Passengers disembark from the Carnival Magic in Galveston (Michael Stravato/The New York Times)
What was the scene like for cruise ship passengers whose vacations were derailed because of a brief scare about an infectious disease?
Karen Shropshire, a 49-year-old Oklahoma resident, was among 4,000 people aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship that carried a Dallas health-care worker who was being monitored for Ebola.
For Shropshire, passengers were abuzz. But she said there was no sense of panic, no extraordinary precautions such as people avoiding the railings or elbow bumps instead of handshakes.
“We were laughing and joking and having a good time,” she said Monday. “I read where people were staying in their cabins and avoiding everyone. Not really. The boat was just as busy as it every was.”
The health-care worker, who self-quarantined herself on the ship, handled a specimen from Thomas Earl Duncan, the Liberian man who died from Ebola. Test results came in negative Sunday morning and passengers were allowed to leave the ship.
Shropshire, who was on her first cruise, said she’d read enough about Ebola to not be too concerned, but the wait to see whether they’d be allowed to leave the ship was anxious.
“I’d have to say that was the biggest time for me,” Shropshire said. “I was thinking, ‘what am I going to do if she tests positive?’ Twenty-one days in isolation is tough when you have a family and job.”