Covid-19 coronavirus: Australian woman outraged at fellow Ruby Princess passengers

An Australian woman has described people sneezing on each other onboard the Ruby Princess, which is at the centre of multiple Covid-19 deaths and cases.

Fifteen passengers from the Carnival cruise ship had died, and more than 650 people have been infected. They include passengers and other points of contact.

The cruise ship headed to New Zealand for a two-week cruise around the country.

The Ruby Princess berthed at the port in Napier on March 15, its last port of call in New Zealand before heading back to Sydney.

Its docking led to a cluster of Covid-19 cases in Hawke's Bay, including six in Gladys Mary Care Home in Napier.

The vessel berthed in Napier and had led to a cluster of cases in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Getty Images

Australian woman Stacie Hunt boarded the vessel in Sydney and passengers disregarded other passenger's health, she told the Washington Post.

"People were selfish and thought they were safe being away on a boat," she said.

"I had people sneeze all over me. I had people squeeze themselves into lifts that were already too full.

"At the end of the day, we knew what was going on around the world. We knew how quickly it spread in ships. People just didn't care."

Before heading to New Zealand, the Ruby Princess arrived in Sydney on March 8 and crew had worked fast to clean the vessel.

Crew had only 12 hours to clean it the vast ship, which was big enough to carry more than 2600 passengers.

"We knew even before we got on things were serious," Hunt said. Her mother and father-in-law have also been infected with the virus.

Hunt blamed her fellow passengers for its spread, many of whom apparently did not realise it could be spread without people showing symptoms.

As of Good Friday, 16 people had been infected with Covid-19 in Hawke's Bay as a result of the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

The cluster is one of 12 significant clusters in New Zealand.

The Prime Minister now wants legal advice on whether the Ruby Princess fulfilled its legal obligations on its journey around New Zealand.

"We are now suffering the consequences," Jacinda Ardern told media in Wellington on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister said "of course" the obligation on the cruise company was to ensure no unwell person disembarked in the circumstances that were developing.

"I have been advised that those assurances were directly sought by the Medical Officer of Health from the captain directly before individuals disembarked."

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise reiterated neither the City Council or Napier Port would have had any authority to prevent the Ruby Princess berthing last month.

Such authority of the port company, majority-owned by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, related to whether ships could berth in certain weather conditions.

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