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The cruise ship industry suspended its operations in mid-March due to the pandemic
When Caio Saldanha and his fiancée Jessica Furlan arrived in the US in early March, they were looking forward to a new life working on board a lavish cruise ship.
Working on Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Infinity was supposed to be a fresh start, the next chapter in their lives together.
On 13 March, the date of the cruise’s departure, the ship became their home. Little did they know then, it would prove to be their prison.
A day after the couple, from São Paulo, Brazil, boarded, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a no-sail order for all cruise ships. On the same day, Royal Caribbean cancelled all its operations around the world. In just 24 hours, the coronavirus pandemic had upended their lives.
“This was the first day,” Mr Saldanha, a 31-year-old DJ, told the BBC. “It was a shocking surprise. This was not the plan. It was a nightmare.”
More than two months later, Mr Saldanha and his 29-year-old fiancée remain stranded at sea, albeit on a different cruise ship. They desperately want to go home but to their frustration, they, like tens of thousands of other cruise-crew members, have been unable to do so.
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Caio Saldanha
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Mr Saldanha and his fiancée have been stuck at sea for more than two months
While cruise passengers were gradually repatriated through March and April, many crew members stayed behind. Cruise operations were initially paused for 30 days – ample time, it seemed, for the pandemic to blow over. The pandemic did no such thing, leaving crew members in limbo as 30 days turned into 40, 50, 60 and more.
The CDC extended its no-sail order and countries, concerned about the spread of the coronavirus, shut down their ports to cruise ships.
With no end to the pandemic in sight, there are now an estimated 54,200 crew members on board 85 cruise ships in US waters, the US Coast Guard told the BBC. Many more are stranded at sea elsewhere. In an article on 17 May, the Miami Herald newspaper put the number at more than 100,000 around the world.
Royal Caribbean, a US-based company, says it has arranged for British crew members to be flown home from Miami. A chartered plane carrying Royal Caribbean staff landed at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
But given the numbers, bringing everyone home has proved logistically challenging for cruise firms. US operators must abide by strict CDC health requirements for repatriating crew on special charter flights.
Their ability to uphold that responsibility has been called into question by crew in recent weeks. The recent deaths of several crew members has deepened the sense of unease.
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The CDC issued a no-sail order a day after Mr Saldanha started work on the Celebrity Infinity
Last month, a crew member went overboard from Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas ship. The company told the BBC it was “assisting authorities with their investigation”, but did not confirm the person had died.
More recently another firm, Princess Cruises, said a Ukrainian crew member had died after apparently jumping from the Regal Princess near the Netherlands.
One Canadian crew member says the deaths have heightened anxiety on board Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas, where protests erupted last week. The 36-year-old, who does not wish to be named, says “the atmosphere was very tense”.
“I personally didn’t go out much. I didn’t want to be involved with it because people were quite angry,” the Canadian crew member told the BBC.