Summerlin couple on quarantined cruise ship returns home

The Summerlin couple who had been quarantined on a Grand Princess cruise ship returned home on Sunday.

Ron Griebell said Sunday evening that he and his wife, Sandy Hahnenkratt, got to their home at 5:40 p.m, where they will remain quarantined until March 27. “This ordeal is finally over,” he said in an email.

The couple boarded the Grand Princess on Feb. 21 and spent March 5-11 quarantined in their windowless room, Griebell said. When they got off the ship they were taken to Marine Corps Air Base Miramar in San Diego, despite assurances from Gov. Steve Sisolak that they would be brought back to Nevada to quarantine in their home.

“This morning they gave us five minutes to pack or they were leaving without us,” Griebell said in the email. “I think they were kidding, but we could not take any chances.”

He said he had “nothing but praise” for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers at the military base, and he thanked Sisolak “for his devotion to his citizens on a scale above and beyond the call of duty.”

They spent the weekend at the base before returning to Las Vegas on Sunday.

The couple were tested for coronavirus on Friday, but Griebell said he doesn’t know when they’ll get the results back.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever hear those results, but I would think that we’re entitled to it,” he said in a phone interview. “We never got a straight answer on how long they would take.”

Griebell said he and his wife were unable to get refills on their medications or “personal necessities” such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, and that one of their suitcases was lost.

Now that they’re home, the couple are making plans to stock their kitchen.

For dinner Sunday night, they planned to order a pizza. Then they planned to reach out to local grocery stores to see who could deliver food to their front door.

Griebell said Sunday had been a whirlwind, but that he and Hahnenkratt are “glad this ordeal is over, hopefully forever.”

Contact Alexis Egeland at aegeland@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexis_egeland on Twitter.