More than 12,000 cruise ship workers are still at sea in U.S. waters, five months after the sector shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That number is down from more than 70,000 in May, according to a report.
There are 57 cruise ships “anchored, anchored or en route near a U.S. port, or with the potential to enter a U.S. port, with about 12,084 crew members,” Brittany Panetta, a lieutenant commander and spokeswoman for ” the U.S. Coast Guard told USA TODAY.
The Coast Guard estimated that 209 Americans were on 37 of the ships. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it counted 53 U.S. crew members on 22 cruise ships in U.S. waters, the report said.
Some of those on board might work, instead of getting stuck.
The CDC last month extended its ban on sailing American cruise ships through September.
One chamber worker at the Royal Caribbean Group said his contract expired in early July, and he did not know when he would leave the boat.
Akash Dookhun accused his native Mauritius of a slow repatriation attempt.
“The feeling of being abandoned and ignored by our own country strikes us very hard,” he said.
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