(ITNTV) — His ship may have been to hell and back, becoming a floating coronavirus-infected prison for passengers quarantined at port in Japan, but when the captain of the Diamond Princess cruise ship became the last person aboard to finally step onto dry land, he looked entirely unruffled by the experience.
If it weren't for the mask on his face, Gennaro Arma, striding purposefully along the dockside in full uniform with hat under arm, might easily have been stepping down from an uneventful trip shuttling passengers from one vacation destination to another.
But those who know him best say the steadfast calm Arma exhibited throughout the ordeal in which more than 700 people on board the ship tested positive for COVID-19 was typical.
Captain Arma on his return to dry land.
Vincenzo Guardascione/Princess Cruises
It's why, they say, the experienced Italian sailor is now being hailed as a hero at home and abroad.
"He emerged to be exactly how people have renamed him -- 'Fearless'," Arma's wife, Mariana Gargiulo, tells CNN Travel from her home in Sant'Agnello, a beautiful coastal town south of Naples, where the captain is due to return soon.
"He never had any problems, and I never worried because we were constantly in contact."
The quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess has been widely criticized for intensifying the risk of infection for those stuck aboard. Many passengers were eventually airlifted out, but not before at least five people had contracted fatal infections.
Nevertheless, Arma apparently proved himself a tireless rock for his passengers and crew during their ordeal and he's been widely praised for helping lift spirits and for setting a noble example of how a captain should deal with adversity.
Back in Sant'Agnello his friends, family, townsfolk and local authorities are waiting for Arma's return, preparing to throw him a huge homecoming party. The captain tested negative for the virus and is currently in quarantine in Japan.
His wife says the captain's calm and control during the emergency made it easier for passengers to endure being confined to their cabins. It also gave his family a sense of peace and reassurance.
"We talked each day, both by phone and video chat," she says. "I could hear he was calm, that everything was fine, and I could see that he was fine. He never had any problems.
"I could see him on the ship, he was doing well, working. We had the chance to talk a bit about everything, even our family, and not just about the situation on board."
Arma, according to Gargiulo, is a real sea dog with decades of expertise that led him to travel around the world after he graduated at a prestigious local maritime school.
"He is a man with great sea skills and know-how," she adds. "His main worry has always been the well-being of his passengers. It was a good test."
As the wife of a cruise liner captain, Gargiulo has come to share and support her husband's job. She says she's "always been very serene" even during the past critical weeks.
"After many years, I'm used by now to the fact that he can be away, and far away, for a long period of time."
Gargiulo says she doesn't know what Arma's next plans will be -- whether he'll take a break or not before heading back to sea. For now, she says she's just focused on seeing him again.
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