With many countries organizing repatriation flights to get their nationals home, and cruise passengers finally coming ashore, there’s one group of travelers still having a hard time getting home: Cruise ship crews.
As many as 100,000 crew members may be affected, some of them unpaid once the passengers are debarked. USA Today estimates 52,000 on 73 ships docked or anchored at U.S. ports, with another 41,000 on 41 ships not yet in U.S. ports. An unknown number more are on ships in the Caribbean and other parts of the world.
Some lines are not paying crew who would normally be off duty and rotating home because their contracts have ended. And getting home is also a difficult issue.
Many crewmembers are from other parts of the world, and flights have become few. On top of that, CDC is now recommending private charters, rather than commercial flights, for those leaving cruise ships, even if they have no symptoms.
Carnival’s Princess Cruises says it is working on a crew repatriation plan; Carnival has 21 ships now with crews but no passengers.
And for those with symptoms, it is becoming difficult to find on-shore medical treatment; Miami area hospitals will no longer accept even medevacs from the ships.
