BOSTON HEIGHTS, Ohio — A Boston Heights woman has finally returned home after being stranded on a cruise ship during the coronavirus outbreak.
“I don’t like to sound dramatic, but it was a nightmare,” says Lynn Remly. “It was certainly something that no one expected.”
Lynn is a world traveler. The 77-year-old has taken five to six major trips a year for the last 55 years, going to every continent and every ocean. In all her travels, her all-time favorite experience came near Nova Scotia.
“Sable Island has a population of feral horses and being a horse addict, I’d always wanted to see them. We were the first group of tourist ever to be allowed on shore,” says Lynn.
One of her least favorite experiences came last month, after boarding the Zaandam cruise ship to tour the coasts of South America.
“We were doing very well until about the 14th of March. That was the last time we went off the ship,” recalls Lynn.
Some of the passengers and crew members started to show symptoms of coronavirus, which prompted the captain to confine passengers to their rooms.
“I think you start to feel that confinement,” says Lynn. “Again, I don’t like to sound melodramatic, but I suddenly had this thought that for heaven’s sake, that I could die.”
After days of uncertainty, finally assistance arrived in the form of a second cruise ship, which took on healthy passengers like Lynn, before both ships eventually docked and started sending passengers home. Now, about a month after she left, Lynn is finally back in Boston Heights.
“It was certainly a very bad experience. The consolation was that my feeling during the entire trip, was that we were in very good hands,” says Lynn.
Now under self-quarantine, Lynn passes the time going on socially distant walks, taking care of her cats and getting caught up on some much overdo reading. As much as she likes travel, that love may only be matched by the love of a good book.
After being stranded on a cruise ship and isolated in her home, the thing she misses most is going to the Hudson library.
“I’m the president of the Friends of the Hudson Library and I’m looking forward to getting back to that,” says Lynn.
As far as future travel goes, she says she’s done with cruises for a while, but she’s actually been stranded overseas twice before, so this wasn’t uncharted waters. However, right now, she’s thinking she’ll stay stateside, at least for the time being.
“It’s a very bad feeling to be separated from home by an entire ocean,” says Lynn. “In the meantime, about all there is to do is to enjoy the leisure as much as you can.”
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