Springfield family returns from Holland America cruise docked in Cambodia

SPRINGFIELD,Mo. (KY3) — A family is back in Springfield after getting stuck on a cruise ship for nearly a month due to scares of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

The Hampton family returned home Friday night.

“I think the running joke is I wanted it to be a trip my kids would never forget,” said Ainey Hampton. “It’s going to be a trip they never forget, but not for the same reasons.”

The family was on a Holland America cruise out of Hong Kong. It was scheduled to stop at about 12 ports across Asia.

“We had a couple days where we were in Hong Kong and we got to see Hong Kong and that was pretty much it,” said Ainey’s husband Cliff Hampton. “We’ve been at sea other than one day we got to go to Taiwan. We were supposed to be there for two days and they only let us one day.”

Many countries wouldn’t let the ship dock due to fears of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

“We were told we would be going here and that’s what we thought and that’s what the cruise line thought,” Cliff said. “Then it would change.”

The Hamptons said their cruise was officially canceled on Feb. 6. They got off of the ship on Feb. 19, but they didn’t make it back to Springfield until Feb. 21.

“That’s how long it’s officially taken us to find somewhere that would take our ship and then somewhere that we could fly and airports to connect through,” Ainey said.

The family said no one on the ship tested positive for the virus and they were never quarantined.

“We did temperature checks about every couple days and so nobody was ever sick or confirmed with the coronavirus,” Cliff said.

The Hamptons said they were one of the last families to exit the ship. Once the cruise ship docked in Cambodia, Ainey said they had to stay aboard for six more days.

“When we left the crew had just cheered and cried because and they were so sad because we had just built this special bond with them,” she said.

Ainey said the family learned how to be flexible throughout their unexpected travel days.

“We learned to sleep wherever we were and on this flight you know we ate what was there and we were in our clothes for many days,” Ainey said. “You know, you just be flexible with that.”

She said the unexpected wasn’t all bad. Ainey said the family can now say they have flown across the entire globe and their five children had a chance to meet people they wouldn’t typically get to meet.

“Most kids don’t ever get to meet ambassadors from their other countries and we spent a lot of time with the embassy in Cambodia and the embassy in the Netherlands,” she said. “That was really neat.”

The family said they do plan to return to Asia one day, but not any time soon.