Editor's note: These are the lyrics to a song that Al wrote.

On March 7, 2020, Holland America's ship, the ms Zaandam departed Buenos Aires, Argentina for a "once in a lifetime cruise" around South America, anticipating arrival 31-days later at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Things didn't go quite as expected.

With great fanfare and Champagne flutes
Twelve hundred passengers waved adios
From the storied decks of the ship Zaandam
To Buenos Aires, they had come.

Down from the north, with the snow behind
To the world's worries, they seemed to be blind.
And they paid little head to an ocean away
Where the Diamond Princess was struggling that day.

In twenty twenty, on the seventh of March
All were on board, leave at first watch.
A dinner and drinks and then a show,
A restful night, the next day they'd go.

Before the boarding, agents said it's OK
But unbeknownst to passengers on that second day,
The Department of State cautioned "stay away from cruises."
But were the ship and crew making excuses?

Off to Uruguay a respite from the sea
With penguins in the Falklands, take a wildlife selfie.
The crew cleaned all, even handles and buttons.
No virus so far. Was the worry 'bout nothing?

As the Zaandam sailed through the Straits of Magellan
The passengers sensed the first strains of rebellion.
When America declared a national emergency
The passengers called for action and urgency.

That evening, after touring the Torres del Paine
They were greeted by a message from the Zaandam captain.
"The end of the world" port wouldn't be one of their trips
Argentina closed its borders to all the cruise ships.

But with no flu-like symptoms on board the Zaandam
Guests and crew couldn't believe what happened.
The Zaandam dropped anchor after rounding Cape Horn
Waited two days then denied, worry soon turned to scorn.

Soon several of the passengers began to cough.
So they asked of the crew, "When can we get off?"
When they met with the crew and were ready to ask,
They saw each crew member was wearing a mask.

As seventy passengers came down with the flu
The Zaandam couldn't dock at Ecuador or Peru
Soon one hundred were ill, it had reached a large scale
So they changed course and headed for Fort Lauder- dale.

A Panama Canal rejection was unprecedented,
But after two days, they finally relented
They would be grudgingly accepted at Port Everglades
Where they'd be greeted by bunny-suited brigades.

The sick and the dead were taken away
But those with a fever had to isolate and stay
While the others caught charters to return to their towns
Where they spread the disease in their parks and playgrounds.