Will staffing be an issue for cruise lines?

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

Aren’t US embassies worldwide closed for visa services?

It varies by country, but some are open for business.

[LXA350]

11 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

It varies by country, but some are open for business.

 

Why would you need US embassies, crews could be flown in to Barbadoes for instance, or do they need US visa inorder to go ashore on US ports?

[BND]

1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

 

 

 

 

The vaccination will not solve the issue, it will take a while until something effective will be found. What can speed things up to get back to a certain normal in the Travel industy will be instant testing, before every flight, boarding a cruise ship, during the cruise (random testing), upon return to embarkation port, home country etc.

The vaccine is expected to lessen the symptoms to those of a cold at most.  In which case, why wouldn't that solve the issue?  All it takes is requiring crew and passengers to have the vaccine until we hit herd immunity.   Currently, most of the vaccines are showing really good results.  Testing can then go away.   

[Milwaukee Eight]

Is this a COVID19 thread or a thread about crew staffing. Hard to tell when the OP mentions COVID19 in his original post?😇

 

M8

[suzyluvs2cruise]

 

12 Crew Members test positive on Mein Schiff 6 cruise from Greece

Edited September 28, 2020 by suzyluvs2cruise

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

It varies by country, but some are open for business.

 

1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

 

Why would you need US embassies, crews could be flown in to Barbadoes for instance, or do they need US visa inorder to go ashore on US ports?

All crew, whether on cruise ships, cargo ships, or airliners, need a C1 crew visa.  If they are joining or leaving the ship in the US, then they need a C1/D visa.  The visa is required even if the crew do not go ashore in the US.  It is a requirement to clear US immigrations for the ship.

 

US embassies and consulates have been processing visas on an "emergency" basis, and the US (unlike most of the rest of the world) has designated merchant mariners as essential workers, regardless of nationality, so crew visas would be possible to process.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

6 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

 

All crew, whether on cruise ships, cargo ships, or airliners, need a C1 crew visa.  If they are joining or leaving the ship in the US, then they need a C1/D visa.  The visa is required even if the crew do not go ashore in the US.  It is a requirement to clear US immigrations for the ship.

 

US embassies and consulates have been processing visas on an "emergency" basis, and the US (unlike most of the rest of the world) has designated merchant mariners as essential workers, regardless of nationality, so crew visas would be possible to process.

Chief,

Could Royal load up the crew in Europe for USA ports, then do a TA with them to the USA?

Wouldn’t this make more sense than trying to fly them over here?

It would give them 10 days to quarantine and test. 
Thoughts?

[yogimax]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Until nations agree that merchant mariners are "essential workers", and exempt from travel restrictions, getting those essential workers changed out will not happen quickly, and this will push back the movement of "non-essential" (heresy!!) cruise ship crew even further.

I can understand the logic in saying that mariners involved in the transportation of food, fuel, medical supplies, etc. are "essential workers."  How do you make that argument for cruise ship workers when there's nothing 'essential" about it?

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Is this a COVID19 thread or a thread about crew staffing. Hard to tell when the OP mentions COVID19 in his original post?😇

 

M8

 

Well, the challenges in assembling a crew are due to covid, so, yes it is

[keyboardjunkie]

An issue that has not been discussed yet......Per the Healthy Sail Report:

 

The crew member needs to have a recent (5 days to 24 hours) negative COVID test prior to leaving their home country.   (If feasible an additional test - with a negative result - will be administered prior to boarding.) The crew member will then go through a 7 day quarantine period on board.  After this period, they will be reassessed with another COVID test. 

 

This takes time.......

[HBE4]

35 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Well, the challenges in assembling a crew are due to covid, so, yes it is

 

Agreed.

 

I think it's okay to discuss covid as it relates to cruising, when it'll restart and how any new rules it affects the passenger experience on board the ship.

 

It's when the conversation expands to all other aspects of covid that sends the thread off the rails.  And I'm guilty of participating on some of those off-the-rail conversations.  I'm working on that....but sometime I lack will power....or start happy hour too early and develop (virtual) beer muscles. 😬

[flyguyjake]

Do you think the length of crew contracts will be longer due to the extreme measures it will take to get them back onboard?

Edited September 28, 2020 by flyguyjake

[reallyitsmema]

24 minutes ago, flyguyjake said:

Do you think the length of crew contracts will be longer due to the extreme measures it will take to get them back onboard?

No.

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed.

 

I think it's okay to discuss covid as it relates to cruising, when it'll restart and how any new rules it affects the passenger experience on board the ship.

 

It's when the conversation expands to all other aspects of covid that sends the thread off the rails.  And I'm guilty of participating on some of those off-the-rail conversations.  I'm working on that....but sometime I lack will power....or start happy hour too early and develop (virtual) beer muscles. 😬

 

That was me on Saturday😉🍺🍺

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, scorpluvsdolphins said:

Chief,

Could Royal load up the crew in Europe for USA ports, then do a TA with them to the USA?

Wouldn’t this make more sense than trying to fly them over here?

It would give them 10 days to quarantine and test. 
Thoughts?

Yes, I believe some ships have already used Gibraltar as a crew change point.  They still need the crew visa.

3 hours ago, yogimax said:

I can understand the logic in saying that mariners involved in the transportation of food, fuel, medical supplies, etc. are "essential workers."  How do you make that argument for cruise ship workers when there's nothing 'essential" about it?

While I somewhat agree with you, hence my quotes around the status of cruise ship crew, the law makes no differentiation between what type of ship a mariner works on.

1 hour ago, flyguyjake said:

Do you think the length of crew contracts will be longer due to the extreme measures it will take to get them back onboard?

Actually, I feel that some will be shorter, since they will need to start a rotation over again, so that all the crew are not due off at the same time again.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

11 hours ago, bigrednole said:

Not really. I know cruise workers get paid very low. However, in their home country they would make less. I doubt there will be a shortage of people to fill the positions.

 

This. 

[Got Out There]

12 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 flying crew from home countries there to join a ship, and then using that ship to relocate crew to other ships, in reverse of how they repatriated crew.

 

 

I can see this happening.....and there may be a few ships that will used solely to quarantine returning crew. They can test them before they board, isolate them individually to guest cabins with balconies for a few weeks, test them again and then transfer them to other ships via ship or flights if available.  Whatever way they end up going it will be a logistical nightmare and take many weeks to staff up ships.  

[miraflores]

On 9/28/2020 at 10:58 PM, scorpluvsdolphins said:

Chief,

Could Royal load up the crew in Europe for USA ports, then do a TA with them to the USA?

Wouldn’t this make more sense than trying to fly them over here?

It would give them 10 days to quarantine and test. 
Thoughts?

 

Canadians don't actually need C1/D Visas.

[bigrednole]

On 9/28/2020 at 9:56 AM, Milwaukee Eight said:

Is this a COVID19 thread or a thread about crew staffing. Hard to tell when the OP mentions COVID19 in his original post?😇

 

M8

It is going to be part of any discussion, especially if cruising starts. They will probably have to be tested to fly out, then tested before, during, and after quarantine.