GarlicBread

From a crew point of view, I would hope so. 

All crew are going to be working 100x harder post Covid. Unlikely to be granted shore leave, much less socializing allowed, more trainings and rules to follow. 

I'm not sure how willing I would be do all that for a guest to lie to get onboard, bring it on and shut us down again....

Unfortunately, if sailing out of the US, I doubt it....

Royal have hardship and emergency funds that crew can apply for if needed. 

They have communicated this many times (pretty much weekly) with crew throughout the cruising shut down. 

Technically any age can be a self signer, there is no official age set. 

However, the manager onboard makes the rules so it can/does vary and most will say 9+  

But you could probably have the 9 year old be a self signer and also on the pick up list for the 6 year old. 

I should probably add that I dont know if I'll go back. But, it has absolutely nothing to do with how the company/cruise lines in general have dealt with it. 

I simply can't afford to wait until potentially next year. I tried at the start but as it gets pushed back, it's just as annoying for crew as those who are having cruises cancelled but for obviously different reasons. 

I'm applying for a few jobs that have a 2 year contract, so I wont be able to go back. If I get a job on land and enjoy it, I'll stay. I've been looking to leave ships for a while but haven't had the push. 

If Covid hadn't happened I would be onboard right now, or if Covid had done one already I would be ready to go. 

I just cant afford to wait. 

On 6/24/2020 at 12:33 AM, ONECRUISER said:

Thank you for posting. Chatting with couple other Cruise Workers and they say pretty much same... "Cruise Lawyer," don't get me started...

I used to think he was decent/on our side.

He deletes comments and blocks people who speak the truth when it doesn't fit his 'news'.

I commented once and he went and looked on my profile (but not much of what he can see is absolutely 100% so he kinda failed) and asked if it was an official statement from the company. And then couldn't accept that I actually love and enjoy my job and accept the rough deal we get with it, so he told me I had Stockholm syndrome. 🙄

Unfortunately a lot of people truly believe what he says over the people that actually live it, because he tells people we are brainwashed...

On 6/21/2020 at 1:34 PM, RKHOOKER said:

I’d be quite happy right now to do a circumnavigation cruise around Australia with all aussie/kiwi staff/crew.

Good luck with that. 

Your entertainment might be sorted but I think you'll be hungry on a dirty ship that wont be moving very far...

Crew member here 👋

I am ready to go back as soon as I can get back, as are the majority I know (also part of various social media groups full of crew from all different companies and the consensus seems the same there too). 

I do not necessarily think the operations to get crew home was/is botched, not when you open your eyes to what is going on in the world, but then I dont believe much of what that cruise lawyer posts as 'news'.

Crew onboard who are working are getting paid. Crew whose contracts have ended are not being paid a 'wage' but are still getting an allowance for necessities, as well as being fed and getting free wifi (which is where most my wages go) 

Those at home are also not being paid, no furlough for crew, and not many jobs available out there. 

Those that I see complaining the most are also the ones who complain about the job pretty much every day onbaord too, so it's probably best for everyone if they dont go back. 

For everyone who doesn't want to go back there are new crew waiting. 

15 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

"No cases on board".   No guarantee of that.

 

For the majority of ships, actually yes you can guarentee it. 

As I said, many have been in isolation since March, have temperature checks twice a day and no cases onboard! Unless the virus apparates onto the ship...

I would understand the CDC a little bit more  if the US had been successful like Aus or NZ, but clearly they're not and a lot of Americans dont care either...

Keep reading the Miami Herald and Jim Walker 😂

2 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

 

They were NOT ridiculous.

 

CDC considers crew of cruise line very high risk and do not want them to spread possible infection to US population.

But once crew is outside jurisdiction of USA, why on earth would CDC care?

 

Just pause for a second and think.

 

To think that, that piece of reporting could be true IS ridiculous.

Yeah they were. 

These crew have been in isolation for weeks. No one on, no one off, (and the majority of ships)  no cases on board. They have not set foot on land since March!

For ships that have had cases onboard they could enforce things. But for the most, the CDC were just being ridiculous.

If anything, the crew are way more at risk setting foot in the US, than the US is from these crew members. It's not like the US has zero spread of the virus is it...

But you keep believing whatever makes you happy...

37 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

The fact that they now signed exactly same documents weeks later proves that there was no real logistics challenge. Just greed.

But they havent signed them for the majority of crew.  

That's why they're sailing out of US waters and shipping/flying crew home from elsewhere. 

I blame the CDC just as much, if not more, for this whole mess. 

Neither side is innocent in all this. 

1 hour ago, EscapeFromConnecticut said:

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article242443236.html
 

Seems like Fain & his exec troops are ducking and dodging again.

  Note that the CDC says it is "disappointed" with cruise lines ... And that "their answers  not aligned with the public health needs" .... and that it only barely stops short of using the word "liars" ...

   None of the speaks well CLIA's work, Fain's attitude or RCI's chances to catch any regulatory breaks in the future. Stockholders really bonused this guy with $14 million and he's too cheap to get his crew home safely when the world is watching?

This article is 3 days old and pre-repatriation announcement. 

Tbh, in my opinion, the CDC requirements are/were making it too difficult (without even bringing cost and money into it) for cruise lines to debark their crew. 

