SURFSIDE, Wash. — After encounters with gunboats, a high-speed transit through the Panama Canal under the cover of darkness and a journey that spanned a large swath of the Western Hemisphere, Tom and Venita Brazier are just happy to be home.

The couple departed for Argentina in late February for what they thought was going to be a pleasant and relaxing cruise around South America. What they ended up getting was more than they — or anyone — could have bargained for.

The Braziers planned the trip for about a year. Married since 2002, the couple are what Holland America Line classifies as 4-Star Mariners, meaning they’ve sailed on the company’s cruises for at least 200 days.

The Argentina trip was to be the couple’s last before Tom Brazier began chemotherapy for bone cancer.

“We’ve been talking about some special places that I’ve wanted to go in South America. I had been to lots of places in Argentina previously, and I wanted to show Venita some of those places,” he said.

The entire trip was set up for the Braziers by Holland America, with the plan being for them to arrive in Argentina about a week before the Zaandam, their cruise ship, departed from Buenos Aires. When they embarked on their trip from Portland International Airport in late February, Tom said nothing was going on in regards to the coronavirus, which would not be labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization until March 11.

With a week to kill in Argentina before the cruise began, the couple used the time to visit some of the country’s premier natural landmarks — including Iguazu Falls and the Argentina’s Lake District around the Andean resort Bariloche — and explore Buenos Aires, the nation’s capital.

After a week of exploring, the couple said there were still no warnings of the creeping pandemic as they readied to board the Zaandam in the Port of Buenos Aires on March 7.

“We had two days in Buenos Aires before the ship left, and nobody was talking about anything. We got on board the ship, and everybody was happy. We had the sail-away party, and everybody was happy. We had about a week on the ship, and then it hit the fan,” Tom Brazier said.

The return trip started out normal. The first stop was in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay on the eastern South American coast. Following two days at sea, the cruise then stopped at the Falkland Islands, the British territory. There, Venita got to observe the island’s penguin colonies.

The cruise continued to Punta Arenas, Chile. The couple took a tour of the coastal city before boarding the ship in the evening on March 14 and heading for Ushuaia, Argentina, the world’s southernmost city.

Change of plans

That night, the Zaandam made a 180-degree turn and headed back to Punta Arenas. The ship’s captain told the passengers that Holland America had halted operations due to the spread of the coronavirus, and that the Zaandam was heading back to Punta Arenas before it closed off its port at 8 a.m. later that morning.

Unbeknownst to the captain, Punta Arenas’ port was already closed, stranding the ship off the coast of Chile. And just in case the Zandaam might try and make a break for the port, a Chilean gunboat was placed between the ship and the shore.

“You can look out the window and see a guy behind the bow with a machine gun in one hand, and they manned it 24 hours a day. No matter when you looked out at it, there was a young man or a young woman standing there with a cannon,” Tom Brazier. “I’ve had people pointing guns at me in various situations, and it’s scary but not the end of the world. Out here, when they’ve got a cannon on a gunship, that’s scarier than hell.”

The Zaandam spent two days off the coast of Chile, waiting to see if an agreement could be reached for the ship to dock so the passengers could take flights home from Punta Arenas. But no agreement came. The ship headed north up the western South American coast for the Chilean capital of Santiago, where it was allowed to refuel and receive deliveries of supplies.

The ship continued north, as Holland America and consulates for the countries of the passengers onboard tried to find a port that would allow them to dock. It was on the afternoon of March 22 when the captain made a startling announcement, just after Tom and Venita enjoyed a pleasant lunch.

“The captain said, ‘I regret to inform you, and I’ve never had to make this announcement in all my years of being the captain of our vessel, but after lunch you all need to return to your cabins, where you will need to remain for the duration of our trip,’” Venita Brazier said.

The Braziers spent the rest of their trip stuck inside their cramped cabin, where they played cards, watched television and talked to friends they had made on the cruise to pass the time. The experience was one that they have no intention of going through again.

