MADflyer

Philippine Airline flight from Bridgetown to Vancouver and now continuing on to Manila. 

Rhapsody and Freedom in port at Bridgetown today. 

Phillipine Airline 777 on way to BGI Bridgetown now from LAX. Harmony and a Seabourne ship are in port now. 

55 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Spectrum took off from Shanghai to Korea.

The Wamos flight did a turn- around and returned to MADrid from Shanghai yesterday. 

Wamos 747 leaving Bridgetown now for LHR London Heathrow. 

2 additional Wamos aircraft sent to Bridgetown from Madrid. 

Wamos Airbus 330 lifting from Bridgetown to Podgorica, Macedonia soon. 

15 minutes ago, livylotte said:

All these cruise ships heading to the UK.  Does anyone know if there have been any reported cases of Covid-19 onboard?

These ships are carrying European, Canadian and American and International crew that have transferred to them from other ships. They will be transferred directly to flights home.  

They have all been at sea for 3 months and Covid-19 quarantines have fully taken place. The ships that had Covid-19 cases were not used for the UK repatriation. 

Around 200 onboard are UK Citizens. 

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

I was wondering why they changed from Naha the other day - though not sure why they would bother to put crew back on a ship.

Did Spectrum already repatriate the Chinese that was scheduled for May 11th previously?  The Chinese might just be making it home now.  

I wonder if they are using the charter flight to send some others hope that they could not repatriate through the Manila or other calls. 

An Evelop Airlines Airbus 350 that holds 432 passengers also left Manila for a return to a currently unknown European destination. 

Royal Caribbean does operate schools in both the Philippines and China to train future crew members, but I have no idea if they are working to get crew back on these ships. 

Spectrum of the Seas is headed for Shanghai now and RCL airline Wamos has an Airbus 330 on the way to nearby Hangzhou, China from Madrid. 

Another Wamos 747  flight from Madrid is arriving soon at Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Yet another Wamos A330 arrived at Bridgetown a couple of hours ago. 

38 minutes ago, Jack McGowan said:

This was quite possibly for the Marella fleet which has been sitting in and around Southampton for a few weeks, also might have picked some crews up from TUI Cruises ships in Germany. 

RCL ship operations is also located in Hamburg. They are responsible for all ships for RCL lines along with the TUI joint venture Marella and Haapag Lloyd cruises. 

A TUI 787 first left London Gatwick for Hamburg 2 days ago and then flew Hamburg to Manila and is now arriving back at London Gatwick from Manila. 

Philippines Airline flew into Miami again yesterday. 

Wamos flew to Skopje, Macedonia from Bridgetown yesterday and the flight is now arriving back at Madrid. This aircraft was one of 2 that also repatriated to Kiev, Ukraine a couple of days ago. 

2 hours ago, Jack McGowan said:

Liberty as well interestingly. 

Along with Celebrity Equinox. 

3 hours ago, bigeck said:

Sovereign is sitting off Gibraltar. Probably doing similar 

Sovereign and Jewel met up last week as well the day after Jewel met up with Allure. 

Norwegian Breakaway has been in Barcelona this past week and Norwegian Getaway went through the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday. They meet in Marseilles France tomorrow. 

3 hours ago, mugtech said:

The NCL Escape just took off on a 41 day journey with 3,800 on board stopping in Barcelona and Mumbai on the way to a July 2 docking in Manila, 

4 hours ago, bigeck said:

26 are and 16 aren't

Just find Shengen a strange reference to cruising. You could have said, Europe except UK.

I think a lot of changes will be on the way as the ships will follow the money. A lot of poverty has been created with C-19.

In Uk if you are furloughed you get 80% of your wages. Not sure what the rest of Europe are getting.

Switzerland (MSC and Viking headquarters) and Norway and Iceland are Schengen agreement countries and could use the Schengen visa program to control who can sail on cruise ships departing from or visiting a Schengen port. The most important part of the Schengen visa is that international travelers are required to prove they have health insurance while traveling. 

43 minutes ago, CntPAcruiser said:

 

It's not clear whether Explorer will now get the full "amping" that would eliminate the original fitness center, or if it will only have less invasive maintenance and updating done. I believe Mariner still has sauna/steam facilities.

 

Independence still has sauna/steam facilities according to recent reports. When I've looked at the post-amp deck plans for Freedom, there's still a large fitness center area. I'm haven't seen any reports of exactly what is there now.

