Royal Caribbean crew member from Oasis of the Seas cruise ship dies in Broward hospital
A Royal Caribbean crew member died from COVID-19 in a Broward hospital Saturday. He had been a bartender on the Oasis of the Seas.
Colleagues who remain on the ship cried out as the captain announced the death over the loudspeaker, according to a recording obtained by the Herald.
“It is with great sadness that I now let you know that our fellow team member, bartender Dexter Joyosa, passed away at a Broward hospital this afternoon,” the captain said. “He was close to all of us and he was a fantastic employee.”
At least three crew members from cruise ships have died in South Florida hospitals from COVID-19 in recent weeks.
The Broward Medical Examiner’s office confirmed Joyosa, 43, died from COVID-19. The Florida Department of Health is only reporting detailed data on COVID-19 deaths of Florida residents. DOH spokesperson Alberto Moscoso said reporting deaths by residency is the appropriate way to calculate disease rates.
Joyosa was from the Philippines. According to his Facebook page, he began working for Royal Caribbean in 2012.
Colleagues say Joyosa was evacuated from the ship at Port Everglades with severe respiratory problems in the past few weeks.
The cruise industry stopped all new cruises on March 13, but COVID-19 outbreaks on ships have persisted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are around 80,000 crew members still on around 100 cruise ships in U.S. waters, of which more than 20 ships are experiencing outbreaks.
According to the captain, Joyosa began working on the Oasis of the Seas ship in Miami on March 15, after the company had canceled all new cruises. At that point, Royal Caribbean had already told the CDC about a possible COVID-19 infection on board during the March 8 cruise, according to the health agency. The ship offloaded its last passengers at PortMiami on March 15.
Once all of the passengers were off, managers on board encouraged crew to take advantage of activities normally off limits to them — the pool, buffet, and other social activities, crew members say.
Passengers who sailed on the last cruise aboard the Oasis of the Seas received an email from the company on March 26 notifying them that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 while on board. The company waited two days until March 28 to notify the crew still on the ship about their exposure and isolate them in individual cabins. At least 14 Oasis of the Seas crew members have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least nine have been evacuated to South Florida hospitals.
Jonathan Fishman, spokesman for Royal Caribbean, did not respond to a request for comment about why Joyosa was brought on board after the company knew about a possible COVID-19 infection, how many crew members on the ship have COVID-19, and how many have been hospitalized.
Joyosa leaves behind a daughter in his homeland, according to memorials to him on Facebook. His family could not be reached for this story.
“Don’t worry about your mother and daughter, we will not abandon them,” one memorial says. “We will miss you, we love you so much.”
Joyosa is the second Royal Caribbean crew member to die from COVID-19 in South Florida in the past week. A Symphony of the Seas crew member from Indonesia, Pujiyoko, died in a Broward hospital on April 12 from COVID-19. He was 27.
Andrew Fernandes, 48, from India, died on April 4 at Larkin Community Hospital in Hialeah after being evacuated from Carnival Corp.’s Costa Favolosa ship. Wiwit Widarto, 50, of Indonesia, died on April 8 in Broward after being evacuated from Carnival Corp.’s Zaandam ship.
This story was updated on April 23, 2020 to reflect new information from the Broward Medical Examiner.
This story was originally published April 19, 2020 at 2:24 PM.
