Couple returns home after being stuck on cruise for a month

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — A Brunswick County couple has finally made their way back home after being quarantined on their cruise ship for a month.

WWAY’s Lakeeda Johnson spoke with them about their plans for the future.

“To be able to get out of that car last night, and walk through my front door, you hear people say ‘there’s no place like home,'” Passenger Kathleen O’Neill said. “I couldn’t click my heels together and go to Oz, but I could click my slippers together, and be home.”

There is no place like home. Kathleen made that known Wednesday after she and her husband returned to Oak Island, a place they had not seen since leaving on a cruise, March 5.

“Once they started coming on saying people reported to sick bay with flu like symptoms, it started to scare everyone,” Husband John Hutton said. “Then the next thing, we were quarantined in a room, which added to the uncertainty of it all.”

The retired teachers left for Buenos Aires on a two week cruise that turned into more than a month at seas.

Kathleen said they did not cancel the trip because at the time, the coronavirus was not as progressive as it is now.

“It wasn’t going on when we got on the cruise,” Kathleen said.

After more than a month, they finally came back home with ribbons tied to their trees by loved ones to welcome them, but their ordeal is not over yet.

They plan to get tested for the coronavirus at Novant Health. If results come back positive, Kathleen said they will do what is necessary.

“I’ll treat it like the version of flu that it is, and make sure that I try to stay healthy,” Kathleen expressed.

The couple said the are planning for another trip hopefully in the fall, if everything goes as planned.