Purgatory at Sea
Ian Urbina
Photographs by Paolo Pellegrin
Image above: Italian law enforcement escorts 68 migrants, rescued off the coast of Sicily, to the Port of Augusta on March 31. Most of the migrants were delivered to the Rhapsody, a cruise ship now being operated by the Italian Red Cross, to begin their quarantine. (All photos in this article were shot aboard the Allegra, another quarantine ship, from March 29 to April 2.)
This article was published online on May 6, 2021.
La Suprema, a cruise ship built in 2003 for $120 million, can carry nearly 3,000 passengers, plus 1,000 cars. Almost 700 feet long, the ship has 567 cabins, three restaurants, six bars, a dozen or so shops, a casino, a movie theater, a nightclub, and a chapel. Its eight stories are connected by motion-sensor-activated escalators and glass-encased elevators, so that vacationers can avoid overexerting themselves on stairs after a few plates at the buffets.