which made life. delivering new life into some of the toughest living conditions. in a unique 6 part series al-jazeera follows the lives of the remarkable people who work . in the slot on al-jazeera. to. be princess sailed into sydney for the 1st time last year the ship was greeted with fireworks and celebrations as the one everybody was to go along. now the ruby princess is famous for all the wrong reasons not to put the mighty dollar 1st again i never put out safety 1st absolutely appalling what i've got. a special commission of inquiry is examining how hundreds of infected passengers

were allowed to leave the ship spreading the virus around the country and the world we thought we were going to go into the problem we didn't realise we were going to be the problem one o one a steam vista gates how this public health disaster was ever allowed to happen. the disaster that struck princess cruise ships began in january when the diamond princess set sail from tokyo back. suzanne distilled and her family were among the thousands of passages looking forward to a carefree holiday. unlike the entertainment on the ship but i like the fact you don't have to think the. where to go for your next meal it's just so you don't have

to plan you can just go with the floor take part in a lot of activities or relax. we believe fun is a choice carnival cruise corporation is the world's largest cruise conglomerate with 9 brands and over $100.00 ships including the princess plate. in late january the diamond princess was 5 days into its cruise when it failed into hong kong harbor. on the 25th we docked in hong kong and that's when i rang mom and dad and i was chatting to them and that's when dad said to me said business while screwing around and we're watching it on the news and you know i think you need to be really careful and at that point i said today and i said i said you know dan the ship in are they would be they would and if it was source us they would be taking us to these ports. while the ship was in hong kong and a 2 year old passenger left the cruise crossings in some things and. there were

some to watch our wire been gone very substantial one days later he was taken to hospital and tested positive for corona virus the hong kong health department moved quickly to notify the ship's local agent we've then turned around. to the ship notifying the of the situation around advise them to do the misses so. cleaning up voted more was for. the e-mail with guards around 10 15 in the evening went to the director of customer services and the administration office so that we did not get a response number only that we all sort of go to the prince's headquarters for asia or in australia the following day so i'm not sure we could have done much more.

passengers weren't told about the positive test for more than 36 hour winds. as adamic princess sell towards japan the captain broke the news. to ice take the. race this. was on february 1st. 9 as passengers enjoyed dinner that evening they had no idea the virus was already silently spreading amongst them. and so many people on the ship like yours sitting together you having your meals you having a dinner with the waiters you've been on at the bar. verdict. that night the distilled has celebrated a family birthday. they had no reason to think they were in danger.

we didn't realize what was going to hit us in a few odds. the diamond princess docked at yokohama the next morning. japanese officials boarded to screen passengers. passengers waited to learn when they could disembark. and just like everyone was lost so it was far more beautiful body board and having a lot of fun just people just sitting there very very worried and you could just stand that the whole mood was completely changed. and then the announcement came that you know the ship's going to be quarantined 14 days because if a passenger that had run a virus on the ship and that. each day the captain delivered the break news of the growing number of infections. they

. work. this is. the japanese ministry of health was in charge of the current team crisis. infection control specialist professor kentaro wattle was so horrified by what he saw when he went on board he posted this video. of a school scared i was so scared of getting covered. because joe is no way to tell where the pharisees no green zone not all right some everybody could have virus and everybody was not cheerful about it just so below deck the galley crew had to keep working to feed guests these crewmembers put on a brave face assuring the outside world that they were ok but some of their colleagues were becoming sick. and that's not surprising because there were not actually feet and then subsequently the cruet began to spread that disease today as

a century us and that resulted in the infection. became symptomatic after disembarked to. places. the beer was spreading throughout the shame. days into quarantine suzanne's 21 year old daughter bianca became unwell she was really belle and really frightened she was just pretty much shaking in the chair. she later tested positive along with her mum and dad and they were taken off the ship. the shot i think. at the end of princess radio to about this spread of the disease inside the cruise ship and the there were not. the mind of just about the fact 30 many passengers were elderly people who are susceptible

to severe disease. there have been more than 700 confirmed cases of covert 9 tain on the diamond princess at least 13 people are dead. we've learned a lot from the world's top experts and have stepped up our health protocols even more these additional steps partly with everybody doing their part to care for their own personal health well it harms the cruising experience so it continues to be an exceptional and safe way to travel and see the world. i think going on a cruise after all this happened and continuing running the ships when all this was going on was crazy.

