Nearly 5 months after the pandemic shut down the cruise industry, 12,000+ crew members remained onboard ships in the USA's waters, the USCG (Coast Guard) announced. The figure is down from 70,000+ in May.
The USCG is currently tracking 57 cruise vessels (anchored, moored/docked or underway) in the vicinity of US ports, or with potential to arrive in a port in the United States, with 12,000+ crew. The number includes 209 Americans spread out among 37 ships.
However, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) said that as of Wednesday the agency had information about 53 U.S. crew on 22 cruise ships in U.S. waters. It is not clear how many of the crew members are stuck vs. working.
The 3 major companies - Carnival Corporation, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., and Royal Caribbean Group have been working to bring the crew home.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) expects to finish the repatriation of its crew within the next 45 days. A quarterly earnings report shows the company has sent home 21,000+ crew to 75+ countries.
Royal Caribbean Group's repatriation efforts include 43,500+ repatriated which is 98% of their crew.
Carnival Corporation has nearly finished repatriating its crew.