Brian and Alison Farthing, of Bairnsdale, thought their recent cruise trip would be the holiday of a lifetime, but it resembled more of a nightmare when coronavirus panic swept the world.

The Farthing’s had booked a 10-week cruise on board the MV Columbus which was to have taken them through Asia, then onto Egypt, through the Suez Canal to Israel, Greece, Gilbraltar and London before finally heading home.

Instead the couple spent most of the time floating around at sea before eventually being quarantined for 14 days in a hotel room in Perth.

Before they even departed on their whirlwind trip on February 25, the Farthings had already been advised via a letter from the travel agency, on February 13, that Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong had been pulled from the itinerary because of the outbreak of coronavirus.

Mrs Farthing, a former teacher, admits she would have liked to have cancelled the trip then but it would have meant foregoing the substantial amount of money they had paid for the cruise and connecting flights.

“Coronavirus had just started to move, so we wanted to cancel,” Mrs Farthing said.

“But it was written in the conditions that we would lose all our money if we did. At that stage, the Australian Government hadn’t yet placed a ban on international travel.

“The Prime Minister hadn’t said ‘don’t travel’ at that stage.

“For us it was a lot of money to lose. It was to be Brian’s final trip because he’ll be 90 this year and it’s very hard to get insurance once you hit 90,” Mrs Farthing said.

The couple boarded the ship and set sail from Sydney as scheduled, visiting Airlie Beach and Yorkeys Knob in Cairns.

They then travelled to Darwin, which wasn’t on the original itinerary, before heading to Bali, Lombok and Semarang, in Indonesia, which also wasn’t scheduled.

In mid March, the ship was due to arrive in Jakarta but the captain announced Indonesia was now closed and the MV Columbus was banned from docking.

“At this point they announced the cruise would be cancelled and we would be recompensed for the remainder of the trip,” Mrs Farthing said.

The announcement came just three weeks into the 10-week cruise and the Farthing’s say there was very little communication after that.

“To be fair to shipping, no one knew what was going on,” Mrs Farthing said.

After four days sailing around, the Australian and New Zealand passengers were informed they would be placed on another ship to return to Australia.

The Vasco da Gama cruise ship was en route to Britain when it was turned around to pick up about 800 passengers off the MV Columbus.

The transfer of passengers took place on March 18 mid ocean, in waters near Phuket, and Mr Farthing, an ex-serviceman, says was the first sea exchange to have occurred in peace time.

“It all went very smoothly,” he said.

The MV Columbus then continued onto to Britain while the Vasco da Gama slowly made its way to Fremantle.

“There was a great deal of uncertainty and a lot of rumor about where we were going,” Mrs Farthing said.

“At one stage we thought we might be going to Rottnest Island.

“Things just kept changing.” Another ship, the MV Arcadia, had already docked in Fremantle with passengers requiring medical attention because of the coronavirus, so the Vasco da Gama was ordered to stay offshore.

Finally, on March 30 the passengers on the Vasco da Gama were allowed to disembark under a heavy police and army presence and were ushered onto buses for the journey to the Crown Metropol in Perth.

The Farthings were placed in lockdown at the hotel for two weeks.

“We’d been sailing for 16 days, there was no way we could have coronavirus,” Mrs Farthing said.

The Farthings concur with many reports that the food offered to them was substandard.

“Fortunately, for us Brian’s daughter and friends live in Perth so they brought us food, chocolate and a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle,” Mrs Farthing said.

“That was really a lifesaver for us.”

The couple would throw out their main meal and eat ham and bread brought to them by friends.

They took 10 days to put the jigsaw together which kept them occupied and helped allay any anxiety.

The couple only turned the television on of an evening to receive updates on the news sweeping the world about coronavirus.

After serving 14 days locked down, the Farthings were then confronted with another problem after being released – how to get back home?

With flights grounded the couple had no way of returning to Bairnsdale.

“We couldn’t cross the border by car because we’d have to do another 14 days in isolation,” Mr Farthing said.

The New Zealand Government had already sent a plane to bring its residents home from Perth and Mrs Farthing wondered when Australia would send a plane for them.

“We heard on the news the government was sending planes to South Africa and Uruguay to bring Australians back and thought what about us,” Mrs Farthing said.

Eventually, an Alliance Airlines flight was arranged to bring more than 100 passengers back to Melbourne on April 16.

The Farthings arrived back in Bairnsdale the following day.

With overseas travel now permanently on hold, the Farthings have their sights on travelling Australia when the time is right.

IMAGE: Alison and Brian Farthing's 72-day cruise on MV Columbus was cancelled and they were forced into quarantine in Perth.