The race to get the Covid-19 vaccine by the major corporations around the world has started before the worldwide rollouts begun. This is most evident across the United States where major corporations such as Amazon, Lyft and Uber are lobbying states and the federal government to designate their employees as essential workers and place them in line for early immunization.
The fate of the Spanish cruise line Pullmantur who filed for reorganization, claiming insolvency under Spanish law, is still unclear after mixed messages in the Spanish media were reported in the past few days.
The crew of the cruise ship MS Charming, operated by the Chinese startup company Foresee Cruises, claims they didn't receive salary for almost two months. According to our source, there are 121 crew members on board, mostly Filipino nationals, who say that the company violates the terms of their contracts.
The cruise ship Norwegian Joy is slowly getting ready to return non-essential crew back home after NCLH announced further cancelations of cruises through April 30, 2021.
The fate of the crew on board Ponant cruise ship Le Laperouse, who are from several different countries, remains highly uncertain after New Zealand immigration authorities have denied them entry visas. Le Laperouse was scheduled to start the first of seven planned cruises from Auckland on February 8th, after receiving permission from New Zealand Ministry of Health to operate within NZ waters, for Kiwis only.
With the release of the vaccine for COVID for essential workers such as medical professionals and positive thus far response from people who have taken both doses of the vaccine, the cruise industry is starting to review options related to how they can implement policies related to vaccination in order to be able to return the crew to work and the guests to enjoy cruises. However, the views of each cruise line appear to be different, at least for now.
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.
The Italian News Website Corriere della Sera reports that the crew onboard Pacific World (former Sun Princess) are facing dire conditions.
Expressing appreciation for all the wonderful memories that the crew members created over the years, loyal Silversea passengers decided to give back and create a fundraiser for the ones who need it the most. This wonderful initiative is organized by Steve and Janet Randall, true philanthropists and Venetian Society members, to support the out-of-work Silversea crew and in particular the lowest paid.
Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara crew members onboard and at home, will receive the final payment of the “Thank You, Thank You” Bonus in the following months.
The news was announced in the “Royal Way Newsletter” distributed among the crew members by Royal Caribbean Group.
