Two Santa Clarita residents are sharing their first-hand accounts of being quarantined while on the Diamond Princess cruise ship which has 61 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Quarantined Inside Our Diamond Princess Cruise Cabin For 15 Days

My wife, Jeri and I are two of the thousands of passengers quarantined for fifteen days in our cabin on the Diamond Princess in Japan. The following is our story.

It was a magical 16 days. I gave my wife, Jeri, a surprise birthday and Christmas present, a cruise through Southeast Asia. When we flew to Tokyo on Jan. 17, we had received no news on the coronavirus. The first stories of an outbreak began hitting after we sailed away from the Port of Yokohama, Japan.

Our cruise was amazing, my wife commented, she did not want it to end. Our close friends, Jerri and Mark Jorgensen, owners of Desert Solace in St. George, Utah, had an adjoining cabin.

As news of the coronavirus spread, we were tested at each stop for fevers as we got off the ship. On our final day, our captain announced a passenger who left the ship in Hong Kong, came down with the coronavirus four days after leaving.

See Related: Santa Clarita Residents Quarantined On Diamond Princess With 61 Confirmed Coronavirus Cases

The captain doubled his speed to arrive 12 hours ahead of schedule in Yokohama, Japan, our final destination. Our ship was forced to drop anchor outside the port. Japanese health officials boarded with a plan to test the 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew for the coronavirus. The testing took over 18 hours as officials worked their way from cabin to cabin. By the morning we realized we were not going to make our evening flight, but we believed we would be delayed by only one day.

Quarantined Inside Our Diamond Princess Cruise Cabin – Day 1

It was day one of our quarantine. We had free reign of our ship. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were served in the usual stellar Princess fashion. All passengers had their temperature taken and were screened by Japanese health officials. More than 200 passengers were given saliva tests. Their samples were sent to a lab in Tokyo. We would not know the results until the next morning. We knew our travel plans to return to Santa Clarita had to change once again.

See Related: Part Two: Santa Clarita Residents Share First-Hand Experience Of Coronavirus Quarantine On Diamond Princess

Quarantined Inside Our Diamond Princess Cruise Cabin – Day 2

We woke up the next morning with an announcement. The lab results from Tokyo showed ten people tested positive for the coronavirus. The Japanese health officials would remain on the ship. We were to stay in our cabins, in quarantine for 14 days. My wife smiled and told me, “Tiny house living is happening now.” I did a quick calendar projection and told her, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

I believe a 14-day quarantine in our cabin would be the ultimate test of our 31 years together. Our KHTS staff knows our marriage has only survived because we work on separate floors and I’m out of the office most of the day.

The 10 passengers who tested positive were sent to various Yokohama hospitals. Later in the day, our captain announced we’d be pulling up anchor and heading out to sea. Our ship needed to gather and make freshwater and empty our bilges. We would return to port the next morning.

Quarantined Inside Our Diamond Princess Cruise Cabin – Day 3

We docked at a pier in Yokohama at 8 a.m. News helicopters circled our ship. Dozens of news media were also there to greet us, standing behind police tape. Our captain again told us we were not to leave our cabins. Some passengers did interviews from their cell phones with news outlets from around the world. Social media was blowing up. Many posts were sharing news that was inaccurate.

Throughout the day we communicated with friends and family, canceled upcoming appointments, worked with our amazing KHTS staff to plan out the next few weeks. As owners of a radio station, we were working throughout our vacation but now our work thrusters were in overdrive to handle things we had put off and to begin catching up.

We had run out of bottled water. In a phone conversation with our friend, Bruce Burrows, who is an expert when it comes to water, brilliantly recommended we boil water from the coffee pot in our room and cool it in our minifridge. “That way it will assist in avoiding the risk of the novel corona virus,” Bruce informed me. He also mentioned another consequence I never heard of that we would avoid. I later went to Google and realized my friend Bruce saved us from many potential excruciating hours on the toilet.

In the afternoon the captain informed us 10 more passengers had tested positive for the coronavirus. From our view of the port, in addition to news media and helicopters, we saw dozens of ambulances and many people in hazmat gear. Ambulances whisked away the victims, bringing the total to 21, including our Hong Kong passenger.

We were served delicious meals in our cabin and had access to U.S. cable news channels. Earlier in the week, Monday morning our time, before our quarantine due to corona virus, we were able to watch the Superbowl. Unfortunately, the only channel available to us was NHK, the Japanese equivalent of the BBC. The good news; no commercials, they were filled with replays and analysis. The bad news; all audio was in Japanese. I learned that “hai” means “yes.” “Hai” was used by their color commentator before every sentence. I also discovered there is no Japanese translation for “49ers.” Other than those two words their play-by-play remained a mystery.