8 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Not clear if the crew of these ships will also be part of the repatriation. That would be a big indicator. If all crew are going home, then even Royal thinks it’s going to be a long time before cruises resume. If they keep the crew on those ships, they may be holding out hope to start sooner. I’m any event, it ain’t June 12th. 
 

Isn’t it about time for another cancellation announcement this week? 😜

 

mac_tlc

Those crew are going home. At least Mariner, so I assume symphony too. 

While it probably is an indicator that they wont be cruising any time soon, there will also be crew that need to go home: if they were half way through a contract when this started, then months onbaord in quarantine, the actually wouldn't have long (even if cruises started back tomorrow) until they would have to go home. Its better to send as many home as possible and then have a bigger number of 'fresh' crew for when it all starts again, rather than have the craziness of starting cruises and then signing off a fleet load of crew in the first few weeks. 

As former crew, I also dont think I'd adjust well and give the best service cruisers want/expect after months in isolation and then being thrown right back into work with no break and escape in between. 

You shouldn't believe everything Jim Walker posts about 😂

They have been in isolation for weeks. 

There are no cases onbaord. 

They're way less likely to have the virus than 99% of people on land...

4 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

The CDC holds an entirely different opinion when it comes to the spread of Covid19 that the CLIA so vehemently denies.  Below is a list of infected ships and that's not counting the ships overseas with no US stops such as the Diamond Princess quarantined off of Yokohama last month. 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/cruise-ship/what-cdc-is-doing.html

 

You conveniently cut off the bottom bit of that page...

Only the ships with an asterisk next to it are ships that actively had cases onboard. 

The other ships on the list who had people on them who reported symptoms within 14 days of returing from them, so nobody can say for sure if they are/were "infected ships" or not...

1 hour ago, cgncruiser said:

Nobody wants your darn rare Australian ventilation machines. Crew and guests only wanted to fly home immediately. A convoy to the airports would have done Australia and NZ a better deal. Now the world has seen your inhumanity and ugly government which you have elected.

Tourists are being refrained from repatriation and are locked in a country they do not want to stay in. My air force was standing by and my national carrier on the expense of my government were not allowed to land in Australia and NZ to pick up stranded tourists and crew. The air force had converted 2 A310 to ICU version to get the sick home- Australia did not allow. 15000 of my countrymen in Australia and 10000 in NZ are locked up even 3 weeks after the outbreak. 

Yesterday finally NZ allowed 3 national A380 and 3 B747 to land and pick up  tourists after a long diplomatic spat.

So do not wine about your ventilation machines just let the people fly home and that includes the crew that has pampered you guys during the happy day sailings.

Australia is a shame and it takes a long time to re-build reputation.

It's not just tourists. They wont let their own Australian crew get off the ships, crew that had just been giving Australian's free cruises...

5 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

Crew?  The article discusses the crew’s crowded living conditions, but once passengers disembark, crew can be spread out into passenger cabins, so no more crowding as soon as passenger disembarkation is handled.  By delaying, those authorities are exacerbating the crowding issue they lament.

 

Evidently the authorities are not even willing to repatriate Australians at this point.  That is so sad.  And really how should Australian citizens near the US shore expect to be treated if there are US citizens are indefinitely stuck on ships near the Australian shore?

This. They have one crew to a guest cabin and they're eating in the windjammer (when not in isolation) 

And I know for a fact that royal have sent home a lot of their crew over there!

Some facts about the HAL ship: 

311 US citizens onboard

52 Florida residents 

4 under the age of 12

45 will remain onboard in isolation. 

Less than 10 will need immediate medical attention, which has been arranged for them. 

The rest who are fit to travel will be transported by coach, meeting requirements above what the CDC asks for, to (mostly charter) flights home. 

They're damned if they do, damned if they don't. No one knows how long this virus is going to be around for. 

If they cancel all cruises till the end of the year, people will complain. 

If they hold off and evaluate month by month, people will complain. 

51 cases now reported on oasis according to the crew center...

1 hour ago, TNcruising02 said:

I was thinking about when the last official cruise ended on March 15th.  I thought maybe some of the crew was allowed off of the ship that day when the passengers were leaving the ship too.

Crew weren't allowed off that day. 

The only ones that got off were the ones that were off to the airport to go home. 

3 hours ago, NancyIL said:

Regarding sending home only crew whose contracts are ending - the mother of an Anthem crew member posted on social media that  her daughter has 2 months left on her contract, and some of her friends have 4 months left. They are sending production, youth staff, cruise division staff, sports staff,  most of wait staff and room attendants and bar staff home.

 

By the way - Anthem is scheduled for an April 12 Transatlantic cruise from Cape Liberty to Southampton. 

This. I've mentioned this in a few threads that it's not just crew at the end of their contracts! 

I personally know 2 crew on 2 different ships who do 2 different jobs who have gone home within 3 weeks of their contracts starting....

And Spectrum, and Ovation and Jewel and Grandeur and probably others. 

And not necessarily if they are within 30 days of finishing their contract! 

21 minutes ago, smalltimecruiser100 said:

What happens if an Italian crew member goes home and when it reopens brings the virus back to the ship?

When all the Jewel crew went home, Italians were allowed to stay onboard. 

But the virus is everywhere so any crew member could go home and bring it back to the ship...

The cast that just embarked on harmony  about a month ago are going home...

So it doesnt look like it matters when your contract is up...