PG dancer finally home after 55 days stranded on cruise amidst COVID-19 pandemic

The ship disembarked all of their guests in Australia, however, Ghostkeeper faced difficulties in finding a flight back home before their ship was forced out of Australian waters. Their ship, with several crew members still on board, relocated to the southeastern coast of Asia near Manilla Bay.

Several cruise ships anchored in Manilla Bay off of the coast of the Phillipines. (photo courtesy of Tristan Ghostkeeper)

“We had free internet, and we had the news channels on tv, and then we were updated with information of where we were at. I knew what the situation was like at home, I was able to message my family social media, so I knew what was happening,” he said.

While there weren’t any recorded cases of COVID-19 on board, Ghostkeeper says the uncertainty of his situation, a broken phone, as well as difficulties finding a way back home heightened his worry.

“It was tough. You really couldn’t do much. People think because you’re stuck on a cruise ship that it would have been amazing. Actually, it wasn’t. They had the pools closed, the gym was closed, a lot of areas were closed, so pretty much all that you could do was walk around on the top deck to get some air.”

He said the food was limited as well during his time on board of the ship.

“For a while there, I wasn’t too sure when I was going to come home. My company didn’t know either. It was tough. It’s not like we pull into port and we disembark. There’s a lot of things that come into play with it. The hard part was really not knowing when I was going to go home, so that was mentally challenging for me.”

He said his friends he made onboard the ship was what carried him through the nearly two-month period onboard the ship.

Of course, when it did come time for Ghostkeeper to return home, the Province was in need of his self-isolation plan.

“Actually, it was hard reaching out to people while on the seas because the internet wasn’t the greatest, so my mom reached out to some people and got some information about my self-isolation plan. Once I got into Canada, I just had to present a plan with them. Honestly, it was pretty chill.”

While he soon will be able to fully embrace both his family and the feeling of being back home once his self-isolation is done, Ghostkeeper says he can’t wait to be back on board of a cruise and doing what he loves.

by Ethan Ready

PG dancer finally home after 55 days stranded on cruise amidst COVID-19 pandemic

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