by early march corona virus was spreading unchecked around the world and a new horror was about to unfold. the ruby princess was heading to sydney after a 2 week cruise around new zealand. when health officials boarded the ship they found more than $366.00 passengers and crew awaiting assessment 9 of them was swapped for clothes at 19 but despite the risks posed by the virus the ruby princess was already preparing for its next cruise to set sail in a matter of balance. tracey temple was at the terminal with her mum waiting to board the next ruby quintets crudes they wondered why there was a delay gossipers going around that passengers had been tested for flu like symptoms and i was just waiting for results to come back and that new south wales health had corn train the ship and that they were fumigate all i panicked.

and went and tried to find somebody from the cruise ship i found a lady in a white uniform and i said to her. i would like to ask you a question how am i kidney and pancreas transplant patient. i want to know if it's saif for myself or my mother to get on to this cruise and she said that the cruise ship would not let one passenger lead alarmed all passengers they put at risk if there wasn't saif to sign. the ruby princess sound out light on the night of the 8th of march. this room the park the were just leaving units for 2 of.

the passengers enjoying effort on the ship had no inkling of the disaster about to unfold. maureen dollars and her partner of almost 30 years len fisher were excited for the trip ahead we had lots to talk. to. a dozen women to sit and they come. up and do the just they proposed a brown still to come since. this is. having a really do not the 1st few days of the cruise were trouble free like that until

our director was. there a grant to try this alleged tracey and her mom dined with friends and explored on shore here there with their mother for him a long battle going. on trying to get the stars of the ship so just common grounds they are still there. it's. 4 days in the marriage shifted when the world health organization declared a pandemic. under me it is an old award to use rightly or carelessly we were watching the news and we did not know until we are on the ship that it had been classed as a pandemic. then of course you panic and you think oh my god you know because there's not why you can get off. princess announced it would stop new cruises for

the next 60 days. already it's the ruby princess child on. this is wellington. says margaret you stay the p.r. right next door to. the ruby princess north tonight. passengers join to was around the town oblivious to the risk they could be spreading the virus. we came back we hit a restaurant we hit every single store on the street to support the locals and that's what we did. the ruby princess left behind a cluster of infections in new zealand with 24 people testing positive. we are now suffering the consequences of cases here in new zealand as a result of that cruise ship. in the middle of march these trailing and new zealand governments took action. destroyed government also banned cruise ships from foreign

ports from arriving and strong imports from lucia looted. by. the rupee princess was given an exemption and turned around to head back to a stray once it is a good thing there is it with this. ship lost was the side there was a time it all stroy at the die and then know it nothing had changed whatsoever it was the sign as. you do on a normal cruise anyway. as the ruby princess headed back to sydney the sheep's head doctor warned new south wales health the ship seemed to be in the early phases of an influenza outbreak passages were told nothing. so i just kept reassuring you all the time but the ship is virus free.

and the new regulations the ruby princess was required to report to authorities if anyone on board had corona virus like symptoms. the ship submitted a series of mandatory prayer rival health reports to federal authorities. the 1st reports showed 53 people were sick and 10 had a temperature over the next 2 days those figures more than doubled. 13 people were swabbed for covert 19. this ship reported less than one percent of those on board had influenza like illness on that basis new south wales health decided it was low risk. but nice south wales health wasn't told when more sick passengers came forward later that day. on the final night of the ruby princesses voyage the atrium was packed for the

farewell party. we want to say thank you cause they have. given you so use the call to thank you for being part. of all just that it isn't. just before 7 pm the ship's quarter agent was dialing triple 0 it was a 70 minute phone call from carnival employee. new south wales same 2 words and they were trying to book 2 ambulance to take off 2 passengers who had both presented with proper wrist betray issues and they both had secondary health issues want to do with the issue and want to do with lower back. and today report there was a risk the patients could have covered 90 certainly in that phone call that that was obvious to me that they were concerned about that and personal protection equipment

was mentioned. and symptoms people with the flu so there was certainly enough concern in that phone call that meant that the ambulance officer who took the call is collated to this supervisor because of their concerns . that ambulance supervisor called the new south wales portal thoresby to warn that issue with coming in with some coronavirus patients on board. that then caused the port authority to have concerns with the ruby princess and actually asked them to stop their progression into sydney harbor. after more late night phone calls the head of the portal rang a senior manager at carnival this trailer that manager told the portal 30 bus that the ambulances were not called for clover 19 related brazenness and that nice south