During our cruise, Jeri had exhausted all the good movies available. On our final day, she struggled as she worked her way down to “Dumbo” after running out of other options. To our delight, Princess gave us free internet and added many new movies. We spent our evening watching “Kingsman.” Jeri seemed to enjoy it much more than “Dumbo.”

Trapped Inside Our Diamond Princess Cruise Cabin – Day 4

We woke up early in the morning to work with our KHTS staff due to the time change. In our world, it was the wee hours of Friday morning. Back in Santa Clarita, it was midmorning on Thursday, the day before.

We realized many of the simple things we take for granted were running out. Clean clothes, the charge on our electric toothbrushes, (we didn’t bring a charger), and running low on deodorant. Luckily, Jeri gave me a kindle for Christmas, so I had an infinite amount of reading material. I realized in two weeks from now the little amount of hair I do have, would be out of control. There have been a few minutes of vanity on my wife’s part which disappears when she switches into her comedy routine on her hair growth and grays showing up with no dye job available for two more weeks.

We knew from day one, we could turn our predicament into another adventure in our life’s journey. My wife now can be a standup comedian, making our toilet paper running extremely low to blow-drying our clothes in our bathroom into an opening act at the comedy club.

By mid-morning many more ambulances arrived than the day before, with dozens of people in white hazmat uniforms descending towards our ship. We soon learned there were 41 additional people being taken to hospitals, who had tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total to 61 plus the original Hong Kong passenger.

At port that day, Princess was able to restock with food, bottled water and individual prescription drugs. They also brought in additional toilet paper. My wife’s reaction to the toilet paper was like giving her a diamond ring.

Along the way, the Princess crew has been incredible. They’ve taken the challenges of our predicament and gone out of their way to make us as comfortable as possible. We’ve had amazing meals, three times a day brought to our cabin. They’ve been accommodating our smallest needs while navigating the potential health challenges we all have been facing.

Our day ended with the sequel to Kingsman, again leaving “Dumbo” in the dust.

Will Carl and Jeri’s marriage make it through another eleven days quarantined inside their cabin? Join us on Monday for updates on their adventures.

Read All Of Carl’s Journals Here: Carl Goldman Coronavirus Journals

Part 2: Santa Clarita Residents Share First-Hand Experience Of Coronavirus Quarantine On Diamond Princess: Part Two

Part 3: Santa Clarita Residents Share First-Hand Experience Of Coronavirus Quarantine On Diamond Princess

Part 4: Trapped In The Coronavirus Quarantine Aboard The Diamond Princess: Part Four

Part 5: Santa Clarita Residents Share Emotions As They Prepare To Leave Coronavirus Quarantine Cruise: Part Five

Part 6: Santa Clarita Residents To Return To United States After Coronavirus Quarantine On Diamond Princess: Part Six

Part 7: Santa Clarita Resident Diagnosed With Coronavirus Sets Record Straight: Part 7

Part 8: Santa Clarita Resident Battles Coronavirus After Diamond Princess Cruise: Part 8

Part 9: Santa Clarita Resident Continues To Recover From Coronavirus Diagnosis: Part 9

Part 10: Living With Coronavirus: Santa Clarita Resident Continues To Share Story — Part 10

Part 11: A Birthday In Quarantine: Santa Clarita Resident Continues Chronicling Coronavirus Recovery – Part 11

Part 12: Coronavirus Quarantine Continues As Santa Clarita Resident Recovers From COVID-19: Part 12

Part 13: Coronavirus Patient From Santa Clarita Continues To Clear Misconceptions About COVID-19: Part 13

Part 14: Third Member Of The ‘Four Amigos’ Tests Positive For Coronavirus: Part 14

Part 15: Santa Clarita COVID-19 Patient Continues Recovery In Nebraska After Contracting Coronavirus: Part 15

Part 16: Carl Continues To Test Positive For Coronavirus, Jeri Still Negative: Part 16

Part 17: Carl Still Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Jeri Prepares To Return Home: Part 17

Part 18: Jeri Cleared From Quarantine, Carl Continues Coronavirus Recovery: Part 18

Part 19: Jeri Back Home, Carl Continues Coronavirus COVID-19 Recovery In Nebraska: Part 19

Part 20: Coronavirus COVID-19 Patient Carl Goldman Continues Path To Recovery: Part 20

Read All Of Carl’s Journals Here: Carl Goldman Coronavirus Journals

Carl Goldman and Jeri Seratti-Goldman have owned KHTS radio in Santa Clarita radio since 1990. It’s award-winning website, www.hometownstation.com has won numerous awards since its launch in 2003.

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