By Brendan Rees
A Narre Warren musician stuck on a cruise liner off the coast of the United States is desperate to fly home.
Zak Love had been working as a performer on the Royal Caribbean cruise liner, Anthem of the Seas, when his contract had been cancelled on 15 March due to the Covid-19 crisis.
However, he and three other Australian performers have been left stranded on the ship after the US Government enforced a ‘No Sail Order’ – banning cruise ships from disembarking passengers and crew.
For the past fortnight, the 31-year-old had been confined to his room after which he was upgraded to a guest cabin.
“We have just been released and are now in a stage two quarantine where we need to walk around the ship wearing masks,” the singer-songwriter said.
There were no reported cases of coronavirus on the ship, according to Mr Love, however, temperature checks were being taken twice a day for all on board.
Mr Love, who had been casted for the on-board show ‘We Will Rock You’, said he and the other Australian performers were due to fly home on charter flights in early April but were “overlooked”.
He said he had called Royal Caribbean’s human resources department but was told there was “no feasible flight” available.
He was also confused as to why two of his colleagues were flown from Miami to Melbourne and Brisbane two weeks ago – on planes Mr Love later learned “were empty”.
Meanwhile, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), he said, had advised there were no planned charter flights from Miami to Melbourne “at this time”.
“It does bring on a bit of anxiety not knowing when we are able to fly home. Each day is a bit of a roller coaster emotionally,” he said.
However, he said Royal Caribbean has been “looking after us really well during the isolation period” with meals delivered three times a day as well as free Wi-Fi – “which has been really good being able to keep in contact with my family and friends back home”.
To past time, Mr Love said he had been busy reading, exercising, writing music, and preparing for the release of his new song due 1 May.
The other performers marooned off the coast with Mr Love was a 24-year-old woman from Melbourne and a 21-year-old from the Sunshine Coast.
“Not being able to leave is mentally exhausting and we also haven’t been on land for over a month now so that is also strange,” Mr Love said.
In a statement, Royal Caribbean said the company was “doing our best to do right by our colleagues during this difficult time”.
“We have been repatriating our crew colleagues through a combination of commercial flights, charter flights and drop-offs in ports,” the statement said.
“DFAT are aware of the challenges we are experiencing in trying to repatriate our Australian crew from various ports around the world.”
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said there needed to be more “direct government intervention” to rescue Australians stranded overseas.
DFAT has been contacted for comment.
