Crew repatriation

[Vovin]

Good day all,

What are your collective thoughts on the repatriation of cast and crew?

Have seen news articles of other cruise lines preparing to use their ships to sail their crews home, thereby getting around flight cancellations.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Hmm well, might as well do that, if the countries will let them port. I heard France refused a Costa cruise, even just to drop off French citizens.

 

[bbel]

Some ships have already docked and dropped of crew in Asia so it can work. But only with the countires that have a high number of crew onboard (Filipino, Indonesian and indian).

They're still using charter flights for a lot of them.
My friend is an officer on RC and three of their ships were combining crew from the same counties via lifeboat so they could debark all together for flights home. She was putting photos and videos up.

 

[T & R]

If DCL does this, then it will mean we will not be cruising for a while. Would be hard to get all of these people back in the U.S. and mission ready within a short time when they're spread out all over the world.

 

[KashasMom]

That would be wonderful, not sure how practical logistically. I'm sure they'd rather be home with their families during all of this. I think(hope) cruises will be one of the last things "back up".

 

[OKW Lover]

If DCL does this, then it will mean we will not be cruising for a while. Would be hard to get all of these people back in the U.S. and mission ready within a short time when they're spread out all over the world.

Is that unique to DCL? Wouldn't any cruise line have the same issue?

 

[T & R]

Is that unique to DCL? Wouldn't any cruise line have the same issue?

The main players have many more ships than DCL. Wouldn't be very hard to start operating ships with just U.S. staff if you have a 20+ ship fleet to cherry pick U.S. staff from. Obviously DCL only has 4 ships, so if they send their international staff home (the majority of their staff), wouldn't be enough U.S. staff left over to get right back to sailing if given the go. They may be able to cobble enough U.S. staff together to operate one ship with a skeleton crew but I doubt they would do that due to safety and service issues. So my opinion is if DCL sends their international staff home, may be longer for their first sailing than another cruise line who could staff a ship quickly with locals and get back to business.

 

[OKW Lover]

Obviously DCL only has 4 ships, so if they send their international staff home (the majority of their staff), wouldn't be enough U.S. staff left over to get right back to sailing if given the go.

Doesn't that assume they would make a spur of the moment decision to resume all four ships? It seems to me that DCL would plan it out ahead of time which ships would sail first and staff up accordingly?

 

[T & R]

Doesn't that assume they would make a spur of the moment decision to resume all four ships? It seems to me that DCL would plan it out ahead of time which ships would sail first and staff up accordingly?

What I'm saying is they wouldn't even have enough to start up one ship. Other's that have 20+ ships could easily staff a few ships or even a dozen with their U.S. staff and start getting cruises on the books (I heard Carnival has 100 ships but not sure about that) .So DCL cruises would resume later than some other cruise lines.

 

[lanejudy]

If DCL does this, then it will mean we will not be cruising for a while.

I thought DCL had already sent some CMs home.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I thought DCL had already sent some CMs home.

They have. Most entertainment is off the ships, especially.

 

[mab2012]

I thought DCL had already sent some CMs home.

They have. Most entertainment is off the ships, especially.

We flew home (to Canada) from San Diego with a couple of performers who said they had voluntarily ended their contracts on the Wonder early when it became clear that they wouldn't be sailing again for awhile. For them it was probably an easy decision; by then the border closing and cancellation of transborder flights had already been announced.

 

[mousefan73]

Pretty sure cruise lines can get staff from Asia to ships within a week or two. Especially DCL who has low turn-over and long-term staff who keep renewing contracts.

Only issue I can see would be the validity of their work visas. I do know that many US embassies abroad are no longer processing visas and only handling emergency US citizen passport requests. I also don’t know how long these visas are valid for. If only for length of contract or longer who knows. I believe they need a semen or see one visa for any port in the US the boat stops or in barks at.So I could see embassies opening back up long before cruises sale so this probably won’t be an issue.

 

[Vovin]

Only issue I can see would be the validity of their work visas. I do know that many US embassies abroad are no longer processing visas and only handling emergency US citizen passport requests. I also don’t know how long these visas are valid for. If only for length of contract or longer who knows. I believe they need a semen or see one visa for any port in the US the boat stops or in barks at.So I could see embassies opening back up long before cruises sale so this probably won’t be an issue.

The visas crew have are valid for anywhere upto 10 years, depending on your home country. I'm from the UK and any new C1D1 visas issued are for 10 years.

An issue could arise if CM medicals or required training cannot be renewed.

Some coastguard agencies are putting extensions in place to help seafarers though, which is nice.

 

[bbel]

What I'm saying is they wouldn't even have enough to start up one ship. Other's that have 20+ ships could easily staff a few ships or even a dozen with their U.S. staff and start getting cruises on the books (I heard Carnival has 100 ships but not sure about that) .So DCL cruises would resume later than some other cruise lines.

There are a lot of vital positions on a ship that I've never seen an American do (laundry, deck, galley, even US captains are rare), and I've worked for 2 companies and on 12 and a half ships. Even with all US crew from all ship from a big company, you would still find it hard to function a ship off US crew alone.

(Obviously the exception to this would be the one NCL ship)

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We flew home (to Canada) from San Diego with a couple of performers who said they had voluntarily ended their contracts on the Wonder early when it became clear that they wouldn't be sailing again for awhile. For them it was probably an easy decision; by then the border closing and cancellation of transborder flights had already been announced.

Entertainment has higher odds of being American, Canadian, or former British Empire outside North America. But much like Broadwy, you cannot just throw everyone back onstage and start the show back up without rehearsals. Timing is critical and you cannot take 90 days off and have it perfect on return, even at the highest level of theater. Especially not in any show with dancing or pyro.

 

[Giraffe Lounge]

I've worked for 2 companies and on 12 and a half ships.

OK, I’ll ask it... what’s a half a ship?

 

[bbel]

OK, I’ll ask it... what’s a half a ship?

Haha, I had a 13 day contract, I always say it was half a ship because I hardly saw any of it, by the time I learnt my way to work i was on my way to the airport to go home haha!

 

[stsomewhere]

DCl is advertising for entertainers today. They are asking for audition tapes .

 

[_auroraborealis_]

DCl is advertising for entertainers today. They are asking for audition tapes .

DCL is always advertising for entertainers, and always request tapes. So that's not a sign of much. They especially are always screening for the standard non-production entertainers - musicians for between seatings, pianists for the bar at night, your comedian/magicians, etc.