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A head bartender from India recently died on the Norwegian Escape after he spent ten days of quarantine for COVID-19 on the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) cruise ship. The death was first reported by the Crew Center site which is operated by former crew members. The popular site reported that the crew member had been isolated in a cabin on Deck 2 without fresh air and sun for 10 days. A fellow shipmate reportedly stated (a week ago) “yesterday he was out from the quarantine, and this morning Code Alpha was announced on board and he suddenly died.” No cause of death was mentioned.

We recently learned of the crew member’s name -Tamang Sujan – from other NCL crew members who wish to remain anonymous.

Crew Center reported that the young (age 36) and well liked crew member was required to stay in an interior, windowless crew cabin for his 10-days of isolation. Other crew members tell us that only a small number of ship employees are allowed to stay in guest staterooms, including cabins with balconies.

The Norwegian Escape is currently sailing without guests so there is no reason to jam the crew in cabins without windows or balconies.

Crew Center voiced concerns about the effects of spending quarantines in windowless crew cabins on the crew members’ deteriorating wellbeing. One crew member told Crew Center “our mental health after 6 months onboard is deteriorating. This feels like we are in jail . . .”

A family member of the crew member, Sanjip Gurung, recently went to Twitter to request that NCL provide his family with information about his brother’s death after the company’s human resources department repeatedly refused to provide him with information.

This week I posted a letter which I received from a NCL crew member protesting the conditions on the ship where many crew are stuck in interior cabins. She wrote, in part: “many of us in internal  cabins have no access to fresh air or daylight. Stale air, darkness,  poor food and covid are a perfect mix to erode our emotions and compromise our mental state of mind.”

NCL has a history of requiring its crew members to crowd into interior cabins while refusing to permit them from staying in more comfortable and much better ventilated guest cabins.

Read our article in May 2020 titled: “Ridiculously Overcrowded” Norwegian Escape Sails to Miami” as well as an article by the Daily Mail (in the U.K.) which also focused on several thousands of crew members sailing on the Norwegian Escape to Miami “as staff complain about tiny shared rooms.”

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