About 160 Indian crew members stranded for the past 90 days on the CMV cruise ship MV Astoria, has gone on hunger strike today. The crew staged a peaceful protest on the ship’s open deck asking their government and state officials to help them return home to their families. The seafarers further requested the government of India to immediately give an approval for a repatriation chartered flights.
Costa Cruises is preparing to restart a limited number of vessels in the upcoming month of August. According to an internal document obtained by Crew Center the company has addressed the crew who are still on board the ships asking them to continue, or extend original contracts and support this vital restart of operations. Several crew members mentioned that the company plans to restart first the cruise ships Costa Diadema and Costa Smeralda at the beginning of August.
A young Filipina crew member died yesterday morning on board the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Harmony of the Seas anchored off the coast of Barbados.
About 600 Indian crew members stranded on the cruise ship Marella Explorer staged a peaceful protest today demanding their government to allow them to return home. The crew stuck on the cruise ships since the Covid-19 pandemic started, have not received repatriation approval by the Indian government to this day. Therefore they decided to stage a protest on the open deck to rise awareness and ask for their rights.
A group of 227 Indian crew members from Carnival Victory disembarked the ship yesterday at the port of Seville and took on a charter flight to Mumbai. The disembarkation and transfer of the Indian crew to the Seville airport was carried out on nine buses in order to avoid any setbacks and ensure the operation is conducted following all safety protocols by the health authorities. The flight took off on Friday at 8 pm, and the crew landed in Mumbai on Saturday morning at around 9:30 am.
The latest update regarding Costa Cruises repatriation plan for the Indonesian and Filipino crew members sailing on the Costa Mediterranea is that the ship will arrive in Indonesia on June 14, and The Philipines on June 22. A fellow crew member sailing on the Mediterranea sent us the following message:
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean with 1450 crew members on board, the cruise ship MSC Divina finally arrived at the port of Civitavecchia, Italy on June 4. Crew Center received the following appreciation letter from a crew member expressing his respect and gratitude towards all on board, making this journey a great experience.
Today the first repatriation flight for the Indian crew members from Southampton was successfully completed. About 280 crew members disembarked P&O Ventura and took the flight to Mumbai. P&O Cruises and Cunard will arrange 8 additional charter flights in order to bring back all the Indian crew, not just back to their country, but at their homes as well.
After a Month's Quarantine Costa Atlantica has finally left Japan and is heading to the Philippines.
As the cruise industry is suffering its biggest crises in history the cruise companies started to adjust its operational costs any way they can. As a result, a number of employees have already been laid off across all cruise lines. The latest cuts comes from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, with 300 employees on the private island destination Harvest Caye being left without jobs.
