A Luxury Cruise Liner is Stranded Between 2 Glaciers in Freezing Cold Temperatures as COVID Spreads About The Ship

NY Post - A luxury cruise ship that charged passengers $33,000 has run aground in a remote area of Greenland — and will be stranded for days in the freezing Arctic waiting for help to arrive, according to reports.

Aurora Expeditions’ Ocean Explorer, an Australia-based cruise operator carrying 206 passengers and crew, got stuck Monday while navigating through Alpefjord in Northeast Greenland National Park, the world’s northernmost park situated between two glaciers.

To make matters worse, several cases of COVID have been reported on board among the mostly elderly passengers, most of whom are Australian, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

One time in college I declared that I was going to drop out, go to school in San Diego to be a craps dealer, and get a job on a casino boat. I never ended up following through with that, but I kind of wish I would have. I like the idea of a job where you don't have to take any work home with you. Just clock in during the day, do your job, then shut your brain off completely until the minute you start your next shift. Semi-truck driver was always appealing to me for that reason as well. Unfortunately, Barstool Sports is the polar opposite of that (not a complaint).

Anyways, speaking of polar, how about this boat stuck in the middle of the freezing Arctic Ocean? That sure stinks. For the low low price of $33k, passengers were treated to a week of browsing glaciers, mediocre standup comedy from the cruise ship's house comedian, karaoke every night from 8-10pm, and being locked in your room with an airborne disease with freezing cold temperatures outside. 

With the exception of that one week in my life where I was going through a crisis and wanted to make a career on a cruise ship, I've generally been against the idea of cruises. Even without the stranded/COVID, I feel like they have about the same level of amenities as a luxury prison, but without the benefit of solid ground to stand on. Also ever since COVID hit, I feel like anybody who sets foot on a cruise has a 1 in 3 chance of getting stuck on board. For a stretch there it was a new story every day about some random boat with 300 sick passengers who have nowhere to go because no country would allow them off the boat.

This, however, is the first cruise I've seen that ran into a COVID + stuck between 2 glaciers combo. 

The Ocean Explorer hasn’t been able to free itself since it ran aground around nearly 900 miles from Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.

As of Tuesday morning, Arctic Command’s closest inspection vessel, Knud Rasmussen, was 1,200 nautical miles (1,381 land-measured miles) from the cruise ship, JAC said.

Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command (JAC) said in a statement that no one on board has been injured, and the ship hasn’t sustained any damage, according to Arctic Command Commander Captain Brian Jensen.

Jensen said it’s possible that Ocean Explorer could free itself once the tide becomes high.

I'm going to make it my official policy to never board any sort of vessel that's traveling in arctic conditions. I'm sure they go fine 99.99% of the time. But the only ones I know about are the Titanic, and the submarine that exploded while looking for the Titanic. Also, I'm not getting involved with any company with the name "Ocean" somewhere in their title (OceanGate = submarine, Ocean Explorer = COVID/glacier boat). There's terrible vibes around companies that feature the word "ocean" right now. 

And you know they're way the hell out there, considering the soonest a boat can get to their location is Friday morning.

Fraser, a retired Aussie traveling with his wife, and the rest of the passengers may have to wait several more days before being rescued.

The earliest a vessel can reach the Ocean Explorer is Friday morning, according to Danish authorities.

It sounds like everyone on board will be fine. I can only hope for the passengers sake that the ship is fully stocked up on booze so they can pass the time by blacking out for the next 36 hours or so. And thoughts on prayers to the one doctor on board. I would think doctoring a cruise ship would be super annoying regardless. I expect 90% of the patients he treats are nothing more than sea sick. The doctor (or doctress) probably gets puked on by every other person he sees.