Ship-bound couples back home, self-quarantined

After spending an extra week aboard the cruise ship MS Marina, two couples with Whitefish connections stepped foot on dry ground Monday after their ship had been turned away from multiple South American ports due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Jim and Connie Alderson, formerly of Whitefish, and Carole and Leif “Bart” Erickson were traveling together to celebrate the Aldersons’ 50th wedding anniversary and boarded the ship Feb. 24. Their cruise was supposed to conclude March 15, but when ports up and down the South American coastline began closing over mounting concerns about the virus, the 1,200 passengers aboard soon found themselves with nowhere to turn.

While some of the other travelers saw the extra days on board as an extension of the cruise, the Ericksons said they felt trapped.

“We were stressed,” Carole Erickson said. “But Oceana took care of us. The crew was wonderful. I can’t say enough good things about them. They were losing their jobs when we got to port and not one of them ever looked unhappy.”

After being denied in Argentina and again in Chile, the ship headed south for the Panama Canal where they were able to jump the line ahead of tankers and cargo ships, cross the canal and make their way toward the Port of Miami, where — at last — they would be permitted to dock.

“I think there were 50 ships on our side of the canal,” Jim Alderson said.

Once passengers learned their journey finally had an end date, they were relieved, but still uncertain whether they’d be quarantined on the ship for an additional 14 days upon arrival or not. However, before they’d even boarded the ship, Alderson said passengers had completed temperature checks, and during their many days sea, there were no reported cases of COVID-19 on board. Thankfully, the passengers were allowed to disembark in Miami and begin their respective journeys home.

“Once we got into the taxi going into the Miami airport, then we knew we were home free,” he said.

Carole and Bart Erickson also made it home Monday, but said finding return flights was no easy task.

“You’d look at a flight schedule at the airports in Miami …. it was showing like 80 to 90% canceled in Miami and in Denver,” she said.

They had a flight to Denver, but their connecting flight to Montana scheduled for the following day had been canceled. But as luck would have it, the couple came across a fellow US Marina passenger from Bigfork who told them there was a flight departing that day for Montana. At last, they were truly homebound.

The airports were eerie, Erickson recalled. “I told somebody you could play a baseball game in the hallways of the airports practically.”

Once on the plane, the couple observed cabins that were between one-quarter and one-third full, she said. What few passengers that were there had spread themselves out to maintain social distancing as much as possible.

Now that they’re back in their respective homes in Whitefish and La Quinta, California, both couples plan to self-quarantine out of an abundance of caution.

And while Erikson hasn’t left her residence apart from making the return journey, she’s already noticed impacts from the pandemic such as “how empty the roads are, how empty the town is,” she said. “I see a lot more people out walking.”

“We’re really happy to be back,” Bart Erickson added. “We’re never leaving the valley again.”

While the uncertainty of their journey was harrowing, the Ericksons kept their experience in perspective.

“We were fed, clothed, taken care of. We were waited on,” Carole Erickson said. “We know that people are losing jobs, they’re out of work … they’re going through huge stress in a lot of other ways.”

What gives the couple hope is seeing the good manifest out of this international crisis.

“We’re really impressed with how people are trying to do the right thing,” she said. “The self-quarantine is so important for people to follow, and we’re seeing it happen, and I think that’s really great.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at mreiss@dailyinterlake.com or (406) 758-4433.