TAMPA, Fla. — A furloughed Royal Caribbean information technology program manager said he applied for unemployment benefits in April and has not received a payment due to website technical errors.

"It's been tough sledding," said Danny Rogers, 44. "I'm thankful that I have an amazing family to support me."​

Rogers said he was on the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship in mid-March, traveling back from Spain with 45 staff members. That's when the boat stopped in St. Thomas and they were all told to go home due to the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak. 

The Royal Caribbean worker said he was forced to quarantine when he got to Tampa.

"They asked us to sign a paper requiring us to be quarantined for 14 days via TSA," said Rogers. "Upon entry through immigration." 

On April 21, Rogers was furloughed and he applied for unemployment benefits through Florida's broken system. The Tampa man said he filled out the application properly but not all of the data was transferred.

"On the old system that I can still access, that information is valid in that portal," said Rogers. "It's on the new website where it never got ported over."

Rogers said he has tried to correct the technical error but the website won't allow it.

"They've asked me to provide additional information... there's supposed to be clickable fields to be able to edit each page. All of my pages are greyed out," he said. "They show missing information but I don't have a way to edit the fields to therefore provide the information that they're requiring."​

To make matters worse, Rogers said he has not been able to reach anyone at a Department of Economic Opportunity call center for help.

"The call center has been null and void. What happens is when you call, there's not an actual wait system," he said. "You'll call, you'll hear an automated voice. That voice will say 'calls are longer due to expected wait times' and then it'll hang up on you."​

Rogers said the new virtual waiting room the DEO rolled out on Monday has been a nightmare to deal with, too.

"If your browser refreshes or another tab is opened, it'll immediately kick you back. Or if your screen goes into sleep mode, it'll immediately kick you back to the beginning of the wait line," he said. "I've had periods of three, four hours going into the wait line. Once I'm into the site, I get to the point where I can't click on anything to change anything. So, it ends up being waiting for naught." 

In Orlando on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said they've made vast improvements to the system and claimed any Floridian who applies for unemployment in June will receive a payment within 7-to-10 days.