Crew Members Held at Sea Lose Legal Battle Against Cruise Line
Today’s cruise travelers won’t soon forget the longing for an oceangoing getaway five years ago (already five years?) when the industry was shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic and no one knew how it would change or even if it would restart.
But while we stayed home and wished we were on cruises, there were people – crew members – onboard ships who just wished they could go home.
In a ruling released Tuesday, May 6, 2025, however, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the actions of Celebrity Cruises in detaining crew members during the pandemic.
At that time, there was no established way for the individuals to be repatriated to their home country of the Philippines.
According to WFSU News, the lawsuit was filed in 2020 by Ryan Maglana and Francis Bugayong. Both were Filipino crew members aboard Celebrity Millennium at the time while the ship was under warm layup and not in service.
The suit alleged false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress following the cruise line’s disciplinary actions.
At first, once the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the initial no-sail order on March 14, 2020, that suspended all cruise operations from US ports, crew members were not permitted to disembark.
Celebrity Millennium anchored off the coast of San Diego, California – having debarked her last passengers in Singapore prior to an empty transpacific crossing.
While anchored and not in service, Maglana was accused of onboard theft, taking a bottle of liquor from a ship’s bar and sharing it with Bugayong. As per company policy both crew members were summarily fired.
Under normal circumstances, this would mean the former crew members would have been put ashore at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately, because of pandemic-related travel restrictions, they could not be disembarked and had to remain on the ship.
In May 2020, protocols were developed to repatriate crew members to their home countries as it became apparent that cruises would not be resuming soon.
On May 21, Maglana filed the lawsuit, several days before Celebrity Cruises chartered a flight to return roughly 200 Filipino crew members – Maglana and Bugayong included – to the Philippines.
Portions of the case were dismissed in 2023, which then moved to appeals. This week, the appeals court upheld the dismissal of the false imprisonment and emotional distress issues, noting that the cruise line’s “conduct was not outrageous” given the exceptional circumstances at the time.
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“[Maglana and Bugayong] were trapped for months on a cruise ship without guidance about when they might return home,” the opinion, written by Chief Judge William Prior, read.
“But the pandemic also gave Celebrity the unenviable job of repatriating thousands of crewmen to their homes around the globe — all while making sure that none encountered a member of the public. … That Celebrity did not do this difficult job perfectly or as quickly as Maglana and Bugayong would have liked does not mean that its behavior was outrageous.“
Cruise Line Lawsuits Not Uncommon
It is not unusual for cruise lines to be sued by guests and crew members alike. Personal injury lawsuits are particularly common, as are charges related to employee dismissals, vessel accessibility, misinterpreted policies, or altered itineraries.
Environmental contamination, copyright infringement, and violation of local ordinances are other lawsuits cruise lines are regularly cited with.
Cruise lines have extensive and detailed contracts for both cruise guests as well as crew members, as well as dedicated legal teams to handle any such tricky situations.
Crew Members Held at Sea Lose Legal Battle Against Cruise Line