For one American couple, what was supposed to be a weeklong trip in Japan has been abruptly replaced by two weeks confined to their room aboard a quarantined cruise ship.
Kent Frasure, 42, and his 35-year-old wife, Rebecca, traveled from Oregon to board the Diamond Princess, which left Yokohama for a 16-day cruise and made stops in other parts of Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Taiwan, with roughly 3,700 passengers and crew members aboard.
The couple had planned to travel around the country upon returning to Japan. But when the ship returned to Yokohama on Tuesday, they learned that they wouldn't be leaving any time soon. An 80-year-old man who disembarked in Hong Kong had tested positive for the new coronavirus, setting off fears of a ship-wide outbreak.