Where do all the ships go for 30 days

[bobmacliberty]

Chris's VLOG today says that he will be leaving the ship and going home next week.  A sign that this will last longer than 30 days??

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

I find it hard to believe that they would send a crew that is, for all intents, quarentined from the rest of the world and free of Corina back home where they could pick up the virus and bring it back if RCI thought they would be restarting operations in 30 days.

[Biker19]

16 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

A sign that this will last longer than 30 days??

More likely another way RCI can cut costs.

[Ocean Boy]

6 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

More likely another way RCI can cut costs.

Send them home around the world just to bring them back in around 20 days? How much could that save? I would also think finding flights, with all the scale backs, to get the crew back would not be too easy. Then there is the issue with boarders being closed down everday.....

[Ourusualbeach]

21 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

Chris's VLOG today says that he will be leaving the ship and going home next week.  A sign that this will last longer than 30 days??

 

 

Chris started his 7 month contract at the end of August/early September.  His contract is nearing the end which is why he is one to be sent home. 

 

We we don’t know how many others are leaving or the status of their contracts. 

[Ocean Boy]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Chris started his 7 month contract at the end of August/early September.  His contract is nearing the end which is why he is one to be sent home. 

 

We we don’t know how many others are leaving or the status of their contracts. 

You could be right. But the sense I got from this video was quite a bit of the crew was going.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

You could be right. But the sense I got from this video was quite a bit of the crew was going.

I don’t doubt that quite a few will be leaving but is it people who have less than 2 months on their contract or is it people who have 6 months left.  That’s the info that would be needed to read  anything into Royals plans. With as many crew as she has on board there are always a lot nearing the end of their contract. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[Desert Cruizers]

Our Freedom of the Seas Southern Caribbean sailing returned to Miami this Tuesday, we know some crew were going home such as our waiter, many others were remaining on board. All passengers were able to disembark and fly home smoothly with no health issues. Buses were provided to take passengers to MIA or FLL airports.

[SarahD112]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

You could be right. But the sense I got from this video was quite a bit of the crew was going.

Agree. He says the home office has made the decision to start sending crew home and that he is one of the first to leave. 

[chengkp75]

28 minutes ago, SarahD112 said:

Agree. He says the home office has made the decision to start sending crew home and that he is one of the first to leave. 

Well, he is casino staff, after all, so definitely non-essential.  It would not surprise me that crew whose contracts are going to expire during the anticipated shutdown period will be sent home, so that even if they are paid until the end of their contract, at least the company is saving on food cost.

[SarahD112]

Maybe his surprise is just stemming from the fact that he thought he’d be able to stay onboard for the whole 30 days and that isn’t happening. Maybe we’re all reading something into it that isn’t there? Hoping for more info in the next video!

[mo&fran]

Looking at Marine traffic i see large groups of ships anchored together.

There must be something special about those locations .

I wondered if there an optimum water depth to anchor in. 

[Pratique]

7 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, he is casino staff, after all, so definitely non-essential.  It would not surprise me that crew whose contracts are going to expire during the anticipated shutdown period will be sent home, so that even if they are paid until the end of their contract, at least the company is saving on food cost.

In a previous post you suggested that the cost of flying them home and then back after the 30 days would exceed the cost of keeping the crew on for 30 or more days. So the conclusion from this would be that the cruise line does not anticipate bringing anyone back anytime soon.

[chengkp75]

27 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

Looking at Marine traffic i see large groups of ships anchored together.

There must be something special about those locations .

I wondered if there an optimum water depth to anchor in. 

They are clustered on the Great Bahamas Bank, north of Andros Island, where the water depth is about 75-80 feet, or the similar Little Bahamas Bank south of Grand Bahamas and Abaco, where the water depth is similar, so you would have out about 6-7 shots of anchor chain (the ship will have 9-10 shots per anchor).  Just north of where they are anchored (if you put on the satellite view in marine traffic), there is the much deeper "tongue of the ocean", which can range down to 6000 feet deep.  No anchoring there.

[mo&fran]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

They are clustered on the Great Bahamas Bank, north of Andros Island, where the water depth is about 75-80 feet, or the similar Little Bahamas Bank south of Grand Bahamas and Abaco, where the water depth is similar, so you would have out about 6-7 shots of anchor chain (the ship will have 9-10 shots per anchor).  Just north of where they are anchored (if you put on the satellite view in marine traffic), there is the much deeper "tongue of the ocean", which can range down to 6000 feet deep.  No anchoring there.

I did have Marine traffic on satellite view, that is why i thought water depth was the issue. Thanks for the reply.

