When a ship changes Intinerary do many of the crew change too?

We are cruising in Sept on the Grand SF to Mexico 10 day. This will be the 1st Mexico cruise for the Grand after her time in Alaska though The Grand will do a 7 day California Coastal cruise after Alaska then our 10 day Mexico. Just wondering how much changes in the crew ect. Does it take them some time to get in the groove. Anything we might notice.

The crew all have their contracts - the length of the contract depending on their position on the ship. During any cruise (although maybe not one to Alaska) some crew will leave at any major port and replacements will arrive. It might be a small number of crew or could be 100 or 200. Crew are used to working on ships with different itineraries, and it doesn't take them any time to get in the groove.

On a Princess Diamond cruise to Asia, our steward disappeared mid cruise in Hong Kong. We asked for him and found he had gone home to the Phillipines . He was very nice, had 6 kids and we regretted not knowing as we would have given a sizeable donation.

They get off on Alaska cruises also, Seattle & Vancouver.

Since Grand does not have to do a repositioning cruise being homeported in San Francisco all year there will likely not be the noticeable turnover you see on some ships right before or after their repo. Officers that are only onboard three to four months at a time may try to time their vacations to start at the end of a "season". Ditto the cast of singers and dancers. But the crew that has the most face-to-face contact--cabins stewards and dining personnel--have nine to ten month contracts so the most ever turning over at once is around 10-15% if even that. You really have only the tiniest higher chance of a rookie steward or waiter than on any other sailing.

The crew is coming and going all the time.....

Contracts control the length of crew presence on a ship. Change of itinerary in the US is not a likely place for a mass exodus of crew as many try to end their contracts near their home country.

On our cruise on the Emerald last October, our steward came to our room and I said Hello Jafe using the name on the card in the room. he informed me that his name was Christian. Jafe had lad left that AM. By the time we returned to the room from dinner, Christian's name was on the card. So crew are changing all of the time. That cruise was also the first of the Caribbean season and the Emerald was just finishing a TA.

The crew is coming and going all the time.....

I agree. Itinerary has no bearing on crew coming or going.

Contracts control the length of crew presence on a ship. Change of itinerary in the US is not a likely place for a mass exodus of crew as many try to end their contracts near their home country.

Most have no control on where they end up. Most end up a long way from home. They go where they are needed. Luck of the draw.

They get off on Alaska cruises also, Seattle & Vancouver.

I meant that they would not get off during the cruise. Seattle and Vancouver would be 'turn-around' ports. On most cruises, crew can disembark during the cruise as well as at the end of the cruise.

Thanks everyone for your answers & explanations. I was wondering how it all works. This is our 7th cruise with Princess 1st on the Grand. Have enjoyed all of them mostly because of Intinerary. The 2 enjoyed the most was Alaska on the Sun ( before Alaska got so busy ) & the 15 day Panama cruise.

Only complaint 2 years ago we did not feel the service was as good in MDR anytime dining. Our Stewards have always been great they I feel work very hard. The wait staff in Buffet very good too.

On one TA cruise we had one steward for the first 4 days and another one replaced him for the rest of the cruise. When he introduced himself he told us that he would be going home in 4 days because his contract was up.

The crew is coming and going all the time.....

Exactly and with no problems.

Tony

We are cruising in Sept on the Grand SF to Mexico 10 day. This will be the 1st Mexico cruise for the Grand after her time in Alaska though The Grand will do a 7 day California Coastal cruise after Alaska then our 10 day Mexico. Just wondering how much changes in the crew ect. Does it take them some time to get in the groove. Anything we might notice.

They go by contracts.

I often did the first Alaska cruise every season. While a lot of the same crew had normal turnover (room stewards and waitstaff), the officers and other staff definitely changed. There was always a new CD, Captain, new Captain Circle Host, etc....

Our fantastic room steward on the Grand on May31st sailing was on his first trip and would be on for a year.

As the Diamond transitioned from Australia/New Zealand to SE Asia and Japan in the spring of 2016, we found that the crew started changing.

There was a change to the CD and many more Japanese speaking crew members joined.

A nail technician told me that many crew were being redeployed to waters where they would be more comfortable with the language

There are no more crew changes than normal when ships change itineraries.

There are no more crew changes than normal when ships change itineraries.

I have encountered it quite a bit, but again not with room stewards or waitstaff.

I have done a lot of repositioning and also first cruise of the season and this is when I see it amongst senior staff. I even spoke to the HR director of the ship about this - she was at the Most Traveled Party.