Wayne Rogers placed in isolation in the Crown Metropol hotel in Perth

"It's only day one, so I'm feeling OK. We'll see how it goes," Mr Rogers said.

"I have a nice room, TV and a bathtub. The view out the room is beautiful."

The hotel has an impressive swimming pool, which Mr Rogers can see from his window. He can also see people walking and running on a path by the river.

But he's not allowed to use the pool or path.

"I'll have to run around the room," he said, half-joking.

Food gets put at the door with a knock.

"It's pre-packaged food, like airline food," he said.

"There's no cleaning of the rooms. If we need clean towels or sheets they're put outside the door. We do have a key, but we're not allowed outside."

Security guards watch the hotel halls.

"I heard a security guard yelling at someone last night, so they must have tried to go outside," he said.

His room has a lounge, desk and fridge but no balcony or fresh air.

"It's nice to be one step closer to getting home. If this is what we have to do to get rid of the virus, it's really nothing," he said.

"I've got a phone so I can ring people. And we're here being treated to this."

Mr Rogers boarded the Vasco da Gama cruise ship in Bangkok to perform as a "comic in a frock".

He was supposed to disembark five days later in Phuket, but the coronavirus crisis prevented this. The ship floated at sea for 20 days before docking at Fremantle last Friday.

Passengers departed the ship on Monday for 14 days in isolation.

Mr Rogers and other passengers waited for seven hours before a bus collected them.

"They eventually put some food on for us. It was a long day," he said.

Police escorted the bus to the hotel, where Mr Rogers arrived at 9.30pm on Monday.

"We had our rooms designated and we were handed a key in an envelope. It was put on a table and as we walked past we took it," he said.

No passengers on the Vasco da Gama had coronavirus symptoms.

"We were fine on the cruise ship. We were able to use all the facilities. The food was beautiful. We had shows every day," he said.

"We weren't told very much. We were wondering whether we'd actually get home. It was like, 'Are we going to be stranded on this ship floating around forever'.

"We'd be told something and the next day it would change. We knew what was going on before the captain because they announced it on TV."

We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to ensure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists, you can subscribe here

For others:

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here

Also, here are the links: