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BABITA PERSAUDHundreds lounge on the insolvent ship and wish they were elsewhere.
TAMPA - The passengers have all gone home. The owners have bailed.
But the crew and captain of Regal Empress?
"We're forgotten," said Bruno Romeo, the ship's doctor.
For the past month, Regal's crew members, from 15 countries, have been in limbo, stuck on the 612-foot, blue-and-white ship, now docked at the Port of Tampa.
They aren't getting paid, because Regal Cruises Ltd., a privately held company started in 1993, is out of money.
They can't get on and off easily, because they are not U.S. citizens.
And so, these workers, used to being on duty 14 hours a day, wait.
They shoot darts at a board tacked near the wood-paneled elevators. They play dominoes. Engine room workers, normally prohibited above deck, lounge on the blue chairs overlooking the water.
But they would rather work. Earn money.
"We are seaman," said Capt. Jens W. Thorn, who also isn't drawing a paycheck.
Originally from Hamburg, Germany, Thorn has been a seaman for 40 years and captain for 28, and he is frustrated. "We would rather be at sea and do the job," he said.
"It's nothing but waiting and waiting," said Richard Capuyan, an assistant waiter from the Philippines. He has eight brothers and sisters back home and is due to marry May 20.
"I want to go home," he said.
Seems like it would be simple: Buy a bunch of tickets and fly the crew back home.
But it isn't.
Crew members are contract workers. Immigration paperwork has to be processed. Transportation to Miami International Airport has to be arranged.
So far, of the original 400 crew members, 200 have returned home. Another 75 might be cleared to fly home this weekend. A list tacked near the main elevators is checked several times a day.
This Friday, Regal Empress, built in 1953, will be auctioned. Much of the crew's fate, and income, depends on the sale. The starting bid is $2-million, but $3-million or $4-million is expected.
From that sale, court costs will be paid first.
Next, National Liquidators of Fort Lauderdale, assigned by the courts to provide interim food, fuel and immigration paperwork, will be paid.
Then, the crew will receive its share.
"Hopefully, there is enough left for them," said Tony Sasso, an inspector with International Transport Workers' Federation, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of the crew for back wages in federal court Friday.
In the upstairs-downstairs world of cruises, workers' rights aren't always a priority. A cabin for two workers measures 8 by 8 feet. They often share bathrooms. When the ship was functioning, the purser was only allowed to talk to a passenger when asked a question. "There are more can'ts than cans," said Michael Wood, the purser, from Honduras.
Regal flew a flag from the Bahamas, avoiding U.S. labor laws, a common industry practice.
On April 18, an announcement came over the public address system from the captain: "Unfortunately, the ship has been arrested . . . we cannot sail any more. Passengers have to disembark."
The ship was seized after a judge placed a lien against the owners for not paying a $750,000 bill for engine repairs. The ship was the company's only liner.
On April 28, Regal's board of directors announced from its Palmetto office they had "no other choice." The company was broke, and issued a statement blaming problems with a supplier and the general decline in travel and tourism.
When will all the crew be sent home?
It's hard to say, said Sasso, with the trade federation, which has an office in Port Canaveral. "The situation is fluid."
The captain calls the situation a glitch, part of the industry.
He and others plan to return to the industry.
Others aren't so sure, like Capuyan, the assistant waiter.
He gets married May 20. His fiancee lives in Scotland. "If it is God's will that I go to Scotland, I think it is better," he said.
- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.