Royal Caribbean Cruises is laying off and furloughing up to 26 percent of its United States based workforce.

“Earlier today, we told our employees the difficult news that we were laying off or furloughing approximately 26 percent of our more than 5,000 coworkers in the United States,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We earlier announced the early conclusion of many crew contracts. The circumstances of the pandemic made this action unavoidable, and it hurts to part ways with so many good and talented people.”

Royal Caribbean leadership recently agreed to pay cuts, while Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings cut pay and moved to a four-day work week. 

Updated with comments from Royal Caribbean.