ONgoing Crew Repatriations - Bad Sign For Cruises in 2020?

[ischeer]

Yesterday we received word that our Affinity Group cruise (October 2020 on NCL) has been cancelled.

[ECCruise]

10 minutes ago, ischeer said:

Yesterday we received word that our Affinity Group cruise (October 2020 on NCL) has been cancelled.

Itinerary?

[Mr. Click]

On 5/13/2020 at 8:43 AM, TeeRick said:

Cruising in 2020?? I am hoping just to be able to dine in a restaurant in my area by year end.  Or get a haircut.

Salons in Nevada opened this past weekend.  No more 70's hair for me 🙂

[Germancruiser]

11 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I would fly to Germany to get a haircut if my government would let me!😀

An visa verse- I would to fly too- if our goverment would allow it or if any country would take me- which is no the case- and will not be for a long time, i fear!

[eyecantwait]

21 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

 

I kinda made my peace with the fact that no Alaska or West Coast cruises will be going this year. 

Yes, and it's a relief to not be playing the will we or won't we go in August game anymore. I finally gave it up a couple of weeks ago. I promised my family we'll go to Alaska someday but not anytime soon. I don't want to have to wear a mask on a cruise.

[Fly and Sail]

43 minutes ago, Germancruiser said:

An visa verse- I would to fly too- if our goverment would allow it or if any country would take me- which is no the case- and will not be for a long time, i fear!

 

Plenty of flights to/from Germany every day but most overseas borders are closed so that's prohibitive.

[ischeer]

11 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Itinerary?

It was  a 4-night NY-Bermuda cruise.

 

[Tedw]

On 5/12/2020 at 7:10 PM, debb1952 said:

As of tonights news in Vancouver, NO Cruises will happen in Washington,Vancouver, & Alaska/Yukon this summer.  Global BC  news.tonight 6:00 pm news

 

 

The Coast Guard controls the US ports and has shut down cruise ships.  I work with one of the Oregon ports and was expecting over 30 cruise ship calls and they are not allowed to dock cruise ships.  Plus their communities are scared. The port will take a significant hit to their budget.

[CruseKrazy]

Repatriation is not going smoothly.  Many countries it seems only allow their own nationals to disembark if they allow a ship to dock at all.  Here is a link to the sad situation with the Eclipse and Millennium ships:

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fvallartaopinaenlinea.com%2F2020%2F05%2Fcancelan-arribo-de-dos-cruceros-a-vallarta-tras-navegar-1700-km-buscaban-ayuda-humanitaria%2F

 

There are reports of crew member suicide. This is an ongoing humanitarian crisis folks.

 

I admire the hard work and personal dedication of Celebrity's CEO in seeking to get Celebrity crew home at tremendous cost.

Edited May 15, 2020 by CruseKrazy
grammar

[CruseKrazy]

Here is the link to that Celebrity ship story in Spanish you can google translate to English:

 

http://vallartaopinaenlinea.com/2020/05/cancelan-arribo-de-dos-cruceros-a-vallarta-tras-navegar-1700-km-buscaban-ayuda-humanitaria/

Edited May 15, 2020 by CruseKrazy
forgot attached link

[CruseKrazy]

This detailed crew repatriation plan was published 10 days ago on the Crew-Center.com web site.  I applaud Celebrity CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo's personal dedication and commitment to getting Celebrity crew back home during the Covid-19 pandemic, no what the cost.  It has since been reported that the Eclipse and Millennium were turned back from docking in Puerto Vallarta two days ago.  They have Covid cases onboard and perhaps no Mexican nationals.  I wonder how the rest of this plan is progressing.  If it is taking this long to get crew members home, how long will it take to get them back?  Meanwhile Celebrity is selling cruises again and not mentioning the repatriation crisis which drags on.  It all seems a bit surreal.

 

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Celebrity Cruises is preparing a major plan to send thousands of its crew members back to their home countries. In a letter sent to the crew, the President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises Lisa Lutoff-Perlo announced the repatriation plan of the shipboard employees from 60 different nationalities using cruise ships and charter flights. In the letter Lisa Lutoff-Perlo also said that in a spirit of doing everything possible for getting the crew home she signed the CDC letter, taking responsibility for the actions in order to secure approval for disembarkation.

Listed below is Celebrity Cruises current repatriation plan pending approval from various governments around the world, and rough estimated dates. The company will transfer certain crew members by nationalities onto Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise ships and proceed to ports where charter flights will be organized.

Celebrity Cruises crew repatriation plan:

Caribbean, Central and South American crew aboard Celebrity ships will be transferred to Vision, Rhapsody and Adventure.

Vision of the Seas will depart from Port Miami on May 15, and sail to St. Kitts, Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada, Trinidad, St Vincent and the Grenadines where the ship will end her repatriation voyage on June 7.

Rhapsody of the Seas will depart from Port Miami on May 13, and sail to Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize where the ship will end her repatriation voyage on May 23.

