A cruise ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology, which was quarantined in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia due to the detection of measles onboard, has now been set sail for the island of Curacao after it was stuck in port for several days.
On Thursday, the ship left St. Lucia after local public health officials sent 100 doses of MMR vaccine to the ship, according to Reuters reported.
The cruise ship named “Freewinds” was stuck in the port near the capital of Castries for a few days.
Freewinds is expected to arrive in Curacao at around 6 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Officials at St. Lucia told NBC News they had no authority to prevent the cruise ship from leaving.
On Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Merlene Frederick-James of St. Lucia, said, “The confirmed measles case was stable and under surveillance by the ship’s medical crew.” She said that the measles’ incubation period is 10 to 12 days before any signs and symptoms appear. It was reported that the infected person was a female crew member.
The Church of Scientology has described the Freewinds on its website as a floating “religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion.”
Ramana Dienes-Browning, who is a former senior executive on the Freewinds, said that her time aboard was like being an “animal in a cage.” She said she was forced into an “extensive re-indoctrination” program when she was caught while trying to escape the ship. She was forced to do hard labor in the ship’s engine room.
Dienes-Browning wrote, “I took to always carrying a pocket knife with me as the idea that I could take my life at any time was the only way I could feel some sense of empowerment. The one thing stopping me was the image of my mother’s face when she would hear the news of my death.” She eventually had to leave the church about five years later. On Thursday, Leah Remini, an actress and former Scientologist, said, “The outbreak in St. Lucia may have been ‘a blessing in disguise’ if any of the ship’s passengers managed to ‘get off this ship of horrors.’”
