Purgatory At Sea

Off the coast of Italy, cruise ships are being repurposed as holding pens for migrants rescued from the mediterranean.

- By Ian Urbina

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.

Cruise ships tend to be designed to make passengers feel as though they’re not at sea but rather in a five-star Las Vegas hotel. Everything is shiny, sprawling, and inward-facing. On La Suprema, many of the ceilings are paneled with mirrors, to give a sense of greater spaciousness. But natural light is scant; what little sunlight can be found squeezes in through tiny portholes. The narrow hallways, marble lobbies, and chandeliered dining rooms hum with fluorescent light. Thick carpeting muffles the low growl of the engine and the tireless smacking of the waves on the hull.