UPDATED ON 4TH MAY 2020, ORIGINALLY RELEASED 2ND MAY 2020
With cruise lines across the world suspending cruises, and ships sat around not doing anything, cruise companies are finding it increasingly difficult to get their crew off of their ships and back to their home countries. After the CDC ruled that crew cannot leave their ships in U.S ports, it has become impossible for cruise lines to send crew home on flights to their home countries.
The main areas of the world that cruise lines have been using their own ships to get crew home are the Australia / Asia region and America. Both Australia and America are not currently allowing crew to disembark their ships, thus meaning they cannot obtain the flights required to get them home. Royal Caribbean was the first company to adopt the idea of using the ships in its fleet, and it has been quickly picked up by other lines.
Below I have attempted to list all of the ships that are going to be (or already are) sailing repatriation voyages and the region that they are going to be heading. I must stress that not all of these have been confirmed by the cruise lines, and some are simply coming from reports onboard ships but they give us a good idea about where the ships could be heading.
Royal Caribbean / Celebrity Cruises.
As mentioned above, Royal Caribbean were the first to adopt the idea of using ships to repatriate crew. Currently, the idea has only been taken up in the Australia region and involves most of the ships they had sailing in this region. It is believed that the ships currently stationed in the Bahamas do not need to be used for repatriation.
Carnival Cruise Line.
Being the largest cruise line in the world, Carnival have got the largest amount of crew to get back home from its vast fleet of ships. The plan from Carnival is that a whopping 18 of their ships are set to meet up in the Bahamas over the next couple of days, transferring more than 10,000 crew between different ships! Over the past couple of days the ships which are going to be used have been entering port at some stage, to stock up on supplies and fuel awaiting their upcoming journeys. As we reported in a previous blog post (which you can read here!) these are some of the ships that sources have claimed are sailing repatriation voyages (note that these are the only ones that we currently know of, others should be cleared up in the coming days):
Princess Cruises.
Holland America Line.
Norwegian Cruise Line.
With cruise lines across the world suspending cruises, and ships sat around not doing anything, cruise companies are finding it increasingly difficult to get their crew off of their ships and back to their home countries. After the CDC ruled that crew cannot leave their ships in U.S ports, it has become impossible for cruise lines to send crew home on flights to their home countries.
The main areas of the world that cruise lines have been using their own ships to get crew home are the Australia / Asia region and America. Both Australia and America are not currently allowing crew to disembark their ships, thus meaning they cannot obtain the flights required to get them home. Royal Caribbean was the first company to adopt the idea of using the ships in its fleet, and it has been quickly picked up by other lines.
Below I have attempted to list all of the ships that are going to be (or already are) sailing repatriation voyages and the region that they are going to be heading. I must stress that not all of these have been confirmed by the cruise lines, and some are simply coming from reports onboard ships but they give us a good idea about where the ships could be heading.
Royal Caribbean / Celebrity Cruises.
As mentioned above, Royal Caribbean were the first to adopt the idea of using ships to repatriate crew. Currently, the idea has only been taken up in the Australia region and involves most of the ships they had sailing in this region. It is believed that the ships currently stationed in the Bahamas do not need to be used for repatriation.
- Spectrum Of The Seas took on crew from the Radiance Of The Seas and sailed towards Bali, Manila and Shanghai. Crew that need to get to India left in Bali, flights were being arranged from here. The ship is currently en route to Shanghai.
- Voyager Of The Seas will head to Manila with crew from the Celebrity Solstice. She is currently anchored outside of Manila for a 14 day quarantine period.
- Ovation Of The Seas will travel to Bali with crew also from the Celebrity Solstice. (Complete)
- Vision Of The Seas will take on Caribbean, Central & South American crew from various ships and will set sail from Miami on the 15th of May. She will sail to ports such as St Kitts, St Lucia and St Vincent.
- Rhapsody Of The Seas will take on the same crew as Vision but will sail to Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. She will leave Miami on the 13th May.
- Adventure Of The Seas is the final ship to take on these crew, she will sail from the Bahamas on May 9th to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Her final stop will be Jamaica.
- Harmony Of The Seas will take on Filipino crew and will head to Barbados, from here Royal Caribbean have laid on charter flights to Manila every three days beginning on May 11th.
- Liberty Of The Seas will also take on Filipino crew, she will remain near the coast of Miami where charter flights will be arranged, beginning May 18th.
- Anthem Of The Seas will take on as many Indian crew as possible and depart on May 9th heading towards Goa in India. It is expected from here Anthem will head to Europe for her dry dock.
- Explorer Of The Seas is going to be taking on Indonesian crew members, the ship will then sail to Barbados where charter flights are being arranged - these are expected to start on the 9th of May.
- Enchantment Of The Seas is heading for Miami, Indonesian crew will then be sent on a charter flight home, this will take place on May 15th.
- Navigator Of The Seas is going to take onboard crew from Ukraine and Romania, charter flights will then be operated once the ship arrives into Miami on May 16th.
