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After learning that cruise ships might actually be the greatest contributor to the spread of COVID-19 outside of China and Italy, the world can only assume that this absurd industry is now finished for good.
Made popular on screen by TV shows like ‘The Love Boat’ and movies like ‘The Titanic – cruise ships are generally large passenger floating apartment buildings used for ocean voyages in which the voyage itself, the ship’s amenities, and usually the different destinations (ports of call) along the way each form part of the passengers’ experience.
While cruise ships have been well known as a hotbed for contracting gastro and other illnesses that thrive in the revolting and unhygienic karaoke lounges and self-serve bistros – they are now known as super-spreader of the ghastly coronavirus that is now threatening our global economy and the lives of millions of people.
On Thursday, the tax-evading Ruby Princess cruise ship docked in Sydney with dozens of undiagnosed coronavirus cases onboard.
For some fucking reason, even after the government had shut down indoor events of over 100 people and outdoor events of over 500 people – on Thursday almost 2,700 passengers – some coughing and spluttering – were allowed to disembark the ship at Sydney Harbour, catching trains, buses and even overseas flights to get home.
A week later, and the Australian states and territories are now fighting tooth and nail to implement a complete shut down of non-essential services, including schools, due to the sharp spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases that are looking to rise dramatically until our nation’s entire healthcare system is completely clogged.
Five days earlier, Australia had already ordered anyone returning from overseas to self-isolate for 14 days – a directive which applied seemingly everyone except the stroppy boomers who had just paid thousands of dollars to drink cocktails and look at the ocean while on a loop of the Pacific.
Since the Ruby Princess docked at Circular Quay five days ago, over 50 people who have tested positive have now been traced to the cruise, making it the biggest single source of infections in Australia.
It joins a long list of cruise ships at the centre of the global COVID-19 pandemic that have been pointed to as the causes of some of the most serious breaches in containment of the virus.
It is for this reason, among many other unappealing elements of the cruise ship industry, that everyone is kind of thinking this might be the end of them.
“Surely” says Dr Usman Siddle, a prominent epidemiology from the Betoota Base Hospital.
“I mean, the grog is watered down, the guests are obnoxious… And the fucking things spread COVID-19 like wildfire”
Dr Siddle says, at the end of the day, the RSL-type activities and sever sun burn can’t be worth the damage these vessels of cashed up bogans are causing the planet.
“I can’t see any reason for them to continue existing after this lock down”
“Not to mention the carbon they emit by burning all that crude oil. Two Ruby Princesses would pollute the earth as much as every car in Sydney city”
