Piers calls on Boris to help Brits on board Grand Princess
Piers Morgan has urged Boris Johnson to step in to help UK passengers currently quarantined on board Grand Princess, saying the lack of information from the UK Government is ‘an absolute disgrace’.
Morgan promised to get some answers from the Government after London couple Leo and Denise McConkey described life on board the ship via a video link to Good Morning Britain.
The ship has been sailing off the coast of California since Wednesday last week, when a previous passenger died of coronavirus. There are 21 cases of coronavirus on board and the couple has not been tested yet.
When asked to describe conditions onboard, Mrs McConkey said: "It’s horrendous." Her husband corrected her: "It’s worse than that."
Mrs McConkey added: "It’s like being in a prison. They knock on the door, leave the food at the door and walk away. They have got masks on and gloves."
The couple said they’ve been in their room since Thursday. Mr McConkey said: "I actually left my room yesterday and they told me they were going to get security to put me back in the cabin otherwise they would lock me up if I didn’t go back."
The couple are on board with Mrs McConkey’s elderly parents and another couple, who all have underlying health issues. She said they’ve not been able to see each other as they are all on separate decks.
When asked what information they have been receiving, Mrs McConkey said: "We hear more from our friends and family back home and then we get told it on here, once we’ve heard it from home."
The couple said they’d been told US passengers would start to be disembarked tomorrow, and the process would take four days.
"We still don’t know what’s happening to international passengers," they said.
When asked by Piers where exactly the ship is and whether they have been able to speak to anyone, Mr McConkey said: "It has been going round and round San Francisco harbour and we hear we’re docking at Oakland tomorrow. We can’t speak to anybody. We just hear from the captain."
Morgan added: "You’re stuck on a massive boat, lots of people have coronavirus, elderly friends and relatives with you with underlying health conditions, no information from the British Government at all to tell you what’s happening. It’s an absolute disgrace.
"How can you be sure that the food that you are being given is not contaminated?"
Morgan said he’d received tweets from several people with relatives on board, who had asked him to step in and help them.
"We hear you. We are going to get some answers from the British Government," he said.
Princess Cruises said the ship is due to dock in Oakland today and passengers will be allowed to disembark in phases.
It insisted passengers had been allowed to get fresh air and sunlight on a ‘rotation programme’ but had to adhere to ‘social distancing’.
It said all guests were given free internet and telephone calls to stay in touch with families and loved ones.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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