A class action lawsuit was filed this week on behalf of Celebrity Cruises employees alleging the company was negligent in protecting its crew members working aboard ships from coronavirus.

More than 200 crew members prepping new ship Celebrity Apex for launch have tested positive for Covid-19.

The complaint says the line did not provide masks and gloves, it didn’t enforce social distancing and forced crew to stay aboard even as the virus spread on the ship.

Workers were exposed and contracted Covid-19 while the ship was still in the shipyard in St Nazaire, France. According lead plaintiff Alexandra Nedeltcheva, 1,400 crew members were aboard getting the vessel ready for its April launch.

“The last five weeks have been a complete disaster, and I think they absolutely did not care,” she said.

“We did ask if we could wear masks and our supervisor said no. I understand if there were guests to think ‘don’t cause panic’ or whatever, but it’s just crew and contractors.”

The suit alleges crew were ordered to stay on the ship even after a ‘No Sail’ order was issued in the US and when France went into lockdown.

Cruise companies around the world stopped sailing on March 13, but work continued aboard the Celebrity Apex, even after France instituted its own lockdown on March 17. Crew members were then ordered to stay on the ship, though contractors still had the freedom to come and go.

On March 21, the company hosted a party for crew on board. Video posted on YouTube by a crew member was picked up by the media, which led to cruise officials telling crew members not to speak to the press and to be careful what they posted on social media, according to Nedeltcheva .

Crew members started to test positive for COVID-19 on March 23. By the 25th, Celebrity ordered all crew members to their rooms and handed out masks, according to the lawsuit.

“Celebrity egregiously failed to take even the most basic steps to protect its crew members from the rampant spread of coronavirus,” Michael Winkleman, a Miami-based maritime attorney, said in an interview with ABC News.

According to the CDC, over the last two months outbreaks on three cruise ships have caused more than 800 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States among passengers and crew, including 10 deaths.