'Our waiter coughed over our food': Inside the doomed Ruby Princess as survivors tell of their 'utter hell' after sailing on the coronavirus-riddled cruise - which left 712 infected and 22 dead

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Ruby Princess passengers have revealed the 'hell' they went through after sailing on the coronavirus-riddled cruise that left 712 infected and 22 dead.

The ship's 2,647 passengers were allowed to disembark the ship when it docked at Sydney's Circular Quay on March 19, spreading COVID-19 around Australia and further afield.

Fred Jackson, from Mosman in Sydney's north shore, said that 100 people were 'breathing all over each other' on a packed tender boat that brought passengers to shore. 

The 79-year-old, who spent a month in a Sydney hospital after contracting the virus, said it was almost impossible to socially distance from other people on board. 

The ship's 2,647 passengers were wrongly allowed to leave the ship when it docked at Sydney's Circular Quay on March 19, spreading COVID-19 around Australia 

A passenger said that 100 people were 'breathing all over each other' on a packed tender boat that brought passengers to shore. Pictured: The Ruby Princess cruise ship departs from Port Kembla

By March 17 - ten days into the 13-night cruise - 50 passengers had reported respiratory symptoms 

'Now I look back on it, our waiter was coughing quite a bit over where the food was. He had the type of cough we developed when we got back. It was a dry cough,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Shuttle bus driver Julie Lamrock contracted the virus after she picked up a passenger who later tested positive. 

Ms Lamrock spent about an hour with the passenger in the car on their way back to Campbelltown. 

While driving out of Sydney, the passenger asked to get out and shop at Aldi but Ms Lamrock refused when they saw a queue of customers as panic buying hit the nation.

'Imagine all those people in Aldi she could have infected,' Ms Lamrock said. 

Five months later she is still suffering from post-viral symptoms and hasn't been able to return to work.

'I went through hell, absolute hell. It's with me for the rest of my life now. I'm worried about complications when I get into my 80s. All because the Ruby Princess let their passengers off,' she said. 

By March 17 - ten days into the 13-night cruise - 50 passengers had reported respiratory symptoms.

A message went out over the PA system urging people to see the ship's doctor if they had COVID-19 symptoms, leaving the ship's sick bay inundated with concerned passengers. 

'Also ruby numbers gone berserk in last 48 hours. I took my eyes off the game yesterday,' a manager from Carnival Australia, the company who runs the Ruby Princess, sent to his colleague. 

On March 18, the day before the ship docked, 110 people on board were sick and 17 had a fever.

The day after the ship returned to Sydney from a cruise around New Zealand, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard revealed three COVID-19 tests performed on board had returned positive test results.

Passenger Fred Jackson said a waiter was 'coughing quite a bit over where the food was' during the cruise. Pictured: a different waiter at a party on board the Ruby Princess a day before it docked in Sydney 

Crew of the beleaguered Ruby Princess Cruise Ship depart a charter bus at Sydney Airport on April 23

It instantly sparked a blame game between the government, NSW Health and the NSW Police Force that dominated headlines.

In the following weeks, 712 passengers and 202 crew tested positive and 22 people died. Two months later the outbreak was finally contained. 

An ongoing inquiry is investigating how cruise ship officials were allowed to let thousands disembark when there were suspected cases on board, and before the results of COVID-19 swabs had come back. 

Despite this, they were allowed to spill out into Circular Quay, potentially infecting thousands of people as the disease was spreading rapidly before most lockdown measures were put in place. 

The inquiry is set to hand down its findings this Friday.