- Empress Of The Seas will sail to Southampton, UK with European, Canadian and all other remaining crew members onboard. Charter flights to these countries will then be arranged from the UK. She will depart Port Miami on May 15th.
- Majesty Of The Seas will be following the same route as Empress.
- Freedom Of The Seas will be following the same route as Empress, but will arrive in Southampton slightly earlier.
- Allure Of The Seas will meet up with Jewel to transfer all crew that are not required to be onboard for her dry dock.
- Jewel Of the Seas after meeting up with Allure, will meet up with Anthem OTS to send home Indian crew members. American crew will be charted to Barbados to join ships that are repatriating from here. All other remaining nationalities onboard will sail to Southampton where they will be flown home.
 |
| Spectrum Of The Seas (Photo: Meyer Werft) |
Carnival Cruise Line.
Being the largest cruise line in the world, Carnival have got the largest amount of crew to get back home from its vast fleet of ships. The plan from Carnival is that a whopping 18 of their ships are set to meet up in the Bahamas over the next couple of days, transferring more than 10,000 crew between different ships! Over the past couple of days the ships which are going to be used have been entering port at some stage, to stock up on supplies and fuel awaiting their upcoming journeys. As we reported in a previous blog post (which you can read here!) these are some of the ships that sources have claimed are sailing repatriation voyages (note that these are the only ones that we currently know of, others should be cleared up in the coming days):
- Carnival Glory to Latin America, stopping in the Caribbean and Central America.
- Carnival Breeze will sail to North, Central & South Africa, Western Europe and Central Asia.
- Carnival Magic will sail to the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe stopping in as many ports as possible.
- Carnival Fantasy will sail to North and South America.
- Carnival Panorama is currently sailing towards Asia.
 |
| Carnival Panorama is currently Carnivals newest ship. |
Princess Cruises.
Operated under the Carnival brand, Princess has also been repatriating their crew using their ships, and continue to do so. They have ships sailing towards many regions across the world, including Europe, the UK and Asia. Quite a few of these voyages are already underway:
- Regal Princess is sailing from the Bahamas towards Southampton and Rotterdam.
- Crown Princess is en route to Asia from the Bahamas, currently we are not sure which ports she is due to visit in Asia but it is believed that she is currently on her way to Fortaleza, Brazil for a technical stop.
- Island Princess is believed to be heading to the same region as Crown Princess, however it is possible that her final destinations could be slightly different to Crown. She is also stopping in Brazil for a technical stop.
- Sky Princess is believed to be heading towards Rotterdam. It is currently unknown if she will visit any other ports.
 |
| Regal Princess is one of Princess' largest ships (Picture: Unknown) |
Holland America Line.
Also operated under the Carnival brand, Holland America will also be using their ships in an effort to return their crew to their home countries. Currently, we know of four HAL ships which are supposedly being used, listed below:
- Nieuw Amsterdam will sail towards Asia dropping of crew in various different areas in the region.
- Volendam will sail the same route at Nieuw Amsterdam, stopping in various different ports on the way. She most recently made a call at Bridgetown, Barbados and is due to make a technical stop at Cape Town, South Africa.
- Veendam is believed to also be heading towards Asia, however she is first heading towards Gibraltar. It is unknown the route that she is planning on taking.
- Nieuw Statendam is set to undertake a voyage from the Bahamas towards Europe, she is expected to set sail on the 1st May. It is currently unknown what ports she will stop in once in Europe.
- Zaandam is believed to be following a similar course to Nieuw Statendam. Final destination currently believed to be Rotterdam.
- Zuiderdam & Rotterdam are sailing towards Asia. (Most likely following the route of Crown & Island Princess)
 |
| Nieuw Statendam is expected to sail towards Europe. (Photo: Cruise Critic) |
Norwegian Cruise Line.
With most of their ships currently in Bahamian waters, NCL are also believed to be undertaking a massive operation to transfer crew between their ships. Nine of their ships are currently either heading towards, or have already arrived at Great Stirrup Cay - Norwegian's private island. This is believed to be the second meetup of Norwegian's ships. We currently do not know much about what NCL's movements will be but we have listed what we believe could be happening below:
P&O Cruises & Cunard.
- Norwegian Star is already en route to Southampton, UK. It is unknown if she has any destinations after this.
- Norwegian Epic is believed to be heading towards Asia, although this has not yet been confirmed.
- Norwegian Breakaway is rumoured to be sailing towards Europe, although at the moment this is just a rumour.
 |
| Norwegian Epic is the only ship of her class. |
P&O Cruises & Cunard.
With the majority of the fleet currently hanging around of the south coast of England, P&O have been able to sail large amounts of their crew members home on flights leaving from the UK. However, one ship will be doing repatriation voyages:
- P&O Ventura will anchor of the south coast of England (Portland), where ships that have not have cases of Covid-19 onboard will meet up with her and transfer off Indian crew members. Ventura will then set sail to India on a voyage lasting 21 days.
 |
| Queen Mary 2 is currently anchored with Ventura. |
I must thank Dominik from Cruise Ship Paradise for his assistance with this, you can check out his Instagram here. 🙂
Comments
Post a Comment