Adventure of the Seas will depart from the Bahamas on May 9, and set sail to Haiti and Dominican Republic, ending her repatriation voyage in Jamaica on May 23.

Filipino crew will be transferred to Celebrity Equinox.

After completing the transfer Equinox will sail to Barbados, from where Celebrity Cruises have asked to operate charter flights to Manila every three days, starting May 11.

Indian crew will be transferred to Celebrity Infinity and will set sail to Goa within the next two weeks. The ship is scheduled to reach its final destination in early June.

Indonesian crew members will be transferred to Explorer of the Seas and Enchantment of the Seas.

After completing the transfer Explorer will set sail to Barbados, where company has requested permission to fly charter flights on May 9-12. Enchantment of the Seas will sail to Miami for the charter flight on May 15. All charters would stop in Jakarta and Denpasar.

Celebrity Millenium and Eclipse located on the US West Coast, Celebrity Cruises are looking into moving both ships to Puerto Vallarta in the next week to 10 days. From Puerto Vallarta, the company plans to arrange one charter flight to the Philippines and one charter flight to Barbados for the Caribbean, Central and South American crew, as well as flights based availability for European, Canadian and International crew.

US crew on Celebrity ships sailing close to US ports will be repatriated with private transportation beginning May 6. US crew from Asia will be repatriated home from the Philipines as soon as Manila airport reopens. US crew on the ships located in the Mediterranean will be flown by May 20.

Other International Crew:

Celebrity cruises crew members from Ukraine and Romania will be transferred to the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas which will arrive in Miami and charter flights will be organized for May 16.

European, Canadian, and all other nationalities on Celebrity vessels will be transferred to three Royal Caribbean ships Freedom, Empress and Majesty. All three ships will cross the Atlantic Ocean and sail to Southampton where charter flights will be organized for crew repatriation.

• Empress and Majesty will depart Port Miami on May 15, and arrive in Southampton on May 28.
• Freedom of the Seas will depart Port Miami on May 15, and arrive in Southampton on May 24.

For the crew onboard Celebrity Constellation, the company estimates that the ship will be in Athens on May 7, from there two different charets will be organized, one to London for European and International crew, and one for repatriation of the Indonesian crew.

For the crew still onboard Celebrity Apex the company is planning a charter from St. Nazaire to Barbados within the week for repatriation of the Caribbean, Central and Soth American crew. European, Canadian, and International crew will be sent back home on flights based on availability. The company is also working on options to send the Indian crew members back home.

In the letter, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo said " on behalf of our entire Celebrity family, I continue to send you my thanks for your strength and positive, can-do attitude. We have always been there for each other, and we need that now more than ever"

Tag: 

Royal Caribbean

Ship Life

[abritinva]

In at least one case not well unfortunately

"63 Days Stuck at Sea: Protest Erupts on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas | Cruise Law News" https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2020/05/articles/disease/63-days-stuck-at-sea-protest-erupts-on-royal-caribbeans-majesty-of-the-seas/

[Fly and Sail]

On 5/15/2020 at 7:30 PM, CruseKrazy said:

I admire the hard work and personal dedication of Celebrity's CEO in seeking to get Celebrity crew home at tremendous cost.

 

Keep in mind that cruise lines always pay the airline tickets for the employees so if you consider 1500-2000 crew per ship that's a lot of budget to move things around. How much does it cost to sail a ship across an ocean?

[Decpl]

Wife and I are disappointed about Alaska Cruise tour starting on August 1st. We are not

willing to deal with masks, and distancing issues with dinning and tours plus disembarking

 and embarking issues. This would've been our second time doing Alaska, we loved it so much

ad wanted to all the adventures that come with it before we are unable to do them. On our

1st cruise was sad seeing so of the people, that were unable to do a lot of the side trips do

to the physical limitations of wheel chair and canes and walkers. 

 Next year is out for us as we are doing a spring and summer western RV trip that's taking

up most of the prime time of an Alaskan trip.

  Realy disapointed in Celbrities lack of comunication on a trip of less than 90 days out.

[CruseKrazy]

12 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Keep in mind that cruise lines always pay the airline tickets for the employees so if you consider 1500-2000 crew per ship that's a lot of budget to move things around. How much does it cost to sail a ship across an ocean?

A lot either way. That's why cruise ship companies are selling cruises as fast as they can to finance the cash they are burning and burning.  Hopefully they will be able to get crew home safely and deliver on the promised cruises.

Edited May 17, 2020 by CruseKrazy
typo

[CruseKrazy]

Here is more evidence that it is not going well.  Repatriation is a terribly complex and unprecedented situation with borders closed, no flights, patchwork of international rules which change daily. 

 

However if the cruise industry cannot guarantee the safety and safe passage home of its own employees, what does this say about the future viability of the industry as a whole for the paying public?  These crew members helped paying passengers to get home safely and now they are trapped, many without being paid. 

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article242565281.html