Repatriation Plans Announced for Crew Members to get home

[Jack McGowan]

31 minutes ago, bigeck said:

Not sure why the stop in France, maybe something to do with Apex

Yep that’s exactly right, picking up Indian crew from Apex. 

[MADflyer]

Repatriation press release from Gibraltar on communication with RCL. 

 

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

 

Repatriation of Cruise Crews

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.

[MADflyer]

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. 

[Jack McGowan]

If I’m correct Explorers’s last dry dock was 2015, meaning like Anthem she is going to be due her 5 year maintenance docking even if no “amplification” goes ahead onboard, before she goes back into passenger service. 
 

Therefore, could Explorer be heading for Europe (I think it was Brest, but don’t quote me on that!) after all crew being repatriated have left in Barbados. Obviously only speculation at the moment but just a thought. 

[ONECRUISER]

On 5/21/2020 at 1:03 PM, Midwestgal said:

I would of thought the cruise lines would of worked together and combining crew from all the ships by country and work on getting them home , especially the ones that are sailing them home . Maybe there’s a reason they couldn’t or maybe they did.

They did in a way. Royal/Celebrity worked together, Carnival with her Sisters. 100,000 Crew, enough in each to fill own Planes/Ships. 

Edited May 23, 2020 by ONECRUISER

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, Jack McGowan said:

Therefore, could Explorer be heading for Europe (I think it was Brest, but don’t quote me on that!) after all crew being repatriated have left in Barbados.

Yes, though that all depends on the dock being available and working.

[LXA350]

5 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Yes, though that all depends on the dock being available and working.

 

As Explorer is likey not needed in Europe this year, possibly the Marine Maintenance could be done in Freeport if capacity allows it at the dock, otherwise I guess the ship will need to head over to Europe even if it's only for the marine maintenance.

[Jack McGowan]

2 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

 

As Explorer is likey not needed in Europe this year, possibly the Marine Maintenance could be done in Freeport if capacity allows it at the dock, otherwise I guess the ship will need to head over to Europe even if it's only for the marine maintenance.

Might be wrong but don’t think RCL have used Freeport since the Oasis incident. Didn’t Freedom go all the way to Cadiz for her amplification?

Edited May 23, 2020 by Jack McGowan

[Biker19]

9 minutes ago, Jack McGowan said:

Might be wrong but don’t think RCL have used Freeport since the Oasis incident.

Freeport has other docks besides the one Oasis damaged which could host Explorer.

[Jack McGowan]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Freeport has other docks besides the one Oasis damaged which could host Explorer.

Not saying they don’t. They just haven’t used the shipyard since

[LXA350]

1 hour ago, Jack McGowan said:

Not saying they don’t. They just haven’t used the shipyard since

 

Not sure, thought that Freedom had it's Amplification done in Freeport.

 

What about other shipyards that cruiselines could use besides Freeport in the Caribbean / East Coast that can handle ships of the size of Voyager Class for drydocks?

[Jack McGowan]

27 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

 

Not sure, thought that Freedom had it's Amplification done in Freeport.

 

What about other shipyards that cruiselines could use besides Freeport in the Caribbean / East Coast that can handle ships of the size of Voyager Class for drydocks?

As far as I’m aware Freeport is the only one on the east coast they use? Other than that ships seem to go to Europe for Cadiz/Brest or Holland 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

13 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

They did in a way. Royal/Celebrity worked together, Carnival with her Sisters. 100,000 Crew, enough in each to fill own Planes/Ships. 

 

Azamara was also working with Royal and Celebrity and their crew were repatriated on Royal/Celebrity ships. 

[Jack McGowan]

1 minute ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

Azamara was also working with Royal and Celebrity and their crew were repatriated on Royal/Celebrity ships. 

Yes, all part of the wider RCL group

[MADflyer]

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. 

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, LXA350 said:

Not sure, thought that Freedom had it's Amplification done in Freeport.

She sailed to Europe.

[Jack McGowan]

So looks like tomorrow will be the day that Anthem, Jewel and Celebrity Infinity meet in Gibraltar. 
 

After that the plan was (presumably still is) for Anthem & Celeb Infinity to head to India and Jewel to head to Southampton. 

[bigeck]

5 hours ago, MADflyer said:

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

Sovereign is sitting off Gibraltar. Probably doing similar 

[mugtech]

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, where there are about 20 ships in the bay waiting to go through the long and tedious Filipino repatriation process.  Currently the ship must sit for at least two weeks, then Filipinos on the ship are tested, which takes another week to test and get results.  At that point some can get into port and quarantine for another two weeks in designated hotels.  The Philippines fears they will have overwhelming problems with the healthcare and quarantine systems if they do not pause the sysrem sometimes for a week, allowing no air activity at all.  The way it looks now if there are Filipinos on the Escape who do not live on Luzon then there is a good chance they will not be home until August, the wettest month of rain and typhoon season.

[Jack McGowan]

46 minutes 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, where there are about 20 ships in the bay waiting to go through the long and tedious Filipino repatriation process.  Currently the ship must sit for at least two weeks, then Filipinos on the ship are tested, which takes another week to test and get results.  At that point some can get into port and quarantine for another two weeks in designated hotels.  The Philippines fears they will have overwhelming problems with the healthcare and quarantine systems if they do not pause the sysrem sometimes for a week, allowing no air activity at all.  The way it looks now if there are Filipinos on the Escape who do not live on Luzon then there is a good chance they will not be home until August, the wettest month of rain and typhoon season.

Interesting, I’ve seen that the Escape has been in Miami for a couple of weeks now - was there original plan to fly crew home?

 

Will be interesting to see if RCL decide to send a ship over to Manila in the end. 
 

On a side note, Liberty is now also heading to Barbados.  

[mugtech]

31 minutes ago, Jack McGowan said:

 was there original plan to fly crew home?

 

Will be interesting to see if RCL decide to send a ship over to Manila in the end. 

Don't know what NCL originally planned.  Spectrum and Voyager already made their appearance in Manila Bay, not sure when they will leave.  In the end is certainly a moving target at this point, may be very difficult to say when crew will be available to work on ships again.  They are expecting the return of 42,000 more overseas foreign workers, could string things out for months.  Even US citizens wishing to fly back to the USA must take special flights from the other islands (Cebu Panay, Mindanao etc) into Manila, must already have tickets to fly from Manila within 24 hours of the landing, cannot leave the airport unless they have hotel reservations, which are hard to get.  There is no public transportation in Manila, so getting to and from hotels is problematic.  Tickets must be purchased directly from Philippine Airlines at a price with fees of $1,500 per person to fly to SF or LA.  Tickets non-stop from Manila to JFK are about $840 for June 11 and later, many flights already sold out.

[MADflyer]

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, 

 

[MADflyer]

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. 

[Biker19]

Sovereign is next to Anthem at dock in Gibraltar, with Infinity and Jewel approaching.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Biker19

[bouhunter]

Ships scattered all over the world trying to get crews off, and people here continue to post that they're looking forward to their regularly scheduled cruise in August......