Cruise ship guests must 'fight' for 'rotten and terrible food,' Grand Princess passenger claims
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Food fight?
Meals on the Grand Princess ship reportedly aren’t quite being enjoyed family-style, one passenger has claimed. The Princess Cruises traveler alleges that although guests are being served “rotten and terrible” fare, people “have to fight for it.”
The Grand Princess itself has been held off the coast of Northern California since Thursday due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has infected 19 crew members and two passengers among its 3,500 people on board.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Feb. 11 photo of the Grand Princess cruise ship passing the Golden Gate Bridge as it arrived in San Francisco from Hawaii. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
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When guests are finally allowed to go ashore in the Port of Oakland starting Monday, they will likely be craving a good meal, passenger Margret Bartlett claims.
"The food is rotten and terrible and we have to fight for it. It is not good enough,” the 77-year-old woman from the U.K. told the BBC.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A spokesperson for Princess Cruises was not immediately available to offer further comment regarding the meals currently being provided to passengers on the Grand Princess ship.
In general, Bartlett described the turn of events as “depressing,” as the passengers on board have been mostly isolated in their cabins since March 5, per The Associated Press.
In this image from video, provided by the California National Guard, a helicopter carrying airmen with the 129th Rescue Wing flies over the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California on March 5. (California National Guard via AP)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last week, the Grand Princess canceled its final stop in Mexico en route to San Francisco from Hawaii after officials learned that a man who had been on the ship last month contracted the virus and died this week, The Mercury News of San Jose reported.
Passengers have been on the ship since Feb. 21, when they left California for Hawaii. The ship’s chief medical officer, Dr. Grant Tarling, said the company believed the man, who didn’t show any symptoms until he was on board, contracted the virus before boarding, per the outlet.
Looking ahead, American passengers on the Grand Princess will be transferred to military posts for quarantine and testing after debarkation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A file image of the Grand Princess. The ship is currently being held offshore near San Francisco due to coronavirus concerns onboard. (Robert Cross/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the nearly 1,000 California residents on the ship will take priority, followed by non-California residents who are U.S. citizens, and then non-U.S. citizens.
Those who have tested positive for the virus will be sent directly to Golden State hospitals, officials said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Newsom asked for patience, disclosing that the debarkation process could take two to three days.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Brie Stimson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.