Where will all the ships go?

[teachingforme]

They are most likely anchored out a sea.

 

[Outerdog]

Several are sitting at anchor in a port anchorage. Some are meandering around off the coast. Some are moored at their home ports (Star Princess).

 

Grand Princess, Royal Princess (on her way back to anchorage), Sky Princess... all at anchor at the moment.

.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Outerdog

[PaperSniper4]

Interesting. Thanks for the replies above. I forgot I had that site bookmarked....haven't looked at my "cruise stuff" much in the last couple of weeks......getting <more!> forgetful. I hope cruise lines can survive. I know their operating highest cost is fuel, so hopefully that consumption will be as low as possible while the ships are passenger-less.

 

Doug

Edited March 17, 2020 by PaperSniper4

[LHARTWICK]

My husband and I were just talking about this very question.  Thanks for posting and for the answers.  Sad times for the cruise industry - praying it will recover quickly when this subsides.  I booked a 2021 cruise yesterday - too good of a deal to pass up!

[tntornadox]

Apparently the majority of the Caribbean based ships are gonna anchor in the Bahamas. The ships are going to each get one day a week at Princess Cays so the crew can enjoy the facilities there according to an article I was reading last night. They really seem to be caring for the crew still aboard.

[SharkieRools]

At least for Florida based ships: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22615-princess-plans-for-florida-fleet-anchorages-and-princess-cays-visits.html?fbclid=IwAR1H-kWo6pwLkC-PJ7H7s_P9LsWKcDYhHvmo0_OlXfsgAIZam3scwtTytSk

 

[PaperSniper4]

Thanks for all the information. Good to hear the cruise line is trying to make the forced "outage" as bearable as possible. I assume the ships are operating with a "skeleton crew", meaning few if any dining room staff, stewards, etc. Some looks to me like the ships are one step above "moth balled", which makes sense. Hopefully the ships will be out of operation for only a few months.

 

Doug

[voljeep]

hopefully the bars ( at crew prices ) and bbq will be open - but that means some crew will also be working, both on PC and on the ship - guess they will rotate somehow so everyone gets their 'turn' ...

[StrawberryHill]

Copied this from the Princess website this am

 

Some are trying to get to port in AUS/NZ,    others are "at sea"  ,   others are docked ( for how long ? )

 

Ship Location     Caribbean Princess At Sea Coral Princess to Buenas Aires Crown Princess Bahamas Diamond Princess Yokahama Emerald Princess At Sea Golden Princess to Melbourne Grand Princess At Sea Island Princess FLL Majestic Princess Wet Dock Pacific Princess to Freemantle Regal Princess At Sea Royal Princess CA Coast Anchorage Ruby Princess to Sydney Sapphire Princess Singapore Sea Princess to Sydney Sky Princess Bahama Anchorage Star Princess Los Angeles Sun Princess to Sydney

[Grego]

I just read this in Cruise Industry News....

 

With six ships sailing from South Florida, Princess Cruises has put together a detailed plan for what to do with its ships and crew during its temporary suspension of service, according to crew aboard the ships.

The Caribbean Princess, Sky Princess, Regal Princess, Emerald Princess, Crown Princess and Island Princess are in the Caribbean sailing from South Florida, and will spend the immediate future at anchorages in the Bahamas with weekly calls into Princess Cays, the brand's private island.

A substitute port could be Port Everglades, according to a company document. 

Calling it an immediate, low-cost layup proposal, the plan keeps the ships ready to return to service on short notice and defers repositioning decisions, according to a letter sent to crew aboard the ships.

The company plans to have the ships stay at Great Isaac Anchorage.

Crew disembarkation plans are pending, and the company plans to have each ship call at Princess Cays once a week, where crew will be able to use the island.

In its letter sent to crew, the company also notes operations at Princess Cays will include making space for operations from Carnival Cruise Line vessels. 

[PaperSniper4]

2 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Already a long thread on this.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2741626-where-will-all-the-ships-go/

 

Thank you.

[brisalta]

7 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Sorry, but I could not find the answer anywhere.....

Ships don't have a regular docking area except when they are in their home port to disembark/embark passengers. So where are all the ships located while Princess (etc) is not sailing with passengers? Anyone know? I imagine there is a scramble to find a suitable place to dock the ships during this outage.

 

Doug

 

The Grand Princess is now at San Francisco Bay anchorage C6.  Coming back from my shopping trip yesterday as I drove up the overlook I saw the Grand Princess laying at anchor in the anchorage C6.

[PaperSniper4]

1 hour ago, brisalta said:

 

The Grand Princess is now at San Francisco Bay anchorage C6.  Coming back from my shopping trip yesterday as I drove up the overlook I saw the Grand Princess laying at anchor in the anchorage C6.

