Life in the Time of Coronavirus
I Worked Onboard a Cruise Ship and Watched Coronavirus Unravel the Industry
The latest in our series about how this pandemic affects our lives, our loved ones, our work, and our way of life
Life in the Time of Coronavirus is a new GEN series where we are interviewing people across the country who have had their lives upended or are experiencing the stress of the unknown.
Ordinarily, on the day a cruise ship embarks from the port, there’s an energetic buzz among crew members and passengers. But walking onboard this time around immediately felt eerie. It felt like the beginning of the end of an era. The ship was a ghost town; we set sail at less than half capacity.
I have spent almost all of the last year and a half living and working aboard luxury cruise ships. I am a pianist and vocalist, and on ships, I perform shows to entertain our guests at sea. It’s not uncommon to see our travel itineraries intersect with regions as they weather major disasters: the worst wildfire season in Alaska to date, historic swells and 191 mph winds in Hawaii, devastating bushfires that scorched New South Wales, or a fatal volcano eruption in New Zealand. Though we could often watch these events unfold just…