Soon after, the Zaandam rendezvoused outside of Panama with the Rotterdam, a Holland America sister ship that came down from Mexico with medical supplies. By then, four older passengers of the Zaandam had died, with at least two of the deaths being due to COVID-19 complications. Nine people on the ship had tested positive for the virus, while more than 100 were reporting flu-like symptoms.

About 800 passengers of the Zaandam were transferred to the Rotterdam. At the time, it was reported by news outlets that healthy passengers who were showing no symptoms were transported to the Rotterdam.

However, Venita Brazier said the transports were made to help lighten the load on the Zaandam’s crew, dozens of whom were reporting flu-like symptoms.

Under cover of darkness

On March 27, both the Zaandam and Rotterdam sought eastward passage through the Panama Canal but were denied. Panama’s Ministry of Health said any vessel that had individuals on board who tested positive for COVID-19 would not be allowed through.

The health officials reversed course the next day, and allowed the ships to transit the canal. But there was a hitch.

“I think we were there about 24 hours, and then all of a sudden the captain said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I am requesting that you close all of your blinds … We’ve been given permission to transit the canal, but we will be doing it overnight and we’re going to be doing it under the cover of darkness,’” Venita said.

Tom Brazier said the passengers were informed that the cruise ship set a record for the quickest transit through the Panama Canal.

“I woke up about 2 a.m., and we were beating feet through that canal. We were going as fast as I’ve ever gone on a cruise ship,” Tom said.

By morning, the two ships were in the Caribbean and attention turned toward docking in a port so the passengers could begin the long slog of heading for home. The problem was finding a port.

In Broward County, the home to Port Everglades, county commissioners debated for hours on end on March 30 about whether to allow the ships to dock in the port. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had initially said it was Holland America’s responsibility to care for its sick passengers and not Floridian communities. But after a March 31 call with President Donald Trump, DeSantis walked back his earlier comments and agreed to allow the ships to dock.

On April 2, the two ships neared Port Everglades. However, a dispute over the plan on how to evacuate the passengers between Broward County and Carnival Corp. — the company that operates the Holland America Line — delayed the anticipated docking time. Finally, around 6 p.m., the Zaandam docked.

“Oh man, they had a list of things you wouldn’t believe. It was like filling out an application to become a new patient at the doctor’s office. We had to tell them all about our medical history, how long we’ve been sailing and just all kinds of crazy stuff about our history,” Tom said.

The passengers who weren’t Florida residents were told that they could not do anything on Florida soil, such as visit a hospital or receive any treatment. The Braziers and others went directly to a bus from the ship, which went directly to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport tarmac. That bus was accompanied by a Broward County Sheriff’s Office escort.

From there they traveled directly to San Francisco, decked out in masks and gloves on a plane that was completely full. They, along with other passengers, spent the night at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the San Francisco International Airport.

The next morning, Alaska Airlines chartered a flight for about 20 Pacific Northwest passengers to Seattle, Spokane and Portland, where the Braziers disembarked. As they and two other passengers got off the plane, the Alaska Airlines crew gave them a signed postcard saying they were honored to be the ones to take them home.

Home at last

On April 4, Tom and Venita Brazier finally stepped foot in their home, more than a month after they left. They picked up their dog, “Cameron,” the next day, and their little family was finally reunited.

“We’ve been just thrilled to be back in our own bed and our own house again,” Venita said.

Tom wholeheartedly agreed, adding that he was close to running out of medication, including medication needed for his chemotherapy. He had about a week’s worth of medication left.

“I didn’t want to run out, because when you’ve got cancer you don’t want to start skipping treatments,” he said.

Experiences like this one, Tom said, are when people really find out who their friends are. And people on the peninsula that Tom had previously considered just acquaintances turned out to be a lot more than that.

“The world is quite different from when we left … Even the peninsula itself,” Venita said.