Back in February 2020, when the world was only just waking up to the realization that the coronavirus was on its way to becoming a full-on pandemic, the Diamond Princess cruise ship made headlines after it was forced to quarantine outside of Tokyo as a staggering number of its passengers began testing positive for COVID-19. The number of confirmed cases skyrocketed to over 600 passengers, which prevented the more than 3,000 people on board from leaving the ship as health officials scrambled to contain the hot spot. To make matters worse, infected passengers had left the ship before the quarantine and were now spreading the virus on the mainland.
In the new HBO documentary, The Last Cruise, viewers will be given first-hand accounts of what it was like being trapped on the ship that suddenly became the center of a terrifying outbreak that would soon overtake the globe. It, somehow, looks even worse than the notorious Poop Cruise of 2013.
“I spent months collecting hundreds of hours of cell phone footage taken by the passengers and crew aboard the Diamond Princess,” director Hannah Olson told PEOPLE. “I wanted this to be an immersive experience, meant to transport the viewer back into the particular feeling of the early days of this pandemic.”
Here’s the official synopsis:
Using intimate footage recorded by passengers and crew, The Last Cruise is a first-person account of the nightmare that transpired aboard the ill-fated Diamond Princess cruise ship, which set sail from Japan on the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Last Cruise sets sail March 30 on HBO Max.
(Via HBO)