What happens to staff on all ships?

[FrankieSue]

This is indeed an unprecedented situation. My heart goes out to all the wonderful staff who look after us and make our cruises so special. What happens to them now? Do they receive paid leave, compensation, etc.... any thoughts?

[chengkp75]

I don't think the cruise lines will pay to repatriate all the crew, so I feel they will stay onboard and continue to draw their normal pay.  The airline cost would offset the payroll savings for a short duration, and then you would have to reassemble everyone and get the ship back up and running.  Those due to leave the ship at the end of their contracts will be sent home, but they will likely not refill those positions until the ships are starting up again, except for critical positions.

[Seasick Sailor]

The crew will stay onboard the Oosterdam near Mexican coast. Don't know about other ships.

 

[Himself]

I suspect that will be true for all ships.

[FrankieSue]

My thought also! I hope this is true but it will be very costly for the Cruise Lines to support all their crew plus fuel the ships, etc.... without any revenue.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, FrankieSue said:

My thought also! I hope this is true but it will be very costly for the Cruise Lines to support all their crew plus fuel the ships, etc.... without any revenue.

Fuel, which is the largest single expense of operating the ship, will drop to a fraction of normal, as the ship is just sitting and most of the hotel will be shut down.  I would expect fuel consumption to drop by 70-80%.  Wages are a relatively small outlay, especially when you figure in that international law requires the cruise line to pay for their airline ticket home, and then back again.

[3rdGenCunarder]

6 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Fuel, which is the largest single expense of operating the ship, will drop to a fraction of normal, as the ship is just sitting and most of the hotel will be shut down.  I would expect fuel consumption to drop by 70-80%.  Wages are a relatively small outlay, especially when you figure in that international law requires the cruise line to pay for their airline ticket home, and then back again.

 

On the 11-day partial canal cruise on Zuiderdam, the captain said the fuel cost was around $500,000, and we had only 3 sea days, not 14. So having ships "shelter in place" while HAL sorts out future plans makes a lot of sense. 

 

[chengkp75]

19 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

On the 11-day partial canal cruise on Zuiderdam, the captain said the fuel cost was around $500,000, and we had only 3 sea days, not 14. So having ships "shelter in place" while HAL sorts out future plans makes a lot of sense. 

 

Yes, but you had several "sea nights" underway as well.  That's a fairly typical fuel bill for an 11 day cruise.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

Yes, but you had several "sea nights" underway as well.  That's a fairly typical fuel bill for an 11 day cruise.

 

That's true, I hadn't thought of that. So, adding that, we were sailing for more than half of the time.

[chengkp75]

Just now, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

That's true, I hadn't thought of that. So, adding that, we were sailing for more than half of the time.

I would expect a ship that size to burn about $5-6,000 a day in fuel sitting at anchor with just crew, so maybe $170-180,000 for a month.  They will likely crank the AC temp up some, and save some more.

[Randyk47]

13 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I would expect a ship that size to burn about $5-6,000 a day in fuel sitting at anchor with just crew, so maybe $170-180,000 for a month.  They will likely crank the AC temp up some, and save some more.

What about making water?  They have to be a number of miles offshore and I’ve heard they bleed off heat from the engines to support the process.  ????

[chengkp75]

47 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

What about making water?  They have to be a number of miles offshore and I’ve heard they bleed off heat from the engines to support the process.  ????

Yes, you have to be 12 miles from shore, and you need to be running at least two diesels at high load (a crew only hotel load will be about 50% of one diesel, so not enough heat) for an evaporator, but an RO unit could be run if they are far enough offshore.  But, water consumption will decrease greatly, and they will just hook up to the hydrants at the dock, or get a water barge if anchored.

 

The engines are cooled by a fresh water cooling loop, and this cooling loop is cooled by the sea, so you are "wasting" heat by sending it to the ocean.  The evaporators take this cooling loop, after it has been heated by the engine, and uses it to boil water, before it is then cooled by the sea.

Edited March 14, 2020 by chengkp75

[Frank5]

I wonder if most of the ships will sit offshore outside but close enough to a port to use their tender boats or weather they will remain docked at a port for the duration and presumably pay dockage fees?

[chengkp75]

Even if they sit at a cruise terminal, since there are no ships calling, they would get a reduced rate (which is better for the port than nothing at all).  Commercial docks, where they could dock are relatively cheap, and long term berthing gets a discount (its guaranteed income).  The ships can be inside the port limits, if the anchorage is inside the port, but they would not use their tenders, as they won't grant (or receive most likely) general shore leave for the crew.  Anchoring is most likely scenario, as it costs nothing.

[Aquahound]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

I would expect a ship that size to burn about $5-6,000 a day in fuel sitting at anchor with just crew, so maybe $170-180,000 for a month.  They will likely crank the AC temp up some, and save some more.

 

How different do you think the costs will be for the gas turbine ships like Radiance Class and Millennium Class?

[chengkp75]

5 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

How different do you think the costs will be for the gas turbine ships like Radiance Class and Millennium Class?

I know some of them (RCI's Radiance?) installed diesel generators for in port use, so those should be comparable.  If they're running a 25Mw gas turbine at 5-6Mw for reduced hotel load, they will be spending a butt-load of money.  The GE gas turbines burn about 180% of the fuel per kw/hr as a medium speed diesel (and that is comparing "spec sheet" figures, which are at the most efficient point on the load curve), so I would expect the gas turbines to cost at least twice as much to operate as the diesels.