 

It will look odd to see all these cruise ships anchored near US or other ports. They usually spend as little time as possible in their home port. We canceled a cruise on the Grand Princess in February due to my daughter's illness, not the virus. Then we canceled our scheduled cruise on the Star out of San Pedro because of both the virus and my daughter's illness. The latter ought to be fully over by then, but I'm much less sure about the former. We are missing cruising! Our last in Nov 2019 was on the Crown, and it was truly one of the best of our nearly 40 cruises. It was also our third cruise on a Crown Princess ship.

 

Doug

[Outerdog]

27 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

 

HAHAHAHA! You linked back to the same thread!

 

HAHAHAHAHA!

 

Two separate threads were merged by a moderator prior to the post you referenced.

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, Outerdog said:

 

HAHAHAHAHA!

 

Two separate threads were merged by a moderator prior to the post you referenced.

🙄

[snoozecrooze]

Is this too much? Apologies if so.

I decided to consolidate the stuff that was gathered here and also from the web (with my very rough estimates of distances), having been inspired by other forums' threads. Bridge cam captions aren't completely accurate and various websites all have different indications, so some cross-checking was needed. Not sure if I will make a daily update, but corrections are welcome!

 

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Princess's Florida fleet: (Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, Island, Regal, Sky)	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22615-princess-plans-for-florida-fleet-anchorages-and-princess-cays-visits.html
Status of MS Amsterdam's World Cruise (similar fate for Pacific Princess)	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22626-holland-america-provides-update-on-ms-amsterdam.html
	It may suggest similar corporate reasoning for disembarking the   World Cruise guests in Fremantle.

 

Hope everyone can continue keeping busy in your homes, enjoying your loved ones (and pets!) near and far, and staying excited for future adventures once the pandemic settles!

[PrincessDano]

I might have missed this but does anyone know why Princess bas anchored most of its ships instead of in port and docking like NCL, Carnival, RCL (Miami, Port Canaveral, FLL).  My guess is they don’t have to pay port charges and anchoring is cheaper ?

 

Thanks, Diane

[beg3yrs]

5 hours ago, PrincessDano said:

I might have missed this but does anyone know why Princess bas anchored most of its ships instead of in port and docking like NCL, Carnival, RCL (Miami, Port Canaveral, FLL).  My guess is they don’t have to pay port charges and anchoring is cheaper ?

 

Thanks, Diane

 

Yes, anchoring is cheaper although of course there are no shoreside services like power and water. Dock space is more limited and other vessels may also have prior 'reservations' necessitating the ship move out of the way.

[Roberto256]

On 3/15/2020 at 5:06 PM, brisalta said:

According to the second article "91 Filipino crewmembers opted to remain onboard Gran Princess to comprise the Minimum Safe Manning and Minimum Operational Manning teams".

 

Princess sent a memo to crew which said the above.

 

Officiers/Staff/Crew will remain for Minimum Safe Manning and Minimum Operational Manning teams;

Crew to support these people;

Some crew for cleaning and maintenance;

 

and...that most crew will be repatrioted.

 

Of course, Princess is a little stuck at the moment ... they can't repatriot people to countries that have closed

their borders ... Italy, Ukraine, etc.

 

[Roberto256]

3 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

Of course, Princess is a little stuck at the moment ... they can't repatriot people to countries that have closed

their borders ... Italy, Ukraine, etc.

 

 

I just saw an update ... that princess is now undecided what to do with crew.

Currently, I don't think there is a right answer to 'what will happen to crew?'

 

We just have to wait and see.

[Colo Cruiser]

11 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

 

I just saw an update ... that princess is now undecided what to do with crew.

Currently, I don't think there is a right answer to 'what will happen to crew?'

 

We just have to wait and see.

So nothing has changed and it remains the same.  🤔

[snoozecrooze]

Another update -- and another disclaimer that my distances are roughly estimated and all info is sourced from the web. (e.g. MarineTraffic)

 

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Princess' Florida fleet: (Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, Island, Regal, Sky)	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22615-princess-plans-for-florida-fleet-anchorages-and-princess-cays-visits.html
Information on the World Cruise (Pacific Princess)	https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2537098-2020-world-cruise-pacific-princess-january-202020-la-to-ftl/page/59/
	NOTE: Do NOT post in the roll call linked above if you're not directly involved with the cruise. SUMMARY: Princess will book the commercial flights from Perth, Australia. Guests not fit to fly (with medical evaluation) will sail on the ship back to Los Angeles.
"Why don't the ships just turn off all their power?" & other lay-up FAQ	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22623-cruise-lay-up-best-practices-be-ready-to-enter-service.html

 

And a picture of the day to keep the crew in our thoughts:
from the Royal Princess, courtesy of CD Marcus

Edited March 19, 2020 by snoozecrooze

[snoozecrooze]

• Most pressing updates, now and in the next few days, are for Coral and Pacific. 
• Will be interesting to follow in the future if certain ships will be docking anywhere for any special cleaning, such as Ruby, which has now had confirmed cases on the sailing that disembarked on March 19.

