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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 2020)
12 Wednesday, February 26, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Commentary... The Asian ‘ghost ship’ — Part 2 By Craig F. Eisenbeis Correspondent Editor9s note: Last week9s edition of The Nugget car- ried Part One of the story of a Sisters couple caught on board Holland America9s Westerdam on its <Ghost Ship= cruise in the South China Sea. Because of coro- navirus fears, Westerdam9s Southeast Asian cruise was cancelled; but, for two weeks, no port would permit the ship to disembark passengers. Part One can be viewed at nuggetnews.com. The coronavirus crisis forced Holland America to make some difficult, and very expensive, decisions for an unprecedented situ- ation. Sailing aboard the ship for two weeks, with no certain destination, was a strange experience; but Holland America did its best to accommodate their guests. While we never saw the promised ports on the second half of our trip, Westerdam improvised along the way, creating new shows and activ- ities. Fortunately, we also met a great bridge-playing couple from Ottawa and spent many hours honing our bridge skills. With good Wi-Fi cov- erage, we were able to keep in touch with friends and fam- ily; and, we received quite a few messages from all over the country inquiring about our situation and wishing us well. A friend in Virginia messaged me to say that he saw footage of us on CNN playing bridge on the ship! Curiously, the last time someone told me they saw me on CNN, it also involved a Holland America cruise ship. In 1980, while I was sta- tioned with the Coast Guard in Alaska, my sister-in-law called from Hawaii to say that she saw me on CNN on one of the rescue ships with passengers from the sinking cruise ship Prinsendam. The ship sank and was lost, but we rescued every single one of the persons on board. Forty years later, I hadn9t expected, or wanted, to be part of another cruise ship crisis. The final phase of this cruise 4 though clearly not the end of the story 4 unfolded when Cambodian authorities allowed us to anchor off- shore. Cambodian officials boarded the ship, took twenty samples from suspiciously ill persons, and a laboratory in Phnom Penh pronounced us coronavirus-free. As a result, the ship was allowed to proceed from anchorage to moor in Sihanoukville. There, each passenger was presented with a traditional scarf from the people of Cambodia; but the show of hospitality wasn9t over yet. At 0700 the next morning, amidst great pomp and circumstance, the prime minister of Cambodia joined a huge entourage of military and civilian dignitar- ies by landing in a helicopter on the pier. Scores of media representatives and count- less cameras were present to record the event. Prime Minister Hun Sen graciously greeted, shook hands with, and presented flowers to every member of the first group of 116 pas- sengers to disembark. We were in the second group, so we narrowly missed the honor. I rather imagine that the prime minister of this very poor country recog- nized an opportunity to bring Cambodia 3 which has been subject to recent economic bullying from China 4 onto the world stage. Regardless, I suspect that I will always have a warm spot in my heart for Cambodia. Most of us were glad to finally get off the ship and take Holland America char- ter flights to major air hubs; however, there were a few diehards who were actually sad to see it all end. Anxiety notwithstanding, much of the cruise was enjoyable; although we missed a lot of what we had planned to see. On the other hand, I cer- tainly never expected to fly to Phnom Penh, where we were personally greeted by yet another phalanx of dignitar- ies; and Kathi treated a tele- vision reporter to a dazzling TV interview. The four-segment flight home through Phnom Penh and South Korea was a two- day ordeal exacerbated by two 12-hour layovers. Our relief at returning home, Portraits OF SISTERS PHOTO BY CRAIG EISENBEIS Homeward-bound Westerdam passengers board a Holland America charter flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. however, was tempered by knowledge of the plight of the people aboard the Diamond Princess and a report that one of our Westerdam pas- sengers tested positive for coronavirus. That finding, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has since reported to be incorrect, brought every- thing to a screeching halt. Since we were among the first to depart, however, we were home before the alarm went out. The purported coro- navirus case was discovered in Malaysia, where some of the passengers had been routed; so those people were held up, as were the others who followed us to Phnom Penh. A week later, most of the passengers were still in Cambodia. Meanwhile, we had arrived home and learned of the possible virus case aboard our ship, so we decided to impose a two-week home quarantine on ourselves. Local health officials were notified of our situation and contacted us to assist. Eventually, all 781 passen- gers still in Phnom Penh and all 747 crew members in Sihanoukville were tested for the virus. All tests were nega- tive, and flights home were allowed to continue. Deschutes County Health subsequently contacted us to say that the virus report on our ship was probably a false alarm, and they would not enforce a quarantine on us. Regardless, using an abun- dance of caution, we have elected to maintain our self- imposed quarantine, which will continue to the end of this week. Meanwhile, the full impact of the coronavirus remains to be seen. B y c h a n c e , i t w a s Valentine9s Day when we got off the ship, and Kathi9s card to me said, <I love the adven- ture of life with you...= When she selected that card before we left on our trip, she had no idea of the adventure ahead. Renee Akaka, founder of the 1687 Foundation , “basically Living the bookworm’s dream, reads for a living,” she says. Her work at the Foundation requires her to filter hundreds of Christian titles for republishing, each carefully curated before distribution. Inspired by the need for hope and encouragement after the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, the Foundation was started as a resource for service professionals — reach- ing prison inmates, first responders, and military mem- bers to name a few. The only 100 percent free resource of its kind within the United States, the 1687 Foundation, and Renee’s team, serve a multitude of demographics. But she says the letters of thanks she receives from people “are the favorite part of my job.” Their warehouse currently holds hundreds of titles in bulk with their new 12,000-square- PHOTO AND STORY BY Cody Rheault foot center being built off Sun Ranch Road. This week’s “Portraits of Sisters” presented by The Nugget Newspaper. Future portraits are available for sponsorship, call 541-549-9941 or email ads@nuggetnews.com for information.