Over 40,000 cruise ship workers are still trapped at sea due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these workers are without paychecks, feeling intensely the consequences of the pandemic.
According to the Miami Herald, at least 42,000 workers remain trapped on cruise ships without paychecks, three months after the industry shut down. Namely, cruise lines stopped sailing during March after several outbreaks at sea.
In fact, over 600 people fell ill aboard Carnival Corp.’s Diamond Princess while it was quarantined off Japan. Fourteen of them died.
What is more, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has prohibited cruises in U.S. waters through July 24.
Only some cruise ship workers have started being repatriated to their home countries. Specficially, about 3,000 Carnival Cruise Line workers got off in Croatia earlier this month to catch rides and flights home across Europe.
In addition, MSC Cruises has flown more than 1,000 Indian crew members home on charter flights from Europe and South America. Royal Caribbean has also flew more than 1,200 Filipino crew members home last week from Greece, Dubai, the US and Barbados.
However, several Caribbean countries haven’t allowed cruise ships to dock in their ports because of concerns that they would cause spikes in the number of virus cases. Only Barbados has allowed for crew repatriation flights from its airports.
