Source: Miami Herald ////
Fifteen crew members on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas cruise ship say they are on a hunger strike until the company agrees to send them home.
After nearly two months stranded at sea since the industry halted operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic on March 13, the crew members, who have not eaten since Thursday afternoon, told the Miami Herald they are desperate. The group of 15 from Romania does not want their names used for fear of retaliation from the company, which they say has threatened to punish workers if they talk to journalists.
“My mental health is degrading,” one said. “We do not have any more hope.”
A spokesperson for the company, Jonathon Fishman, said the company had fixed the situation. “The situation was resolved this morning after an amicable discussion between our captain and our crew members,” he said via email on Friday.
But fasting crew members told the Herald they have no plans to stop their hunger strike until the company provides proof that they are going home.
After telling crew members for weeks that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had banned crew repatriation flights, Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley reversed course on Sunday, saying the company would sign the required agreements with the agency to repatriate crew as soon as possible. The CDC requires the company’s executives to sign a legal agreement holding them accountable for following the agency’s rules, including providing disembarking crew members with masks and using only private transportation to send them home.
Shocking