Cabin Fever: The Harrowing Journey of a Cruise Ship at the Dawn of a Pandemic

Utterly heartbreaking and vivid account of life and death aboard the cruise ship Zaandam during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020.

When passengers, most of them over age 65, streamed onto the Holland America ship in Argentina, they had only minimal concern about the novel coronavirus that was just starting to hit the news. Over 1200 cruisers and 600 crew members were convinced that they were escaping on this planned 3-week voyage into areas that would be safe. Unfortunately, a stowaway was also on board and within days of the Zaandam embarkation, people began coughing and developing symptoms indicating that the virus had come along. Because so little was known about how the virus was transmitted, how to confirm a diagnosis, or show more how to take care of people exhibiting the signs of disease, mistakes were made. In another colossal failure, the ship had only a small medical unit with two doctors and minimal supplies and medications to even begin to care for the incoming deluge of patients. Even worse, there were no reliable COVID tests on the ship so tracking the spread proved nearly impossible.

Meanwhile, as the communications between ship and shore intensified, passengers were quarantined in their cabins so the crew members, many of them sick themselves, were expected to continue laundry and food service to the passenger rooms at unprecedented levels. Left adrift in the ocean for weeks on end, the Zaandam was denied port entry as the world was shutting down. All the basic necessities were running low, the medical unit was filled to capacity, the crew members were sick and dying, and the passengers were locked in their rooms, many sick and untended. What a nightmare. The ship was deemed a pariah and left to wander the oceans, doomed to wait until someone let them come into safe harbor.

This was a grueling read and I had to stop often as the emotional stories got to me. I was angry even as I understood that ignorance of the condition, so profound in the early days of the global pandemic, resulted in so many egregious errors in how this situation was handled. The Zaandam was not the only cruise ship out on the waters with sick and dying people on board. An overwhelming situation was occurring on land at the same time, and things were dire everywhere as a worldwide shutdown began. The personal accounts by passengers and crew that were related in this book really demonstrated the reality of the crisis and the hopelessness all experienced. Difficult to read, especially in retrospect now that we are two years out from the beginning of this disease, I am glad so many survived despite the seemingly insurmountable odds. It is important to remember that there are always heroes in any disaster; it just may be that they are not the ones you imagine.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. show less

A very good piece of investigative journalism, Cabin Fever follows the highs and lows of Holland America's Zaandam cruise ship during the early days of the pandemic. What a nightmare! We get accounts of passengers (domestic and foreign) and crew members. The cruise slowly becomes a floating prison as port after port refuses to allow the boat to dock or let passengers disembark. The story is well told and well researched. It's not quite as gripping as one might hope as we all have a lot of hindsight on the pandemic at this point, but it's an important historical record. Hopefully we do better next time.

I purchased Cabin Fever on the strength of Jonathan Franklin who I have read two other books. The focus stays tight on the MS Zaandam on a "3 hour tour" from the tip of South America to Miami, an outcast seeking a friendly port. Passengers continued to be fed and life went on. A few died. During the early days the crew were in denial and they took almost no action to stop the spread, despite overwhelming evidence of a mass infection (*cough cough*). The craziest part was how no country or port would take the plague ship, tossed like a potato until it had nowhere to go but Miami. Politicians, not knowing what else do, sent hazmat suited special ops and put the seemingly radioactive passengers on a private flight to Atlanta, where they show more exited the plane and disappeared into the anonymous crowds of ATL as if nothing had happened. Like how criminals hide illicit money with layers of shell companies, then set free into the general population magically laundered clean. show less

The Holland America cruise liner the Zaandam set forth from Buenos Aires with 1200 passengers and 600 crew on March 8, 2020. The coronavirus was already underway. Some of those aboard had tried to cancel their trips, but Holland America had refused refunds, saying that it had implemented protective health measures. Other passengers had decided to take their chances on what was the trip of a lifetime.

Unfortunately it wasn't long before many passengers and crew members were deathly ill with what was designated ILI (influenza-like illness) and the Zaandam was running out of medical supplies, including oxygen and PPE. The cruise liner was being refused entry at every port along the Pacific coasts of South and Central America.

Through a show more cross-section of passengers and crew members this excellent narrative nonfiction book documents the horrific experience of the cruise. The book reads like a novel about what was most definitely a nightmare experience.

3 1/2 stars show less

Cabin Fever tells the story of the hapless Holland America cruise ship Zandaam. In March 2020 this luxury vessel was not allowed to dock anywhere in the world because her occupants were beset by Covid-19. The authors capture the uncertainty, frustration, and horror of those days by telling the stories of selected passengers and crew members.

This book may be among the first, but will by no means be the last, effort to make sense of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cabin Fever tells the story of the cruise ship Zaandam, setting sail just as Covid was making its appearance, and when a few cruise ships had already experienced outbreaks of the virus. The book recounts the Zaandam’s outbreak both from the perspective of the crew and passengers, and really brings home the horror of the situation on the ship, to the point where I was feeling claustrophobic along with the passengers stuck in their tiny windowless cabins. The book is not at all kind to Carnival, the cruise ship company that owned the Zaandam.

My thanks to Doubleday Books and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book.