[sailingdutchy]

34 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Even if they sit at a cruise terminal, since there are no ships calling, they would get a reduced rate (which is better for the port than nothing at all).  Commercial docks, where they could dock are relatively cheap, and long term berthing gets a discount (its guaranteed income).  The ships can be inside the port limits, if the anchorage is inside the port, but they would not use their tenders, as they won't grant (or receive most likely) general shore leave for the crew.  Anchoring is most likely scenario, as it costs nothing.

 

@chengkp75  Like many others on CC  I always enjoy reading all of your posts , we appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge of the technical details and all aspects that are connected with cruising and life at sea in general .  Love to meet you one day on one of our future cruises  !  THANK YOU ! 

 

Tony , sailingdutchy 

 

[harryw]

I also appreciate the technical expertise shared here.

We have come to meet so many nice crew and other staff on past cruises. Some recognize us 

on followup cruises. My thoughts are with all of  them as they face economic uncertainty.

[gatour]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

I would expect a ship that size to burn about $5-6,000 a day in fuel sitting at anchor with just crew, so maybe $170-180,000 for a month.  They will likely crank the AC temp up some, and save some more.

Since we are speaking of fuel. From prior posts on other threads, except in certain jurisdictions ships burn bunker fuel. Based on other posts, bunker fuel is considered a “waste product” by the refineries. Does the fluctuation of crude prices affect bunker fuel prices like it does to gas prices that we pay at the pump. I imagine if it does, the swings would not be as much.

[The Other Tom]

Just a guess, but ships will probably not "shelter in place" but rather go to their next port of embarkation when that has been determined.  The crew will remain on the ship and clean, clean, clean.  What is less clear is whether or not they'll be paid.  My guess is not, unfortunately.  They might get a little bit but it'll be less than their normal wage (which is normally paid by tips?).  Again, all guesses on my part. 

[chengkp75]

2 minutes ago, gatour said:

Since we are speaking of fuel. From prior posts on other threads, except in certain jurisdictions ships burn bunker fuel. Based on other posts, bunker fuel is considered a “waste product” by the refineries. Does the fluctuation of crude prices affect bunker fuel prices like it does to gas prices that we pay at the pump. I imagine if it does, the swings would not be as much.

Yes, there is no direct correlation between bunker prices and crude prices, though they roughly track, but sometimes there is a significant lag between them.

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, The Other Tom said:

Just a guess, but ships will probably not "shelter in place" but rather go to their next port of embarkation when that has been determined.  The crew will remain on the ship and clean, clean, clean.  What is less clear is whether or not they'll be paid.  My guess is not, unfortunately.  They might get a little bit but it'll be less than their normal wage (which is normally paid by tips?).  Again, all guesses on my part. 

Whether they stay at their disembarkation port, or go to the next embarkation port (if different) is a question of space and economics.  By international law, the crew must get paid, and there is a minimum wage that they are entitled to.  Even if 90% of their normal compensation is made up of DSC, the cruise line will have to pay the minimum.  The current minimum is $625 per month, based on a 40 hour work week.  Any hours worked in excess of 40 per week are paid at 125%.  So, it is far less than the normal wage for the DSC pool crew, but the line may make up some or all of the difference, depending on how they value the retention of crew.

[DeeniEncinitas]

We are on the Rotterdam right now in port at PV. We are continuing our cruise to FLL per Captain.They will stay at FLL with crew on board per one of the head waiters they said this morning! He said it might be longer if extended he said per Captain.

Denise😊

[gatour]

A few ships will be "camping" in Jacksonville.  We normally have one ship that do cruises from Jaxport.  Three additional ship will be settling in...

 

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/03/14/jaxport-will-accommodate-florida-cruise-ships-displaced-due-to-covid-19-threat/

 

The Carnival Ecstasy ship normally embarks/and disembarks at a dedicated terminal, just west of the Dames Point bridge and that seems to be the case.

 

The NCL Norwegian Pearl will be at the Dames Point cargo terminal, also west of Dames Point

 

NCL Norwegian Sky will be at Tallyrand (historically a bulk cargo terminal) that farther west of the bridge

 

And Carnival Sensation will be at one of the Blount Island cargo docks.  This is east of the bridge.  Perhaps due to height limitations of passing under the bridge

[rkacruiser]

18 minutes ago, gatour said:

A few ships will be "camping" in Jacksonville.  We normally have one ship that do cruises from Jaxport.  Three additional ship will be settling in...

 

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/03/14/jaxport-will-accommodate-florida-cruise-ships-displaced-due-to-covid-19-threat/

 

The Carnival Ecstasy ship normally embarks/and disembarks at a dedicated terminal, just west of the Dames Point bridge and that seems to be the case.

 

The NCL Norwegian Pearl will be at the Dames Point cargo terminal, also west of Dames Point

 

NCL Norwegian Sky will be at Tallyrand (historically a bulk cargo terminal) that farther west of the bridge

 

And Carnival Sensation will be at one of the Blount Island cargo docks.  This is east of the bridge.  Perhaps due to height limitations of passing under the bridge

 

Thanks for this news.  I appreciate it.