Radio Australia Today Editorial

Swine Flu. What is a cruise ship to do?

29 May 2009

We have some very unhappy people on a cruise ship off Australia’s coast at the moment.

They were expecting to have an island cruise of a lifetime, stopping off at all the island paradises and at the most delectable spots up Australia’s north-east coast.

Alas, it was not meant to be. A number of people on the ship starting showing symptoms of swine flu, including three crew members. In keeping with rules decided by Australian authories, the ship was declared a quarantine zone. What this meant was that the passengers were not allowed to get off the ship until after the qaurantine period finished. It also meant that the ship would not be visiting any of the exotic destinations.

There is talk this morning that some passengers, apparently angry at the fact that they were not going to be sipping pina coladas on an island beach, are going to sue the cruise operator.

It will be interesting to see if they go through with their threat. We can understand that they are disappointed. They would have saved for a long time to go on such a cruise (they ain’t cheap), and for some of them it was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.

It was just not meant to be. When something like this happens you have no choice. You can rail against the injustice meted to you by the world, or you can get what you can get what you can out of the situation. You are on a ship. Swimming pools, bars, entertainment, no work, no hassle, read a book, relax.

The Chief Medical Officer here in the Australian state of Victoria has come out suggesting that twenty percent of the workplace in this state could be hit by the swine flu. This will mean the cancellations of many more holidays, the temporary closing of restaurants and infrastructure. Take a fifth of a workforce out of any country and there will be problems, huge problems.

We will get through this extremely contagious pandemic, but it will disrupt our lives. Expect it. We live in a time when we in richer countries have come to expect that everything will go our way. It takes one microscopic virus to put paid to that.

We don’t have to grin, but we’ll have to bear it.

– Phil