In the Coral Sea

As we are all aware, the Coronavirus is quickly becoming a global disaster. Many people around the world are suffering from loss and sickness.

We are merely being inconvenienced. Our cruise was canceled this morning and although things didn’t turn out quite as we expected, it is certainly not the tragedy that many people are experiencing.

We were turned away from our last 2 ports. There has also been a cyclone roaring down the length of the Coral Sea that stretches between our last stop in Vanuatu and where we are headed in Australia. Did we really need any more drama? Our captain enacted a plan of moving as fast as possible to cross in front of the cyclone and arrive in Brisbane (an unscheduled stop).
We did indeed cross in front of the cyclone (wow, these seas are rough!!!), but we have been instructed to go directly to Sydney ahead of the Australian government closing Australia’s ports.

Our cruise has been cut short by 7 weeks, but many passengers had another 11 weeks to go.
Everyone is anxious and the staff is overworked trying to figure everything out.

Jeff and I have flights to go home on the 18th through Honolulu. We will self-quarantine after traveling for 2 weeks.

Having said all this, we’ve had a fabulous time, have met some interesting people, seen incredible sites and have done a good job of keeping each other from spiraling out of control the past few days (thank goodness we take turns!)

They always say that travel is an adventure, and we definitely agree with that! Uncertainties have escalated this entire trip and it sounds like we are returning to a different world than the one we left just about 2 months ago.Read more