No information. No way off. 100,000 crew members remain in cruise ship limbo for months [View all]

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article242565281.html


Crew members on Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas cruise ship demand answers from the captain about when they will be going home on May 15, 2020. MAJESTY OF THE SEAS CREW

BY TAYLOR DOLVEN
MAY 17, 2020 06:00 AM , UPDATED 12 MINUTES AGO

In the avenue of ocean that stretches south from Miami to Cuba and northeast to the Bahamas, dozens of cruise ships sail back and forth. Every so often, they come into Florida ports to refuel and restock. Otherwise, they wait.

The crew members on board — many no longer receiving paychecks — wait for news about when they will return home and see their families again. Two months after the cruise industry shut down amid repeated COVID-19 outbreaks on ships, more than 100,000 crew members remain trapped at sea with little reliable information about what will happen to them.

While most passengers were able to get off cruise ships by early April, crew members have largely remained stuck. During the prolonged isolation, the virus continued to spread through the ships. At least 578 crew contracted COVID-19 at sea and seven have died, according to a Herald analysis.

At least two crew members have leaped overboard in apparent suicides. On May 10, a 39-year-old crew member from Ukraine on the Regal Princess ship died after jumping overboard while the ship was anchored off Rotterdam, Netherlands. Late last month a crew member jumped off Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas ship while it was near Greece; his body was never found.

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