Seventeen Cuban migrants who were discovered at sea in rickety rafts over the previous week were returned to Cuba on Saturday, among them up to a half dozen who were saved from a sinking raft and got to spend a night aboard the luxury cruise ship Monarch of the Seas.

An 18th would-be migrant was being sent to the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to decide whether he or she is eligible to apply for political asylum in a third country.

Someone aboard the 880-foot Royal Caribbean cruise ship spotted six Cubans' ``rustic vessel'' 18 miles west of Freeport, Bahamas, on Sunday, according to a Coast Guard statement.

The ship radioed the Coast Guard and took them aboard ``safely,'' it said.

In the course of the week they were moved first on Monday to a 45-foot response boat, the 87-foot patrol boat Cutter Shrike, and then to the 110-footer Ocracoke out of St. Petersburg.

A photograph of the foundering raft with five men and a woman aboard, obtained by The Miami Herald from cruise passenger Jennifer Rodriguez, showed a scene of desperation as the makeshift vessel came alongside the cruise ship.

`DEHYDRATED'

The cruise ship had departed CocoCay, the cruise lines private island in the Bahamas, and was heading back to Port Canaveral.

``We gave them medical treatment. They were dehydrated,'' said Royal Caribbean's Cynthia Martinez, adding they were turned over to the Coast Guard before the ship reached Port Canaveral.

``They were on the ship for less than 24 hours,'' she said.

``They weren't mingling with the guests.''

The other Cubans repatriated Saturday at Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, were up to a dozen who had been spotted by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma on Dec. 4 some 12 miles north of Punta Maisi, Cuba. That group was taken aboard the 110-cutter Sitkinak, based in Miami, then moved to another cutter and finally to the Ocracoke for repatriation.

A Coast Guard petty officer who was responsible for taking media questions on Saturday said she didn't know whether the Guantánamo-bound migrant had been aboard the luxury liner cruise ship. The Cutter Shrike is an 87-foot patrol vessel based in Port Canaveral, Fla.

U.S. POLICY

Under the United States' wet foot/dry foot immigration policy, Cubans intercepted at sea generally are sent back to the island while those who make it to U.S. soil are allowed to stay.

Those taken into custody at sea are given shipboard asylum interviews by U.S. immigration officers.

Migrants who are believed to have a fear of persecution, if repatriated, are taken to Guantánamo for further investigation. The migrants are held on a different portion of the sprawling Navy base than the 174 war on terror captives.