[chengkp75]

11 minutes ago, Pratique said:

In a previous post you suggested that the cost of flying them home and then back after the 30 days would exceed the cost of keeping the crew on for 30 or more days. So the conclusion from this would be that the cruise line does not anticipate bringing anyone back anytime soon.

No, what I also said, maybe not in this thread, is that those whose contracts were ending would be sent home, but their replacements would not be sent out.  As noted, his contract is nearing its end, so they may decide to send those folks whose contracts are ending home a bit early, but again, not replacing them until closer to start up time.  This would be similar to a drydocking, where those whose contracts end during the drydock are given the choice to leave early, and their replacements are not sent out until nearer the end of the drydock.  The airline cost I was referring to, would be to take someone who just started their contract, and fly them home, just to fly them back in a month to finish their contract.  But, when crew changes are scheduled to take place, that airline cost is already a fixed cost.

[Pratique]

34 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

No, what I also said, maybe not in this thread, is that those whose contracts were ending would be sent home, but their replacements would not be sent out.  As noted, his contract is nearing its end, so they may decide to send those folks whose contracts are ending home a bit early, but again, not replacing them until closer to start up time.  This would be similar to a drydocking, where those whose contracts end during the drydock are given the choice to leave early, and their replacements are not sent out until nearer the end of the drydock.  The airline cost I was referring to, would be to take someone who just started their contract, and fly them home, just to fly them back in a month to finish their contract.  But, when crew changes are scheduled to take place, that airline cost is already a fixed cost.

That all makes sense but I'm not convinced that sending them home early is just to save food costs if payroll doesn't change. Chris is not being given the option to leave early, they told him he must leave (and it sounds like he would prefer to stay), and we don't yet know who else they are sending home early. So still some unanswered questions lingering here. I think it is a safe bet that the cruise lines are anticipating an indefinite shutdown, and that the 30 day thing is no longer realistic.

[cangelmd]

On 3/15/2020 at 12:12 PM, xray said:

My Daughter  in Gulfport, MS. texted me that WLOX News was reporting that the Carnival Valor and the Carnival Freedom will be docking there today with the possibility of another ship as well.  I know of at least one other cruise ship has done this in the past when the Mississippi River at New Orleans was too high to safely go under the power lines crossing the river.  

 

I also wonder if the Port of Mobile will also be used.  

 

XRAY

Our Carnival ship is docked and expected to stay for the 30 days. MobileAL

[chengkp75]

11 hours ago, Pratique said:

That all makes sense but I'm not convinced that sending them home early is just to save food costs if payroll doesn't change. Chris is not being given the option to leave early, they told him he must leave (and it sounds like he would prefer to stay), and we don't yet know who else they are sending home early. So still some unanswered questions lingering here. I think it is a safe bet that the cruise lines are anticipating an indefinite shutdown, and that the 30 day thing is no longer realistic.

As I've said, I'm not sure of current contract terms, so it may be that they can terminate the contracts early without continuing to pay to the scheduled end of contract.  I haven't looked up all the provisions of the MLC lately, and as I've said crew contracts changed greatly when the MLC came into effect, so there may be a payroll advantage to ending contracts a little early.

[grapau27]

22 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I don’t doubt that quite a few will be leaving but is it people who have less than 2 months on their contract or is it people who have 6 months left.  That’s the info that would be needed to read  anything into Royals plans. With as many crew as she has on board there are always a lot nearing the end of their contract. 

With the number of passengers cancelling the ships probably will be no where near full when cruising opens again so in the short term less crew might not be a problem for RC.

[gatour]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

With the number of passengers cancelling the ships probably will be no where near full when cruising opens again so in the short term less crew might not be a problem for RC.

Yes, that was what I was going to say.  They now how many people have cancelled and whenever they resume operations, there will not be mass rushing of new bookings to fill the now empty cabins.

[time4u2go]

Just west of Great Stirrup Cay (Coco Cay).

[bobmacliberty]

22 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Just west of Great Stirrup Cay (Coco Cay).

 

Would be interesting to see a flyover video of this.  Once in a lifetime (hopefully) situation.

[MADflyer]

There have been some movements as Symphony headed over toward the Florida coast but it seems to have not went into any port. 

 

Explorer is currently at the Royal Caribbean terminal in Miami. 

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, MADflyer said:

There have been some movements as Symphony headed over toward the Florida coast but it seems to have not went into any port.

 

Maybe she just went to get some provisions.  She probably left a life boat behind so that no one would take her anchorage spot while she was gone. 🤣