Mutiny over bounty: Filipinos stuck on bankrupt casino ship

DOZENS of Filipino workers have remained trapped in a bankrupt casino ship in Florida since Christmas, unable to even set foot on US shore in a maritime version of The Terminal, the 2004 comedy-drama movie about a stateless, visa-less tourist unable to leave a New York airport.

As many as 190 workers have been holed up on the 420-foot-long Palm Beach Princess casino ship docked at the Port of Palm Beach since Christmas Eve, when the company’s assets were frozen as part of its bankruptcy protection, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The crew members had earlier mutinied and refused to operate the ship when 300 passengers were set to sail on it.

The management, in retaliation, fired some of the ship’s senior employees and put on planes back to their home countries, including an initial two dozen from the Philippines.

According to media reports, the cruise operator owes the crew members $180,000 in back wages. The ship’s owners originally were going to deduct the cost of the flight tickets from the employees’ pay, but later decided against taking that route.

Their money woes aside, the trapped workers fear that the US Customs and Border Protection would cancel their work visas and deport them.

According to the Palm Beach Post, the trapped workers were “being fed” and that “sanitation is being maintained” on the grounded ship.

Before the grounding, the Panamian-flagged ship had to sail to the Bahamas monthly to allow the foreign crew to renew their visas.

Even before the bankruptcy proceedings, the Palm Beach Princess had been barred from sailing for two weeks earlier this month because of engine problems.

After intervention from international maritime organizations, the US Coast Guard finally allowed it to sail as long as a tow boat accompanied it in and out of port. –Manila Standard Today