wales health had determined the ship was low risk and had cleared it to berth and distant back passages as a result of that conversation the portal 30 reversed its decision and allowed the ship to dock. a number of triple 0 phone calls between the port authority. and use of force ambulance radio transmissions between the port authority and the ship a mile transmission between the port authority and the ship what i was looking for was evidence around. like symptoms on the ship that would have clearly righted the ship to a medium or high risk classification at no time did our foreign covert no i don't like symptoms mentioned anywhere in any of the pipework from carnival all the really princess. so what does that say to you well it says to me a couple of things. you know was. an on a strong response from the ship whether it's

a captain the doctor or the crew in relation to the whole scene of the ship as it was coming into the port of city. the ruby princess docked at 2 30 in the morning 2 passages were rushed to hospital would later test positive for car that 19 the other coronavirus taken from passages will also sent for testing. on the morning of the 19th of monch crew lined up to fail well the passengers. they say doing this high 5 all the way down the steps i'm like literally thinking oh my god i just thought the people. it was i think it. so we get off and on think and this is crazy there's nobody nobody's protecting the rest stop being that you know that's what i'm thinking is probably not that bad.

you know ok that i to me that i handed you off like cattle is quickly she could get off. and we had no checks whatsoever. it wasn't a saying because we felt safer on the so. we thought we were going to go into the problem we didn't realize we were going to be the problem. it took more than a day for the 13 covert tests from the ship to be processed 3 because the tive. that meant thousands of passengers and crew had potentially been exposed to the virus. when tracy returned to brisbane she tested positive for karen think a more infected i just can't do it. and mark are sorry if i

did and if it cause somebody to get sick or to draw it our car nearly lost my life pairing. and mark transpired as well because. somebody is neglect somebody stupidity. just from law is fair. because as far as i'm concerned i put the mahdi dollar 1st and i never put our safety 1st and it's absolutely appalling it's atrocious. in tasmania maureen dawes is mourning the loss of her partner of nearly 3 decades. days after they finished their cruise len fisher became critically ill with covert dine tain. she was allowed into his hospital room to say goodbye. and moan. but it's just a little. smarter.

he still works her love foods took her watches to her. i'm already in the dark to them it's so good to me. and tell me get in a state that it's not cool. and we can. start. to. 'd talk would stay. in our sector from christie put up. somebody needs to be held accountable because yes new stuff whilst health let us disembark the ship but princess cruises

put us on the ship to begin with and i think all these debacle with the diamond princess that i should have cancelled the cruise before us and aus just. because i have a shooting of chaos was supposedly duty of care to look after their passengers. who conducted 2. searches of the ship which means a place in full people have gone on to the ship to collect evidence the police commissioner directed the homicide squad to investigate taking the black box with multiple my ball far along with medical records. you know i felt that there are unanswered questions but the death toll from the ruby princess was was wrong as in not just in new south wales where across the strike and the world so from our own was the criminal negligence relation to the wire that this matter was handled that contributed to the deaths of any of those people. the cruise company insists it did

nothing wrong ruby princess fully reported his health status using the official federal and state maritime reporting systems we take these obligations very seriously and strictly adhere to them. all gas could disembark ruby princess because that was the official health clearance process that existed at the time. you. say you'll. convo has posed cruises for now but hasn't stopped marketing to.

north of miami travel agent diane feet is recovering from covert 9 tain. 7 out of a 10 person to a group contract of the virus but she plans to cruise again. cruising is definitely the bang for the buck a lot of hearing people that cruise or got a cruise again. as the ruby princess finally set fell from astray and it left behind a terrible toll. at least 850 passengers and crew have contracted quite benign tain 24 i did. more opinion is that i should put it somewhere out in the middle of the i should

and sink. you know get me on a cruise ship in for a guy. china has one of the world's highest her base but many a take up the fast against that for military star white let's go to radical surgery one o one a steam vest against the chinese battle to get in shape on al jazeera london is one of the most important cities in the world and decisions made here have an impact right around the globe and so here at al-jazeera we will show you the true impact of those decisions on people then how it affects their everyday that. we are free to put them on air and to really gauge the stories because we know there are all this is interested not just in the mainstream news but also the more hidden stories

from parts of the world that often go under reported. we're watching al-jazeera with me so robin in doha a reminder of our top news stories france is calling on the e.u. to back anti-government demonstrators in belarus a week of protests against president alexander lukashenko culminated in a huge rally in the capital minsk on sunday now the opposition accuses look at shanker of rigging the election and want him to face justice for alleged torture but he's not backing down a step faster reports. they went from fear to defiance and from sadness to anger in just one week. never before have so many peep.