The Miami Herald recently helped to quantify the scale of the crew repatriation crisis aboard cruise ships around the world. They report that “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.” 

When the cruise lines first shut down on March 13, they anticipated being back in service within about a month, much like the SARS pandemic of 2002. Then on April 9, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention banned cruising in U.S. waters through at least late July. The CDC also imposed tough new rules for sending crew home, effectively banning the use of public transportation for crews traveling to or from cruise ships. Other countries also imposed new and tough regulations for repatriation.

The cruise lines responded by either chartering air flights to send crews home or by using the cruise ships themselves to bring crew members to their respective countries. The process has been going extremely slowly.

The Miami Herald reports that so far Carnival Corporation has repatriated 37% of the crew left at sea after cruising halted and passengers departed — some by air charter, and some by sailing its ships across the oceans on multi-day voyages. MSC Cruises has sent home 76% and Disney Cruise Line 33%. Royal Caribbean Cruises declined to comment on how many employees it still needs to repatriate. It has sent home an estimated 23%, based on employee data in financial filings and minimum ship manning requirements. Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line said it has repatriated around 100 people. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings did not respond to requests for comment.

Some companies with ships near Florida have chosen not to send crew home from the U.S. on expensive charter flights that come with a complex web of legalities. Instead, they have opted to transport them on ships or wait until Caribbean airports open.

For instance, MSC Cruises CEO Gianni Onorato said in a May 8 letter to employees that the company is planning to take its North American ships to Europe and fly crew commercially from there — meaning crew will spend a week longer at sea. For now, five of the company’s ships are still lingering near its private island in the Bahamas, and occasionally coming into PortMiami. 

The problems with repatriation are not just a matter of costs. The vast majority of MSC crew left at sea — 95% — live in countries where borders are still closed, said company spokesperson Luca Biondolilo in an email. Once those restrictions are lifted, he wrote, “we have a plan in place for them to repatriate by various means, including flying home on chartered aircraft…We are constantly in contact with the Governments in these countries at the highest level on behalf of our crew and in some discreet cases we were able to persuade them to allow our crew back despite closed borders via special charter or repatriation flights whenever available and/or feasible.”

Carnival Corp. spokesman Roger Frizzell also noted the tangle of government rules.

“Our goal has been to repatriate our crew members as quickly as possible, but that has proven to be much more difficult in recent weeks because of port closures, country closures and global travel restrictions,” he wrote in an email.

Not only are the crews stuck aboard the ships, but many are not being paid. Norwegian Cruise Line crew say they have not been paid since the end of March. 

MSC Cruises crew were asked to sign agreements with the company ending their pay in return for being rehired at a later date. The company said the agreements were signed off on by the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

Disney Cruise Line crew say they have not been paid since the end of March. A company spokesperson said Disney is reevaluating pay for non-working crew and will update them next week.

Carnival Cruise Line extended its 15 days of pay to 60 for crew whose contracts were ended early and is paying crew scheduled to work but unable to join the company’s ships because of the pandemic between 30 and 60 days of basic wages.

The emotional toll on the crews trapped effectively in limbo aboard the ships has been significant. There have bee reports of at least two suicides from crew jumping overboard. With the lack of information about when they will be allowed to return home, crew have complained that their mental health was deteriorating.

A group of crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas ship reportedly staged a hunger strike until the cruise line confirmed they would be repatriated.

The Miami Herald also reports that the delayed repatriation process could jeopardize the industry going forward. They quote Rockford Weitz, director of the Maritime Studies Program at Tufts University’s Fletcher School:

“[The cruise companies] have to show they are going to have the capability in an emergency situation to get people at scale off of the ship and back home,” he said. “They have to be able to convince their customers they can find solutions and work constructively with public health authorities. The time for excuses at this point in May, there’s no excuse for not finding the way home.”

As we posted previously, despite so many crew members trapped aboard their ships, the cruise lines are already aggressively booking cruises for later this year and into 2021.