Thinking About Our Crew

[Saphire]

We were on the last cruise of the Koningsdam season, March 2020. We heard the news reports, and as the days passed by things became more real as to what we may be facing. That last night in the dining room, we talked with our servers and wine steward. They thought they would be heading out briefly without passengers, and resume cruising when deemed safe. Little did we know how many  months it would be! 

 

I think of them often, and wonder how they are doing, What happened when they went home? Were they able to find work? How has the virus affected their world? It is hard to get information outside of our bubble of the US. Looking back, I wish I had thanked them more, but who would have known what was to come.

 

Does anyone have any news articles to share? Thanks.

[rkacruiser]

A superb post!  I have thought about those who have served me over the years as well.

 

I think about those seasonal ground staff employees who work at the Ports to help us.  Sometimes, the service that I have received from these folks have gone beyond what I would expect to be "the call to duty".  

 

I wish all of them well! 

[KirkNC]

We are friends with several crew members on Facebook and they (some are officers while others are staff) are doing fine but I don’t believe any of them are working.

Edited September 25, 2020 by KirkNC

[indokiwi]

Ships are sailing with about 80 crew on board, the rest are home. Most have been officially let go and told they can reapply when things are back up and running, but they are no longer official employees. This includes many Hotel Directors, Culinary Operations Managers, Deck Officers (including Captains, Staff Captains, etc), Guest Relations Managers.... the list goes on. 

[regnig]

I was on the same cruise and found all the crew/staff just wonderful.

About 2 months after the Koningsdam sailed out of Ft Lauderdale with no passengers there was an article by the 

Cruise Director Christine LaVonna that went into great detail about that time period with no passengers but almost a full staff of crew.  She also told about her adventure in finally getting home.  I have found and update by her out on PortHold (dot) com that if you just Google her name you will find.  i'm still hunting for her original saga and if i can find it i'll let you know.

[Alphen]

On 9/25/2020 at 2:08 AM, Saphire said:

We were on the last cruise of the Koningsdam season, March 2020. We heard the news reports, and as the days passed by things became more real as to what we may be facing. That last night in the dining room, we talked with our servers and wine steward. They thought they would be heading out briefly without passengers, and resume cruising when deemed safe. Little did we know how many  months it would be! 

 

I think of them often, and wonder how they are doing, What happened when they went home? Were they able to find work? How has the virus affected their world? It is hard to get information outside of our bubble of the US. Looking back, I wish I had thanked them more, but who would have known what was to come.

 

Does anyone have any news articles to share? Thanks.

On FB in the HAL fans group, there is some info posted every now and then by a group of HAL crewmembers on Bali Indonesia, who are frequently doing community service there, as a HAL group. They are also on YouTube.

 

 

Frankly, I think a lot of people can learn a lot from these volunteers, no doubt sadly without a job or income, but still doing humanitarian community service as a group.

 

Full credits go to the poster and to the fantastic HAL crew members!

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2020 by Alphen

[mskitty1]

Brought tears to my eyes!  Wonderful caring Indonesian crew from HAL!!!  We miss you and hope to see you again real soon.

[luvn2cruzzz]

That was just wonderful!  Thanks for posting this for us to see.