President of Princess Cruises blows kisses and makes a heart gesture as she greets people disembarking from coronavirus-stricken ship in Japan on the day it emerged two passengers died
- Jan Swartz was shown waving, giggling and clapping as guests disembarked
- They had been stuck on the Diamond Princess for two weeks in Yokohama, Japan
- Man, 87, and woman, 84, have both died after catching coronavirus on the ship
The President of Princess Cruises blew kisses and made a heart gesture as she greeted ‘guests’ escaping from their coronavirus-stricken ship in Japan today after it emerged two passebgers had died.
Jan Swartz, who has been in the role for more than six years, also waved, giggled and clapped as people disembarked at Yokohama Port, near Tokyo, following two weeks in quarantine.
She has been criticised for her tone death response to the crisis.
As many as 634 passengers on board the £400million ship were diagnosed with the virus. An 87-year-old man and 84-year-old woman in their eighties have both died after catching coronavirus on the ship.
Jan Swartz was also shown waving, giggling and clapping as people disembarked in Yokohama, Japan. She is shown above making a heart shape
The executive, who has been in position for more than six years, also blew kisses (pictured)
A video uploaded to social media shows Ms Swartz nodding enthusiastically to staff and customers while wearing a white face-mask.
She is also shown posing for photos with passengers, clasping her hands as she listens to their concerns and chatting to the care team.
The video is set to upbeat and enthusiastic music.
It was put up in a criticised Twitter post after the deaths were announced which said: ‘In a continued effort to support our #DiamondPrincess guests and crew, our President Jan Swartz personally welcomed those disembarking in Yokohama today.
‘The entire Princess family is with each and every one of you during this time. (Heart emoji) #HangInThereDiamondPrincess.’
The video also showed her giggling as customers disembarked. An 87-year-old man and 84-year-old woman from Japan have died after catching coronavirus on the ship
The video was posted on Princess Cruises Twitter account and set to upbeat music
One viewer criticised the clip, posting online ‘what are you doing?’
A second questioned whether it was appropriate. ‘Great to see support from @PrincessCruises,’ he said, ‘but is upbeat backing music appropriate for crisis communications social media materials where deaths are now being reported?’
The United States evacuated more than 300 American passengers from the beleaguered vessel and put them into quarantine for 14 days. South Korea, Australia, Canada, Italy and Hong Kong also evacuated their citizens.
The coronavirus-stricken ship is set to return to active service on April 29 its owners, California-based Carnival Corp, have revealed.
The quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship sits docked at the Daikoku Pier on Thursday
Revealed: The Diamond Princess has 13 decks and is 290m long. It had 3,700 people on board – including 1,000 crew members – when it began the 14-day quarantine
They stressed that this would only happen after the ship had been ‘fully sanitised’.
‘The expectation is that the ship would be fully sanitised and then taken into dry dock for a period of time,’ said Negin Kamali, a spokesman for Princess Cruises.
The ship can carry around 3,700 people on luxury cruises around the world’s oceans.