on the ship,\u201d Morrell said.<\/p>\n

Michael Kasprow just wants his mother off the cruise ship and back home.<\/p>\n

Julie Kasprow, 81, of Thornhill, Ont., left for the 30-day cruise in early March \u2014 before the Canadian government warned against travelling on cruise ships due to fears of contracting the emerging coronavirus that has spread around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want her home in her stupid chair for 14 days so we have everybody in the same area and I can talk to her from the end of the driveway,\u201d said Kasprow, who lives in nearby Toronto.<\/p>\n

Like Innes and McLeod, Kasprow’s mother is healthy and effectively shut inside her room with her friend, he said.<\/p>\n

But her anxiety \u2014 and his \u2014 has grown.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom’s demeanour certainly changed in the past 24 hours from, ‘This will be OK,’ to hearing news that people on board had passed away,\u201d Kasprow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom is my superhero and is incredibly circumspect when it comes to things like that, but it’s really stressful and scary to her, and this definitely rocked her a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crew checked on her yesterday and plans to move the healthy and asymptomatic to its sister ship, the MS Rotterdam, that recently anchored nearby.<\/p>\n

But Morrell said her parents \u2014 68 and 69 years old \u2014 don’t fit the criteria for moving to the ship, which is reserved for those 70 and older and in good health.<\/p>\n

So Innes described her daily routine \u2014 washing their hands every hour, waiting for meals to be left at the door. The couple has secured a set of cutlery and glasses they keep in the room and they try to wipe down everything that comes in.<\/p>\n

McLeod said news of the deaths have left her feeling powerless.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fluctuate from being thankful that we are in a balcony room to thinking that I will never get the hell home to my kids and grandkids,\u201d McLeod wrote. \u201cI just hope and pray that no others die and that someone lets us dock and we can board a plane ASAP.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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