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.

Disney Cruise Line announced the extension of their cruise suspension for sailings, further canceling all departures through March 2021.

The cruise company said sailings are canceled aboard the Disney Wonder through March 28, Disney Fantasy through March 27, the Disney Magic and the Disney Dream through March 29.

Today is a sad day. Today marks the 9th anniversary of the Costa Concordia tragedy, which killed 32 people and injured 157. On January 13 2012 the cruise ship Costa Concordia with 4,232 passengers and crew on board ran aground off Isola Del Giglio kicking off the largest maritime salvage rescue operation. This year a ceremony in honor of the victims, with the same emotions as then, will take place on Giglio Island following the strict Covid-19 protocols.

Royal Caribbean International announced further cancelations of global sailings through April 30th, 2021. In a press release, Royal Caribbean said that exceptions will be the China sailings on Spectrum of the Seas, which at this moment, are suspended for February 16-28, 2021. Singapore cruises on Quantum of the Seas, with only residents of Singapore, will not be affected and continue as scheduled.

The Italian News Website Corriere della Sera reports that the crew onboard Pacific World (former Sun Princess) are facing dire conditions.

A crew member from the cruise ship MS Zaandam, anchored off the coast of Torbay, was medically evacuated on January 8, to shore for medical treatment. Torbay Coastguard Rescue Team was tasked by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to assist with the medical evacuation of the crew member who had to be treated in a hospital. Torbay coastguard reports that the crew member was transferred onshore by tender boat which arrived at the harbor at around 7:30 pm. When the tender boat arrived alongside the rescu

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. 

MSC Cruises announced that MSC Grandiosa will resume the weekly voyages in the Western Mediterranean starting January 24, 2021. The company plans to return at sea with a second ship, the MSC Magnifica which will resume her scheduled 11-nights cruises in Italy, Greece, and Malta from February 14.

With the latest announcement from Carnival Cruise Line issued in a press release today notifying guests of additional cruise cancellations, other cruise lines are expected to follow the suit.

After pushing back their pause in operations many times, Carnival hopes to set sail from the US ports after March 31, 2021.

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.