Updated April 21, 2020 13:57:59

As the Ruby Princess crew sat in their cabins this morning — some preparing for their long-awaited departure from the ship — a morale-boosting announcement came over the PA system.

"This virus can't break us, it actually has one design fault, it makes us stronger," a voice blared.

Forty-nine crew members left the ship today, but will be forced to isolate in Sydney hotels before boarding flights to be repatriated later this week.

The crew members, who have been stuck on the coronavirus-stricken ship since it docked at Circular Quay on March 19, were loaded off it at Port Kembla and taken north to Sydney.

Almost 1,000 people remain on board, though.

The ship has been the centre of Australia's largest COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 600 infections and 21 deaths linked to it.

Photo: Byron has been running personal training sessions for crew members on board to keep spirits high. (Supplied: Byron Sodani)

Personal trainer Byron Sodani is among the crew leaving today and listened to the announcement which told those leaving to strip their beds and put all linen garbage bags.

"I am feeling very nervous because until I am on that plane anything can happen ... I am really happy that this experience is over," he told the ABC.

Mr Sodani said he created a daily routine to stop himself from "getting depressed".

"Deep inside obviously I wanted to go home, but I kind of forced myself not to think about it ... instead, exercising, talking with friends, sunbaking on the balcony," he said.

"But without knowing what's going to happen, it's just terrible — I really think people should be put first and not the opposite."

Another crew member said she was relieved to be leaving the ship, but was scared for her colleagues that remained on board.

Some crew members have told the ABC they had been served frozen food over the past month that had expired.

The announcement over the ship's PA system this morning said: "With regards to salary and compensation, you will receive a letter ... in the coming days."

Photo: Crew complained they were served this frozen and expired food yesterday.

Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Warboys described the process of moving the 49 crew to hotels as a "controlled movement".

"The vast majority of those people are from the UK, USA, New Zealand and Canada — there is also one person from Japan and a couple of Irish as well," he said.

"One of those people are COVID-19 positive [and] that person will go into healthcare, the rest are no risk at all."

Mr Warboys said it would be only a "matter of days" before those crew members were put on to planes home.

More crew members may be allowed to disembark tomorrow depending on the outcome of negotiations between Police Commissioner Mick Fuller and foreign consulates.

"We are still on schedule for the ship to sail on Thursday," Mr Warboys said.

NSW Police will spend six months investigating what was known about potential coronavirus cases on board the Ruby Princess before it was allowed to dock.

The events surrounding the ship's arrival in Sydney are also the subject of a Special Commission of Inquiry in NSW.

Topics: travel-and-tourism, travel-health-and-safety, infectious-diseases-other, diseases-and-disorders, health, police, police-sieges, law-crime-and-justice, crime, port-kembla-2505, sydney-2000

First posted April 21, 2020 12:26:54