Thousands of crew members are still aboard Cruise Ships - Find Out Why!

Thousands of crew members are still aboard Cruise Ships around the world. Many crew have been aboard cruise ships since early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic started. Repatriating cruise ship crew during the COVID pandemic is had! It has never been attempted at this scale before. Countries around the world have closed their borders to international travellers, meaning it is difficult for cruise ships to receive clearance to dock and disembark cruise ship crew. The vast majority of cruise ships are clear of any COVID-19 infections. In fact, cruise ships have been in layup for well over the incubation period for coronavirus, so with no new passengers or crew joining these ships there is little risk of any coronavirus outbreak aboard laid up cruise ships. In the UK, cruise ships have returned to British ports. Ships of Cunard, P&O UK, Fred Olsen and CMV returned to UK waters and disembarked passengers, as well as many non-essential crew. Cruise ships which have received clearance around the world face a further problem due to the collapse of international air travel. COVID-19 has impacted all aspects of global transport, meaning that it is often very difficult to secure passage on international flights to repatriate crew. In waters off The Bahamas, 18 Carnival Cruise Line ships met to transfer crew, with these cruise ships sailing to a variety of international destinations on repatriation voyages to take the crew home. Carnival Breeze has made a rare visit to Southampton, Carnival Dream has sailed to South Africa, Carnival Fascination is cruising to India and Carnival Magic sailing to the UK and Europe to repatriate crew. Italian based Costa Cruise Line's Costa Mediterranea is on a voyage from Italy to Asia in order to repatriate Costa Cruises crew to various Asian countries. Royal Caribbean and its subsidiary Celebrity Cruises recently commenced repatriation voyages with a large number of cruise ships recently meeting at Coco Cay – RCI’s private island in the Bahamas – in order to transfer crew to various ships for crew repatriation. Disney Dream recently docked in Miami with European crew transferred to specially chartered flights that departed from Miami International Airport. Fleet mate Disney Fantasy is at sea undertaking repatriation voyages to ports in the Caribbean. Disney Magic is in Dover, on a voyage to return UK and European crew to their home countries. There are around 300 large cruise ships in operation and I hope this video gives you some indication as to the scale of the effort that is underway to repatriate crew to their homes. Cruising forms a vital part of the global economy. The Cruise Lines International Association advises that cruise ships creat 1.177 million jobs and contributing $50.24 billion in wages. So cruising's return once the current coronavirus crisis passes is vital for the employment of those who make a living on cruise ships, or rely on the cruise industry for their income. And at this critical time, the health and wellbeing of the cruise ship crew is of paramount importance – so please spare a thought for those crew who have been away from their loved ones during this difficult time. Press References: Miami Herald Report: Ref 1: https://hrld.us/2TBhq8D Guardian Report: Ref 2: https://bit.ly/3ehgK0e CLIA Reference / 2020 Report: Ref 3: https://bit.ly/2LVpr4l Further Reading: There is a detailed write up about the RCI repatriation here: https://bit.ly/3gnL778 Also more detailed info about Carnival's transfer here: https://bit.ly/3c0AmEh And Disney: https://bit.ly/2TDgyAH Images: - Andrew Sassoli-Walker (inc. thumbnail) https://solentphotographer.com - Alison Morton - Thumbnail Calendar Icon: Yazmin Alanis CC. Attribution via Adobe Spark. Music: YouTube Audio. #cruisenews #cruiseshipnews #cruiseline