Reflecting on a nightmare — Denmark couple Graham and Rose Paget open up about COVID-19 cruise ordeal

Rose Paget says she still has moments when she feels she is in a dream — or perhaps more fittingly, a nightmare. The worst of her COVID-19 battle is behind her, but the 75-year-old Denmark woman is still feeling the effects of a horror cruise which ended with her fighting for her life in a Uruguayan intensive care unit. Of the 217 people who boarded the Greg Mortimer on March 15, more than half contracted the virus. One crew member died — a loving 52-year-old father named Ronnie Lorenzo. Ms Paget narrowly avoided the same fate, returning home after two months in hospital. “I remember arriving in a little foyer at the front of the hospital, going inside — and I don’t remember much after that, to be perfectly honest,” Ms Paget told SBS. “I’ve had to rely on Graham my husband so, so much because he’s my memory card.” The cruise to Antarctica was supposed to be one of the high points of the couple’s lives — a celebration of Rose’s 75th birthday and a chance for Mr Paget to realise a lifelong dream. They arrived in Antarctica on March 18, in awe of its beauty and seemingly isolated from the pandemic sweeping the world. Four days later, on March 22, a passenger developed a fever. By March 24, five people were sick. With Argentina’s borders closed, the ship was diverted to the Falkland Islands, where it was turned away. The stricken Greg Mortimer eventually moored 20km off Montevideo, Uruguay. Far from a safe haven, the cruise had become a COVID-19 incubator, with nine of a group of 10 Denmark residents contracting the virus. “It was just another day in our confined cabin and Rose had developed this slightly irritating cough that wouldn’t go away,” Mr Paget said. “I thought that I ought to let (medical officer) Jeff Green know. “He examined Rose, listened to her chest and was significantly worried to put her on some oxygen.” On April 3, Ms Paget was put in full protective clothing and taken off the ship. “They got a wheelchair and popped her in the wheelchair and that’s the last I saw of her,” Mr Paget said. “She just disappeared.” Opening up about their harrowing experience on SBS Dateline, Mr Paget repeatedly came close to tears as he recalled how close he came to losing his wife. He, too, was taken off the ship with COVID-19 and placed in the British Hospital in Montevideo. “I find it hard to talk about, but one Sunday morning, the doctor who had come in each day to give me Rose’s progress came in and got me to deck up in full PPE, put me in a wheelchair and took me through to ICU,” he said. “And I thought that was the end ... I couldn’t say goodbye because there was a bloody window there. I couldn’t touch her.” One common thread among the passengers who survived the cruise is their gratitude for the compassion shown by Uruguay. As the Australians and Kiwis were taken to the airport to be flown home, people lined the streets and cheered for them. When Ms Paget was released from the intensive care unit, staff crowded around her stretcher to wish them well. Mr Paget said he was completely overwhelmed when he landed in WA after two months in Uruguay. He shed tears on the the tarmac at Perth Airport. His wife is still recovering, and it is unclear if she has suffered long-term damage to her lungs or kidneys. The cruise — run by Australian company Aurora Expeditions — embarked four days after the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Some passengers, including some among the group of 10 from Denmark, claim they had tried to get out of the cruise in advance but were told they would not get a refund. In May, Melbourne-based law firm Arnold Thomas & Becker Lawyers revealed they were investigating a class action lawsuit against the cruise line. At the time, an Aurora Expeditions spokeswoman said the company would vigorously defend itself against a potential class action. The spokeswoman said all passengers had been offered refund or voyage credit options. SBS Dateline: Deadly Trip Of A Lifetime airs at 9.30pm tonight.