But he said the passengers on the Celebrity Solstice were allowed to freely leave into the state capital, despite there being at least one known coronavirus case that was on board the boat earlier in the trip.

"It was very easy to get off," Mr Keys said. "When we got on in Auckland, everyone had their temperature taken, which I thought would have been the absolute minimum getting off."

Mr Keys said he and his partner were also able to get straight into a taxi, and he also later caught another cab to his car, which was parked at a friend's house, before driving home to self isolate.

The cruise began in Auckland on March 10, by which time Mr Keys said he had already seen some impacts of the virus.

He said his flight to Auckland via Brisbane was half empty in economy and even saw a woman on the flight wearing a World War I gas mask.

But while Mr Keys kept up to date with some news on the trip, he said the passengers were pretty isolated from what the situation happening in the outside world.

"There was some talk about it, but being on holiday you were more likely to talk about where you're from or Donald Trump," he said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Thursday that cruise ships would be banned from docking in NSW after more than 130 passengers from the Ruby Princess tested positive for coronavirus.