Documentary Review: Hell of a Cruise

credit: Hell of a Cruise

Tens of millions book a cruise every year, it would appear, and even after the events of 2020, these numbers haven’t gone down despite the very real nightmare that many people had to live through when the virus hit. While there were a few ships affected, the story of the Diamond Princess is what dominates this documentary since the grueling process that people had to go through just to get off the ship and then return home sounds like a headache that no one would want to go through again.

What a person has to remember when watching this, however, is that this was during the onset of the coronavirus, and as such, there were still many people denying that it was that bad and were often heard to claim that it would blow over and be done with eventually.

The problem with being on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, however, is that once the virus is found to be on the ship, there’s not a lot of chance that the ship is going to dock again since the risk of infecting others is simply too high, and the massive issue this could cause would hang entirely on the shoulders of the company that allowed it to happen. 

credit: Hell of a Cruise

Being stuck on a cruise ship might be okay for about a day or two. 

Finding that you couldn’t leave the ship might be a bit annoying, but it wouldn’t be as disconcerting as realizing that one can’t use the different facilities that are there for the enjoyment of the guests. Apparently, the money-making areas were left up for a bit, but even those had to close down eventually.

Being quarantined in one’s room would have lost its appeal rather quickly since looking at the size of each room makes it clear that being confined in such a manner would grow old within a matter of hours. Even with TV and alcohol, which ran out quickly, it sounds like this kind of existence would be a bit stifling. But to have to stay for longer would be worse, especially if word reached each person that another individual, or more, had contracted the virus. 

The fact that the ship started to run out of supplies is kind of terrifying. 

Restocking the ship while at sea doesn’t sound like a tough thing to imagine, but the fact that people went through the stock of alcohol so quickly is no surprise since a lot of folks love to drink when they’re depressed or have nothing to do. Even with the likelihood that a ship the size of the Diamond Princess could carry enough to feed an army thanks to its number of guests, constantly dipping into the foodstuffs would deplete them quickly if everyone were to do it continuously for more than a few days.

Not only that, but it’s very likely that many people were wondering just how safe they were, while others were likely still thinking that the virus would burn itself out eventually. The confusing mix of uncertainty and self-assurance would have been tough to deal with, no doubt. 

credit: Hell of a Cruise

One can only imagine how the guests must have felt during this process. 

Once the virus became a serious issue and guests realized they couldn’t leave their rooms or the ship, it’s very likely that a lot of them started to become concerned, scared, and even paranoid in some cases. Seeing the various ways in which the cruise line tried to handle this matter is a bit frustrating since, on one hand, not telling everyone exactly what was going on was wise since there was no need to create a massive panic that might have made things worse.

But it’s still a bit shady to not keep people in the loop since once folks found out, there’s no doubt that they were a bit angry and wanted answers immediately. The downside of letting everyone know, however, might have meant that they would panic and start trying to exit the ship. That’s a worst-case scenario, obviously, since it doesn’t feel like something that would happen immediately. Still, it’s easy to think that some folks might have reacted in a manner that was less useful than desired. 

It’s not too surprising that a lot of people will continue to book cruises. 

Amazingly, this didn’t put a lot of people off of booking cruises in the future when all was said and done. There are definitely people out there who won’t take a cruise again, as they might feel that it’s likely that this could happen again. But it’s a little uplifting to think that people will continue to book cruises, if only because it means that there are still plenty of people that aren’t willing to give into the fear of the unknown and what could happen.