Every Australian is certainly no stranger to the trials and tribulations that 2020 brought us all. It was a trying year for everyone, to say the least!

But for some people, that year was especially difficult. Just take, for example, those who contracted COVID-19 – especially elderly Australians and those with pre-existing health conditions.

The pandemic, unfortunately, took a toll on many Aussies’ mental and physical health, not to mention their bank accounts as well. And sadly, some people have even lost their lives to this global crisis.

One group of Australians who were dealt a particularly tough hand by COVID-19 are senior citizens who had booked a cruise on the Ruby Princess liner back in March of 2020.

The class action against the Ruby Princess' owners and operators began a few days ago. Credit: AAP Image/Dean Lewins.​

For various reasons, things went very wrong, very quickly – and many of these elderly passengers contracted the virus during their voyage. Sadly, some even died as a result.

Now, survivors of the trip (as well as families of those who didn’t make it) are taking legal action against Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia in hopes of justice being served – for themselves, those lost, and others affected by what happened aboard that ill-fated trip.

The Federal Court has been told that the disastrous Ruby Princess cruise, on which 28 people died from COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, should never have set sail.

This claim was made in the initial filings of a class action lawsuit against Carnival PLC, the owners of the ship that set sail from Sydney, Australia, bound for New Zealand on the evening of March 8, 2020. The trip was scheduled to last for seven days.

Out of a total population of 1679 Australians, 663 were said to have caught the virus.

Fred Jackson and his wife, Julie. Credit: A Current Affair.​

Fred Jackson is one such person, and he is currently advocating for justice on behalf of his late wife. The 81-year-old claims that during their voyage on the Ruby Princess, he and his wife, Julie, became infected with the virus and needed to be hospitalised.

Now, he wants the cruise line to accept responsibility for what happened to them.

Mr Jackson recalled that they used to be avid cruisers until their trip aboard the infamous ship to New Zealand.

Mrs Jackson passed away this May from an unrelated illness, but her husband says that the doctors told him the COVID-19 virus contributed to her early demise.

He thinks the cruise, which had over 2,000 passengers on board, should have been cancelled.

‘That cruise should not have gone ahead... in my mind, it was greed, it was all money... money, money, money…’ said the widower.

Mr Jackson is a part of the huge class action that is now being heard in the courts. At the very least, the class action will take four weeks, and if it gets pushed out, it might stretch well into the new year.

Mr Jackson stated that he merely wants everyone to be aware of his experiences and what, in his opinion, the trip on the Ruby Princess did to change his and his wife's lives.

Mr Jackson doesn't want any money, he only wants the cruise company to take responsibility for what they have done. Credit: A Current Affair.​

This is such a heartbreaking story - we wish Mr Jackson and the other victims of this incident all the best in their legal battle.

What are your thoughts on this story, folks? Do you know anything about the Ruby Princess cruise ship scandal during the early stages of the pandemic? Let us know in the comments.

 

[Ricci]

I'm sure I don't know what was the right thing to do but I do know that hindsight is always 20/20. Way back in March 2020 I don't think anyone knew what was ahead of us or could have predicted how bad things were going to get or how quickly events would overcome everyone.

 

[Whitsun]

They had the experience with the Diamond. I was on that cruise and I caught Covid. The cruise wasn’t allowed to sail for hours while they re- cleaned the ship. I tried to get some information as I was worried about covid but nobody was talking, so we got on. We were never told that so many people were sick and were encouraged to congregate in enclosed areas. They had a duty of care to inform us what was happening and we could have made our own decisions about wearing a mask and keeping away as much as possible. But nobody talked. The only good thing to come out of that trip was we saw,Milford Sound in sunny beautiful weather. A real bonus for me.

 

[Rosalie30]

On 1st March, 2020 we boarded The Silver Spirit in Singapore. This Silversea cruise was headed to India via Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Covid was being talked about, and some cruises heading East were cancelled. Nobody knew the extent of the virus at this time. All passengers boarding Silver Spirit were health checked and continued to be monitored for the remainder of the voyage. We got as far as Phuket then turned around as our destination countries closed their borders. Eventually after 18 days on this 15 day cruise, we disembarked in Darwin. Not one passenger or crew member had Covid. We cannot fault Silversea for the care and attention shown. Quite unexpectedly we were cleared through mask wearing Customs, put on buses and dumped into the middle of Darwin Airport. The same thing happened in Sydney when Ruby Princess docked. With Covid cases on board, it was not Princess/Carnival who are to blame for the spread of Covid throughout Australia, it was NSW Customs/Border Security who were negligent allowing everyone ashore and not quarantining the ship. I am sad for the people affected who became extremely sick or lost their lives, but look to the real culprits of this so called ‘debacle’.

 

[Whitsun]

On 1st March, 2020 we boarded The Silver Spirit in Singapore. This Silversea cruise was headed to India via Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Covid was being talked about, and some cruises heading East were cancelled. Nobody knew the extent of the virus at this time. All passengers boarding Silver Spirit were health checked and continued to be monitored for the remainder of the voyage. We got as far as Phuket then turned around as our destination countries closed their borders. Eventually after 18 days on this 15 day cruise, we disembarked in Darwin. Not one passenger or crew member had Covid. We cannot fault Silversea for the care and attention shown. Quite unexpectedly we were cleared through mask wearing Customs, put on buses and dumped into the middle of Darwin Airport. The same thing happened in Sydney when Ruby Princess docked. With Covid cases on board, it was not Princess/Carnival who are to blame for the spread of Covid throughout Australia, it was NSW Customs/Border Security who were negligent allowing everyone ashore and not quarantining the ship. I am sad for the people affected who became extremely sick or lost their lives, but look to the real culprits of this so called ‘debacle’.

 

[Whitsun]

I understand how you feel but we were desperate to get off that ship after seeing how it spread on the Diamond after isolating them on the ship. I went home and didn’t leave for 33 days. My husband, who hadn’t gone on the cruise, didn’t catch it from me as I was very careful and wore a mask all the time. Luckily we had family who could deliver food to us as shops wouldn’t do it at the time. It wasn’t the best time of our lives but it could have been a lot worse.