Mesa dentists return home after being quarantined on cruise ship in Brazil for over a week

After being quarantined for over a week on a cruise ship that had been docked in Recife, Brazil, Jim  and Kathi Hasten returned home to Arizona Monday.

"That was incredibly frustrating," he said. 

Jim and Kathi had just retired from their dental practice in Mesa. To celebrate, they booked a 20-day cruise from Rio de Janeiro to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the Silversea Silver Shadow. Silversea Cruises' parent company is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

Less than a week into the cruise, a man was removed from the cruise ship after showing symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

It wasn't long before the Hastens found themselves locked in their cabin for more than a week after the man tested positive for the new coronavirus and another guest was removed due to symptoms but later tested negative, Hasten said.

Stuck on the ship

The ship was one of several that became marooned at sea or in ports due to sick passengers or crew or local governments that wouldn't let them dock out of fear they might be carrying infected people.

"We had read so much about the Princess cruises, how the virus spread through the whole ship," Hasten said. "Either Kathi or I would cough or sneeze ... we'd look at each other and thought, 'Oh my god, this is it.'"

Hansen told The Arizona Republic that they had to get creative in order to kill time while quarantined on the ship, which has since had no other cases of the new coronavirus.

"She discovered it was 17 steps from the balcony to the door, so she'd go back and forth for like half-an-hour," he said about Kathi.

Hasten also told the Republic he had "begun to look forward to our maid in her haz suit coming by to see if we need new towels for conversation."

Trouble getting home

Hasten described the complexity of the negotiations that took place in an effort to get them home. What started out as conversations between ship Captain Gennaro Arma and Brazilian leaders quickly transformed into a discussion between world health officials and governments around the world.

"They let the Europeans and the Canadians off first," Hasten said. "The captain would get on a couple times a day ... and just say 'listen, Americans, we are just so sorry but we can not get anybody to agree to anything.'"

After the Brazilian government confirmed they could leave, the Hastens thought that their troubles were on their way out. When they realized that Americans were the only people left on the ship, their concerns grew.

Officials were working to fly the American guests to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which was the closest open international airport.

"Nobody wanted us," Hasten said. "They had to negotiate with the Texas governor for days to get us back ... We were dead sure that we were going to be going to a military base."

Applause on the plane

Finally, on the morning of March 22, they received a note from the captain, along with two pairs of gloves and two masks. A flight to Dallas had been arranged, and they were to put on the gloves and masks and await further directions from the captain, Hasten said.

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that 103 Americans from the ship were flown home.

"As soon as we took off out of Recife, on the plane there was spontaneous applause from everybody," Hasten said. "When we touched down in Dallas there was spontaneous applause again."

The Hastens landed in Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport early Monday morning. Since then, it's taken some time to adjust to the world's new etiquette surrounding social distancing.

"When we left, the world was pretty normal," Hasten said. "I sort of felt like I had been in a coma while the zombie apocalypse occurred. Then I woke up and the world was totally different."

Reach the reporter at ryan.vlahovich@arizonarepublic.com or follow him on Twitter @vlahovichryan

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