Are the crew coming back?

[Cathygh]

There is a rumour on fb that crew have been contracted to return to P&O. it is not confirmed but I was wondering if any one here knows anything?

Cathy 

[molecrochip]

Crew changes are still taking place. Whenever they do, new crew need to be contracted in advance. It not just UK based crew onboard but it is a minimal amount.

 

That said, there is a fairly strong belief that P&O are discussing with their overseas crewing partners, the steps to be taken to start up again. The overseas partners will want to have crew 'ready to go' when P&O announce their plans.

 

We are getting closer to that point.

[Castle25]

Indeed - as a lot of the staff are from Asia it will be known when things are starting to 'stir'.  Quarantine issues aside , it is not a 5 minute job getting all of the staff from around the world in place to get the ships up and running

[jeanlyon]

The Covid numbers in India are just awful.  I imagine they will have to quarantine before they even leave India and again when they get here.

[Josy1953]

I hope that cruising does start to open up again even though we have nothing booked now until next May but I would like to see how it is going before we have to pay our balance in February.  We have no P&O cruises booked because this year's have been cancelled and after Oceana in February we decided to cancel P&O for next year and have booked with Princess instead.

[terrierjohn]

Carnival shares are up 8.35% today, so maybe there is some positive news floating about.

[Captain_Morgan]

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Carnival shares are up 8.35% today, so maybe there is some positive news floating about.

 

After it came roaring out of the gate it seems to have sputtered now only up about 4% and trending downward...guess everyone was in sell off mode when they saw the gains this morning

[Manx buoy]

Chatting to one of the crew earlier and no mention of a return any time soon 🤷‍♂️

[molecrochip]

3 hours ago, Manx buoy said:

Chatting to one of the crew earlier and no mention of a return any time soon 🤷‍♂️

Do bear in mind that its likely to take through to April to phase all the ships back into service. Not all crew will be needed at once.

[Captain_Morgan]

40 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Do bear in mind that its likely to take through to April to phase all the ships back into service. Not all crew will be needed at once.

 

Correct me if i'm wrong but weren't both Azura and QM2 due to go into dry dock / refit this year?  Can't imagine they would want to do that without more than the current bare minimum manning?!?

[Adawn47]

50 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Do bear in mind that its likely to take through to April to phase all the ships back into service. Not all crew will be needed at once.

I hope I'm not being too optimistic but it's beginning to sound as thought we might get to Norway at the end of June after all🤞

Avril

[Britboys]

14 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I hope I'm not being too optimistic but it's beginning to sound as thought we might get to Norway at the end of June after all🤞

Avril

I hope you do Avril - because that means it would be likely that I will get to Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and Belgium on one of Fred Olsen's 'new' ships in late June too... 🤞🏻

[Cathygh]

Thanks Molecrochip that''s what I thought.

I wonder if they will start with Iona? I see she is still stuck in Bremerhaven and no sign she's going anywhere soon.

Cathy

[Britboys]

14 hours ago, Captain_Morgan said:

 

Correct me if i'm wrong but weren't both Azura and QM2 due to go into dry dock / refit this year?  Can't imagine they would want to do that without more than the current bare minimum manning?!?

Certainly Azura is due a refit - wasn't it meant to take place in May? I don't know about QM2.

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Certainly Azura is due a refit - wasn't it meant to take place in May? I don't know about QM2.

Azura refit was due early April  straight after the TA which we were booked on.

Graham.

 

[majortom10]

QM2 was due for a refit in November but not sure if it will go ahead as planned but I have read somewhere that Cunard have said she will have a refit before she sails again in the Spring of 2021.

[molecrochip]

QM2 was due a dry dock from 6-23 November. Her Southampton bookings include a new 11 November booking so plans have changed. I expect that it will still happen if the ship yard is open but appears to have shifted by 5 days.

 

A three week dry dock is a long time for the work that needs to be done under the waterline. So I expect that significant cosmetic changes were planned. I suspect some of those have been cancelled in favour of a more cash-conservative refurbishment. 

 

I do not have a date for Azura however she now cannot carry passengers until her dry dock is undertaken as she is over the time since her last dry dock. The longer that this pause goes on, the more likely that all the ships will need a (albeit brief) dry dock.

[Captain_Morgan]

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

QM2 was due a dry dock from 6-23 November. Her Southampton bookings include a new 11 November booking so plans have changed. I expect that it will still happen if the ship yard is open but appears to have shifted by 5 days.

 

A three week dry dock is a long time for the work that needs to be done under the waterline. So I expect that significant cosmetic changes were planned. I suspect some of those have been cancelled in favour of a more cash-conservative refurbishment. 

 

I do not have a date for Azura however she now cannot carry passengers until her dry dock is undertaken as she is over the time since her last dry dock. The longer that this pause goes on, the more likely that all the ships will need a (albeit brief) dry dock.

 

I would think that all ships will require some form of 're-fit' whether it be dry or wet dock in order to put in place COVID friendly measures, whatever they may be (i.e. screens, directional aides, etc)