Cabin Fever: Trapped on board a cruise ship when the pandemic hit. A true story of heroism and survival at sea New Book

About the Author Michael Smith is an award-winning investigative reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek. His stories document financial crimes, the business of narcotics and human trafficking, and environmental and labour abuses in corporate supply chains. Smith has won dozens of awards over his 30-year career, including the prestigious George Polk, Maria Moors Cabot, Robert F. Kennedy and Overseas Press Club prizes. Recently, he has reported extensively on the Covid outbreaks on cruise ships. He is based in Miami. Cabin Fever is his first book.Jonathan Franklin is an award-winning public speaker, investigative journalist and author. Franklin's previous books include A Wild Idea, 438 Days: An extaordinary story of survival at sea (now under development as a major motion picture) and 33 Men, the inside account of the dramatic Chilean mining rescue and a US bestseller. A native of New Hampshire, he splits his time between Portland, Maine and Punta de Lobos, Chile where he lives with his wife and daughters. Product Description On 7 March 1,200 tourists, including Americans, Australians, Canadians, Brits and Europeans, gathered on the dock in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to board Holland America's 780-foot long, ten-story tall Zaandam for a 31-day South American cruise of a lifetime.Few on board had heard of the virus as they set sail. No one could imagine the extraordinary sequence of events that was about to unfold on the high seas.The tension rises and falls as passengers hear the news about the outbreak on land and the first signs of it appear on ship. Then the Zaandam is prevented from docking in port after port. At one point their passage is blocked by a Chilean naval cutter with guns raised.In an attempt to manage the rising number of casualties onboard, the sister ship Rotterdam is called into action to meet the Zaandam on the high seas to take some of the passengers and transfer some of their staff to the Zaandam to help out. A high-risk manoeuvre in rough conditions that few would attempt. Only the crew of the Rotterdam don't know about the Covid outbreak on the sister ship until it is too late. Some of the crew try to mutiny and lock themselves in their cabins.Meanwhile diplomats are desperately trying to negotiate for the Zaandam and the Rotterdam to sail down the Panama canal. A nail-biting journey through very narrow waters akin to threading a needle.Cabin Fever is a story layered with moments of kindness, peril and perseverance. A remarkable tale that is filled with individual acts of heroism, the struggles and the tragedies of the crew and passengers.