- Wow, going on the plank.
- [Narrator] On March 5th, Jennifer Catron
of Fredericksburg, Virginia, walks up the gang plank
to the cruise ship Costa Luminosa,
operated by Costa Cruises and owned by Carnival Corporation.
- Going on it.
Oh my gosh, wait!
- [Narrator] She's documenting her first solo trip
without her husband or children.
- We're gonna go exploring the ship.
- [Narrator] The ship is scheduled
to leave Fort Lauderdale that evening,
sail south through the Caribbean,
and east across the Atlantic, but by this point,
the new coronavirus was already spreading
in countries outside of China, including an outbreak
in February on the Diamond Princess, also owned by Carnival.
More than 700 people on that ship had been infected,
and seven had died, according to
the World Health Organization.
Carnival kept cruising.
Over the two weeks Jennifer spent on the Costa Luminosa,
she recorded more than 100 separate videos
of herself and her fellow passengers.
Jennifer's videos offer a look at life on board the ship.
The Costa Luminosa, like the Diamond Princess before it,
became a floating incubator, putting passengers
and crew at risk, and helping to spread the virus
around the world.
Carnival said that COVID-19 has spread rapidly
throughout communities, and cruise ships
are literally microcosms of what is occurring
in major population centers.
(mysterious music)
The story of the Costa Luminosa begins on February 29th.
An Italian passenger is taken off the ship
in the Cayman Islands and to a local hospital.
He is suffering from double pneumonia
and has had a heart attack,
according to subsequent interviews with his son.
The Luminosa then heads south to Mahogany Bay, Honduras.
It turns north to Cozumel, Mexico,
then it heads east to port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
where it would pick up more passengers, including Jennifer.
- So far, I think it's gonna be great.
When I first boarded and I started walking around,
I thought, oh my gosh, I'm gonna get so bored.
I got my itinerary for tomorrow
and I completely changed my mind.
- [Narrator] The Costa Luminosa departs Fort Lauderdale
on the evening of March 5th
and sails south along the Bahamas.
It arrives in the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico,
on March 8th.
Hundreds of passengers disembark.
Jennifer heads to the old city.
- It's so beautiful.
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
People here are friendly.
There's already people in the bars and restaurants.
- [Narrator] Jennifer returns to the ship.
An ambulance picks up an Italian passenger
in respiratory distress and takes her to a local hospital.
A coast guard spokesman says the Luminosa
didn't tell authorities about illnesses aboard the ship
while it was docked.
Carnival said it was acceptable to notify them
after the fact, in view of the emergency nature
of the passenger transfer.
The coast guard is investigating.
The ship leaves Puerto Rico and sets sail
for St. John's, Antigua on the evening of March 8th.
They arrive the following day, but are denied entry.
The government said the Luminosa did not inform them
in a timely fashion that there had been
a passenger on board with symptoms of an infectious disease.
Carnival said that the Luminosa followed
the required regulatory protocol.
The Costa Luminosa then turns east
and heads out into the open ocean.
- Staff members are cleaning a lot more.
They're doing surfaces.
People are still serving themselves in the buffet
and people are still congregating
and activities are still going on on board.
Right now there's not a whole lot left.
As you can hear, there's still coughing in the background.
- [Narrator] The ship heads into
the middle of the Atlantic ocean.
Group activities keep up much as they had before.
People congregate in restaurants and in bars.
- Okay, so here's life on the ship
after we just found out that there are no ports in Spain
that are willing to take us.
We don't know where we're going to re-fuel.
People are still milling around.
This is Friday the 13th, March 13th, 2020, guys,
and we are on a boat with no place to go.
I am seeing this situation deteriorate hour by hour.
We're not quite at a minute by minute
deterioration at this point.
- [Narrator] The party continues.
In the early morning hours on Saturday the 14th,
passengers gather for a singalong.
Jennifer discovers some bad news.
- I found an article online
saying that the lady in San Juan was positive.
It's actually getting pretty real.
- [Narrator] Late that night, the ship confirms
the couple dropped off in San Juan have coronavirus,
two of the island's first three cases,
according to the government.
By March 15th, more bad news.
Jennifer has learned that the Italian passenger
who disembarked in the Cayman Islands in late February
has died with COVID-19.
The Costa Luminosa is docked in the port
of Santa Crus de Tenerife, in Spain's Canary Islands.
The passengers are not allowed to disembark.
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
may I have your attention, please.
(faintly speaking)
- [Jennifer] Police officers.
- [Passenger] They're very serious about it, aren't they?
Bloody hell.
- [Jennifer] They just don't want anybody getting off.
They don't want anybody jumping ship.
- [Narrator] Three sick passengers
and their travel companions leave the ship
to seek medical care.
(passenger coughing)
On the evening of the 15th, the ship announces
that passengers are to return to their rooms.
By the morning of March 16th, all restaurants are closed.
- [Announcer] May I have your attention please.
In regards to the passengers who disembarked in Tenerife,
we have no further updates on their condition,
and again, we will update you as soon as is possible.
- Last night I woke up at 2:00
and I thought it was 2:00 p.m.
I have no windows in here.
There's nothing.
It's literally the size of a closet.
The bed takes up the entire room.
I'm having a hard time allaying my doubts and my fears
to try and trust the people that are in charge.
- [Narrator] It is March 19th,
and the Costa Luminosa arrives at the port of Marseille.
The French government has given the ship permission to dock.
- [Announcer] Please strictly follow our instructions
that you have received regarding your disembarkation.
Our teams are working around the clock
in a situation which is evolving very rapidly.
- [Narrator] The French government has given the ship
permission to dock, and more than 700 passengers
prepare to disembark.
Italian passengers remain on board
until the ship reaches its final destination in Italy.
Jennifer and others wait for hours in buses on the dock.
Multiple passengers report
there is little or nothing to eat.
After nightfall, they are escorted by police cars
to the airport to catch a plane
chartered to take them to Atlanta.
The plane takes off after midnight.
Several passengers interviewed by The Journal
witness others collapsing, though it's not clear
if it's from illness or exhaustion.
Jennifer helps tend to the sick.
The plane lands in Atlanta
early on the morning of March 20th.
Passengers without fevers are allowed to walk
into the airport and to connecting flights.
Jennifer collapses in the airport.
She gets to a hotel to quarantine.
So I ended up in the emergency room last night
or yesterday morning at the airport.
I guess the doctor said it was just pure exhaustion
from not having slept or from not having food for so long.
So hopefully we'll go home soon.
- [Narrator] Jennifer Catron returned home on April 1st.
She was never tested for coronavirus.
She's since joined a class action lawsuit
against Costa Cruises.
Carnival says it cannot confirm
how many people on board the Luminosa
have since died with COVID-19.
But passengers have been crowd-sourcing
their own unofficial tally through a Facebook group.
So far they've counted 15 dead.
(dramatic music)