Floating Dystopia

Early in the whole Covid-19 apocalypse there was a lot of coverage of various cruise ships being forced to roam the oceans looking for a port that would admit them and allow their passengers to disembark.

All those situations have pretty much resolved, and the passengers have flown home with tales to tell of being cooped up in their floating hotel rooms.

The crews, however, are still aboard, and they don't live in floating hotel rooms...

"Most ships returned to sea after offloading paying customers, and cruise companies are now scrambling to find ways home for tens of thousands of their employees. The C.D.C., which issued a no-sail order for cruise companies in U.S. waters last week, is not permitting any evacuated crew or passengers to travel on commercial aircraft.

Some crew members on board said in interviews that they are not getting paid while they wait, and many fear that the virus is still onboard the ships."

Fried fish heads! Yum!

"For close to a month, Matthew Gordon has been living in an 80-square-foot windowless cabin, stranded at sea with thousands of fellow crew members after their cruise ships’ passengers departed.

Aboard the MS Volendam off the coast of the Bahamas, Gordon said each day starts with a reminder from the captain about the importance of social distancing and, recently, a plea for understanding as the cooks, pending new supplies, work through what’s left of the food.

Gordon had grown used to the fried fish heads that have become a lunch staple, but a recent toothache — on a ship with no dentist — made chewing so unbearable that he has turned to a liquid diet while he waits to hear how he will get back home to Augusta, Ga."