Coronavirus and the travel industry: Six months of carnage and co...

Deirdre Shesgreen and Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

USA TODAY

When Ryan Knapp and his wife booked a Viking River cruise along the Mekong Delta, they thought it would be a dream trip – a chance to finally see Angkor Wat, the stunning Buddhist temple complex, and explore other parts of Cambodia.

But what began as a long-anticipated vacation on a luxury cruise has become a stress-filled nightmare.

With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading like wildfire across the globe, the Illinois couple is now stranded in a foreign country that is housing them in a "filthy," dilapidated hotel, after three other passengers on the vessel tested positive for the virus.

They have no idea when, or how, they will be able to return to the United States.

"We’re just feeling helpless. It’s hard to see exactly how this plays out," the 57-year-old Knapp said during a phone interview from what he described as an "abandoned hotel" in Kampong Cham, a city in southeastern Cambodia where they were forced to disembark from their cruise. The Viking Mekong is styled as a colonial-era French riverboat.

Courtesy of Ryan Knapp

Foreign governments have been pressuring Cambodian authorities at the highest levels to move the Americans and other foreign nationals to another hotel or more sanitary surroundings, but the Cambodian government has insisted on keeping them at the hotel, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing relations with Cambodia's government. The person said there is another, separate luxury cruise ship currently stuck in Phnom Penh that also has Americans and foreigners on board.

The Cambodian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the foreign ministry's office.

On Saturday, Cambodia's prime minister criticized a "certain diplomat, from a certain country" for asking them to move the Viking Mekong’s passengers to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, and a nicer hotel. Local media implied that the prime minister was referring to the U.S. ambassador in Cambodia.

A State Department official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the agency is aware of reports about the situation. Citing privacy considerations, the official declined further comment except to say the State Department is working “around the clock” to ensure the welfare of U.S. citizens overseas.

The official did not answer a question about how many other Americans may be in a similar kind of limbo.

Knapp's wife, Theresa Gordon-Knapp, said she asked her doctor before leaving the U.S. if it was safe to go on the trip. Yes, he told her. As seasoned world travelers, they were not worried about going, even as the coronavirus spread to the U.S. and outbreaks emerged in new hotspots.

They arrived in Vietnam on March 1, did some sightseeing in Ho Chi Minh, and got on the boat on March 4, Knapp said.

Along the way, they learned that one of the passengers was exposed to COVID-19 on the flight over. All the passengers were tested, and three British travelers came back positive for the novel coronavirus.

Cambodian officials transferred those three to local hospitals. The remaining 26 travelers who tested negative – including Knapp and his wife – were initially quarantined on the boat.

But on Friday, "the Cambodian authorities told us we had to get off the boat, and they threatened to arrest the (Viking tour) manager" if they refused, Knapp said.

"They literally sprayed us like insects, with chlorine I think" as they got off the vessel, he said.

Now, they've been confined to a dirty room with a leaking toilet, a barred window, and a door that doesn't lock.

Alexis Arnold, USA TODAY

"There are dead bugs everywhere – and also live bugs," said Gordon-Knapp, 60. "Ants, flying insects, little lizards."

Another American traveler, James Cleveland of Michigan, said he and his wife had an “immensely different” experience in Cambodia. They were on a cruise run by Holland America in early February, when the COVID-19 outbreak began to set off alarm bells around the world.

Although everyone on the ship tested negative for the virus, the vessel was denied entry in South Korea, Japan and elsewhere. On Feb. 13, Cleveland said, after days of sailing from one place to another but never being allowed to dock, Cambodia permitted the ship to stop at a small port on its west coast.

After everyone on the ship tested negative for the virus, “we were told that the prime minister and some other ministers of Cambodia were going to come down to welcome us to Cambodia,” Cleveland said.

A group of dignitaries gathered on the dock, he said, and the prime minister gave them scarves and roses. The government then transported them to a four-star hotel in Phnom Penh.

“They were wonderful,” he said of the Cambodians. He noted that Cambodia is a very poor country, but they spared no effort to ensure their comfort.

Knapp said the Viking employees tried to get them moved to a nicer hotel next door, but workers there threatened to go on strike so the plan was nixed. The local health department delivered thermometers and blood pressure pumps to their rooms, with instructions to report their temperatures twice daily back to the ministry.

View | 200 Photos

Coronavirus is changing everyday life across the US

The Viking crew has been bringing them food every day, Knapp and his wife said, but they're worried about running out of prescriptions and other basic items.

And now, they've been told that the Cambodian government has stopped responding to calls from American Embassy officials in the country, as well as the urgent pleas from Viking representatives.

"We're not being quarantined. We're being detained," said Knapp, a retired employee of Abbott Laboratories, a health care company headquartered in Illinois.

Knapp said they know they have to be quarantined because of their potential exposure to the virus. "But we'd like to do it in much more humane conditions," he said.

He and his wife have grown increasingly anxious about when their confinement will end. Their temperatures are normal, Knapp said, and they feel fine physically.

"But this is pretty mentally and emotionally draining," he said. After the initial publication of this story, Knapp said he was told they will be tested again on March 23.