For Sacramento attorney Bill Portanova, the cruise seemed like the trip of a lifetime, steaming around Antarctica and the Falkland Islands for weeks with his wife, Shauna.
Then, the coronavirus pandemic blew up, and Portanova found himself stuck aboard the M.S. Roald Amundsen off the coast of Chile, where official actions to stem coronavirus evidently include not allowing any cruise ships to dock before September.
“I’m trapped,” Portanova said by cell phone Monday morning as he gazed out at the Chilean coastline near Punta Arenas, where the ship had been scheduled to dock.
“The president of Chile said no more cruise ships until Sept. 30,” Portanova said. “Our captain and the company have been trying to negotiate something for a number of days.