I was on Explorer the last time in 2016 and thought they had already added cabins initially in the 2015 dry dock that had removed a good portion of the fitness center. Hopefully someone will chime in that has sailed more recently. 

Mariner and Indy have had major renovations. It would be great to hear that Freedom class was keeping the sauna and steam rooms. Hopefully someone can confirm from a recent sailing. 

2 hours ago, Jack McGowan said:

Yes, all part of the wider RCL group

Even the Pullmantur Monarch (former Monarch of the Seas) is heading toward Bridgetown now for arrival tomorrow. 

2 Wamos 330s left Barbados for Kiev, Ukraine this evening.  

Anthem is heading toward the Strait of Gibraltar for the May 24th meet up with Infinity and Jewel. 

Repatriation press release from Gibraltar on communication with RCL. 

https://www.gibraltarport.com/node/886

Submitted by VTSM on Fri, 22/05/2020 - 15:41

Repatriation of Cruise Crews

The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has recently exchanged letters with Royal Caribbean’s Director of Port Services EMEA Alessandro Carollo, following the successful repatriation of Royal Caribbean crews from Gibraltar.

In his heartfelt letter to the Chief Minister, Mr Carollo wrote that ‘communities like Gibraltar are rare gems of humanity in such difficult and unprecedented times’ and expressed ‘sincerest gratitude for your [Gibraltar’s] cooperation, support and professionalism’.

Looking to the future, Mr Carollo noted that ‘RCL have been historically supporting Gibraltar as a destination for its guests, and will continue to do so when regular cruising will restart’. In his reply, the Chief Minister promised that ‘Gibraltar will be here to welcome you back, and we look forward to doing so for many years to come’.

Whilst the Chief Minister also acknowledged the long-standing excellent relationship between Gibraltar and RCL, he assured Mr Carollo that ‘all those who have been involved in the repatriation operation have done so selflessly, in the knowledge that this has been, above all, a humanitarian effort’.

Both the Chief Minister and Mr Carollo look forward to meeting in Gibraltar as soon as it is safe to do so. The cordial exchange of letters demonstrates the lasting relationship between Gibraltar and RCL, and provides encouraging reassurances for Gibraltar’s tourism industry as we move towards a promising future.

6 hours ago, Nauty said:

British Airways does their A380 maintenance in Manila. Highly unlikely that it was a charter for crew.

Thanks for the info. 

I see the flight was actually seen as a good sign for the industry. 

https://simpleflying.com/british-airways-airbus-a380-manila/

44 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Picking up new crew? Cheaper place to refuel?

Wamos has been working heavily for governments as well including the UK and Germany to repatriate their citizens. They were even used for the original evacuation from Wuhan in January. 

I was hoping they were taking crew out from the Philippines on the return flights, but it does not seam to be happening. 

The Wamos 747 that just repatriated crew to Manila is now departing from Manila for an interesting destination, Belgrade, Serbia. 

They have just completed the process of getting Allure into Dry Dock number 4 at Navantia Cadiz. 

49 minutes ago, bigeck said:

 

C Breeze was Rome now going to Dubrovnik.

 

Carnival Magic went to Dubrovnik following her technical stop at Gibraltar. 

Maybe they are doing a crew transfer at Dubrovnik as Breeze took on all the crew from Carnival Victory at Cadiz. 

MSC Divina also sailed a couple days ago first showing Gibraltar and now shows Algeciras.

48 minutes ago, 2travelcats said:

 

I think there have been changes, including removing some saunas, as ships have been up-dated. 

 

... information on Brilliance, Enchantment & Freedom.

 

 

I have been on Brilliance a couple times since the major renovation in 2013 and they kept the sauna and steam room. The last renovation did not involve public areas to my knowledge. 

Enchantment should still have the same configuration and have a small sauna and steam room. 

Freedom must have lost the sauna and steam room in the last renovation when deck 11 cabins were added. I have not sailed with her since then. 

It would seem that Liberty would be the only Freedom Class with the old large sauna steam room and Adventure would be the only Voyager class still having that feature as their amplifications are not currently being completed. 

Lots of flight activity today. Enchantment has reached Barbados. 

Philippine Airlines A350 now heading from BGI Bridgetown to LAX before heading on to Manila. 

Wamos flight from Madrid heading to BGI. 

iAero Airways a 'First Class' luxury charter company out of Miami has been flying several aircraft back and forth between Miami and Barbados and would seem to be related to repatriation activity. 

https://www.iaeroairways.com/