2 more Filipino workers on cruise ships perish from Covid-19

Dexter Joyosa, an Oasis of the Seas crew member, died due to COVID-19, in Florida.

Dexter Joyosa, an Oasis of the Seas crew member, died due to COVID-19, on April 18th in a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Royal Caribbean Cruises had employed Joyosa as a bar waiter aboard the Oasis of the Seas since November of 2012.

Ironically, Joyosa began his most recent contract aboard the Oasis of the Seas just on March 15t, after the CDC issued its first no-sail order for the cruise industry. The Oasis returned to South Florida and disembarked its last group of guests on that date.

It is not clear why Royal Caribbean asked him to rejoin the cruise ship because the company knew that there would be no passengers aboard to serve.

Bendie Antonio was a long-term waiter-crew member on the Costa Fascinosa docked in Brazil.

Another Filipino worker on a crew ship, Bendie Antonio, age 42, died on April 19, from complications caused by the coronavirus, thousands of miles away from his family in the Philippines.

Many of his friends and colleagues expressed their sadness and sincere condolences to the family.

Antonio was a long-term Filipino wait-crew member of Costa Cruises. He was taken off the cruise ship Costa Fascinosa and transferred to a hospital in Santos, Brazil, together with nine of his fellow crew members who tested positive for the virus.

He is the second Costa Fascinosa crew member to die after testing positive for the coronavirus. The ship’s doctor, Paolo Mudano, age 69, of Genoa, Italy, died on April 15, in a hospital in Santos.