The leading fintech company providing payment services for seafarers on the world's major cruise lines announced a new 3D face recognition feature called “FaceCheck”. Adding extra security to the crew members accounts Brightwell says the new feature will bring an additional layer of assurance and fraud prevention to the accounts.

Several people have informed Crew Center that the cruise ship Norwegian Escape struck a pier in the port of Civitavecchia. According to our source, the allision happened on December 17, when the Norwegian Escape was maneuvering toward a dock when it made contact with the pier. The reasons for the accident and how the vessel deviated from its course are still unknown. Fortunately, there are no injured crew members and the damage to the ship’s hull was relatively minor. 

MANILA (Jan 4, 2021) - In a press release the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) capped its repatriation efforts in 2020 by bringing home 327,511 overseas Filipinos workers, coming from at least 90 countries around the world. The DFA said that 29.3 percent of the overseas Filipinos workers, or 95,974 in total, are seafarers from more than 150 cruise ships, oil tankers, and other bulk vessels.

After announcing the latest round of cruise cancelations, now extending through February 2021, Norwegian Cruise Line is considering the possibility of starting cruise operations in Europe before sailing from US ports.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has announced today an extension of its previous suspension of global voyages through December 31st, 2020.

Knut Kloster, one of the cruise industry's leading visionaries and entrepreneurs, has died at the of 91. He was the founder of Norwegian Caribbean Lines (today Norwegian Cruise Line) and a short-lived business partner with Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Cruise Line. Kloster was the visionary to convert the SS France to a 2,000-passenger cruise ship SS Norway. The SS Norway was the industry’s first mega-ship to sail during the 80s out of Miami. 

Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas which are all part of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) will further reduce its crew that are currently on board the ships as they enter a cool lay-up manning. The crew level will be below specified by the ship’s minimum safe manning operation, but still sufficient to satisfy maintenance and security requirements.

While we are all aware of the challenges and fears that the COVID-19 pandemic has bestowed upon all of us in the same sense it also shows us what truly is important.

Norwegian Cruise Line announced that the company is working on a comprehensive and multi-faceted set of new and enhanced health and safety protocols to address the challenges of the global pandemic. According to the company, these new protocols will be designed to meet or exceed required global public health standards for guests boarding NCL ships as well as the safety of its crew.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. announced a partnership to create the “Healthy Sail Panel,” a team of cross-disciplinary experts enlisted to guide the cruise industry’s way forward in response to COVID-19.