100,000 Cruise Ship Employees Are Trapped at Sea
While the 100-day no-sail order issued to cruise lines by the U.S. Congress seems to suggest the ships would be docked and empty, many vessels are in fact out at sea, sailing in the maritime equivalent of a holding pattern. New reports indicate ships from Carnival (NYSE: CCL), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE: NCLH), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Disney Cruise Line (NYSE: DIS), and MSC Cruises still have a total of approximately 100,000 crew trapped aboard.
Some of the ships are docked in ports around the world, with their crews either not permitted or otherwise unable to get ashore. Others are sailing the Caribbean without passengers, awaiting permission to return to port and disembark their crews. According to numbers reported by The Miami Herald, the proportion of crews actually repatriated varies by cruise line, ranging from an estimated 23% of Royal Caribbean and 37% of Carnival crew members to 76% of MSC shipboard personnel.
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Source Fool.com