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:
RE: Coral Princess	https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2742018-currently-on-coral-princess/?do=findComment&comment=59695305
	https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/coral-princess-updates.html
	SUMMARY: Guests with future flights currently remain onboard the ship. The ship was forced to leave Buenos Aires due to a decree issued by the President of Argentina. Permission is currently being sought to complete disembarking in Montevideo.
RE: World Cruise (Pacific Princess)	https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2537098-2020-world-cruise-pacific-princess-january-202020-la-to-ftl/page/59/
	NOTE: Do NOT post in the roll call linked above if not directly involved with the cruise. SUMMARY: Princess will book commercial flights from Perth, Australia. Guests not fit to fly (confirmed via onboard medical evaluation) will sail on the ~24-day passage back to Los Angeles.
Princess's "Operation Chart" as of Mar. 19, 2020	https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/status-of-all-ships.html (includes the LAST service date of the ship)
RE: Florida fleet  (Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, Island, Regal, Sky)	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22615-princess-plans-for-florida-fleet-anchorages-and-princess-cays-visits.html
"Why don't the ships just turn off all their power?" & other lay-up FAQ	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22623-cruise-lay-up-best-practices-be-ready-to-enter-service.html   https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22633-cruise-operators-quickly-learn-lay-up-scenarios.html

 

Picture of the day: 

-- Island Princess - courtesy of Jonathan Salviano, production cast member

[snoozecrooze]

An update after a couple of weeks--

I noticed a post asked about ship status, so I thought of updating the thread here.

 

Recap of what's been happening for the most part

Most of the ships will come into their home ports once every few weeks to load provisions/supplies and debark certain crew if sanctioned. Then, they go back out to sea and drift/anchor somewhere, if they're not already docked somewhere (a la Majestic/Sapphire/Diamond). Ships also move around for various reasons, including freshwater generation and graywater discharge.

 

WHERE ARE THE PRINCESS SHIPS? AS OF 08:00 AM GMT -- MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2020
SHIP	LOCATION	STATUS / NOTES
CARIBBEAN	Drifting in the Atlantic Ocean SE of Miami, FL	- NOT IN SERVICE
CORAL	Moored at Terminal D at PortMiami, FL	- In quarantine for ill passengers - In process of disembarking
CROWN	Anchored at Great Isaac Anchorage, Bahamas	- NOT IN SERVICE
DIAMOND	Moored at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, Japan	- NOT IN SERVICE
EMERALD	Drifting in the Atlantic Ocean NE of Palm Beach, FL	- NOT IN SERVICE
GOLDEN	Sailing to Jakarta, Indonesia (presumably for crew repatriation) Currently SW outside of Melbourne, Australia	Estimated arrival: April 18, 2020 (MarineTraffic)
GRAND	Drifting in the Pacific Ocean west of San Francisco, CA	- NOT IN SERVICE - MORE INFORMATION
ISLAND	Anchored at Great Isaac Anchorage, Bahamas	- NOT IN SERVICE
MAJESTIC	Moored in wet dock at Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard in Tuas, Singapore	- NOT IN SERVICE
PACIFIC	Sailing to Honolulu, HI --> Los Angeles, CA (for provisions and supplies, but subject to change) Currently NE of Tuvalu	Estimated arrival: April 12, 2020 (MarineTraffic)
REGAL	Anchored at Great Isaac Anchorage, Bahamas	- NOT IN SERVICE
ROYAL	Drifting west of Tijuana, Mexico	- NOT IN SERVICE
RUBY	Moored at Port Kembla, NSW, Australia	- NOT IN SERVICE - MORE INFORMATION
SAPPHIRE	Moored in wet dock at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard in Sembawang, Singapore	- NOT IN SERVICE - April 2020 dry dock has been CANCELLED
SEA	Drifting NE of Brisbane/Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia	- NOT IN SERVICE
SKY	Anchored at Great Isaac Anchorage, Bahamas	- NOT IN SERVICE
STAR	Drifting west of Ensenada, Mexico	- NOT IN SERVICE
SUN	Drifting NE of Brisbane/Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia	- NOT IN SERVICE
LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Information on the Pacific Princess	https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2537098-2020-world-cruise-pacific-princess-january-202020-la-to-ftl/?do=findComment&comment=59743391
	Per CC disclaimers: Do NOT post in the roll call linked above if not directly involved with the cruise.
Princess's "Operation Status" as of April 5, 2020	https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/status-of-all-ships.html
Princess's Florida fleet information: (Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, Island, Regal, Sky)	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22615-princess-plans-for-florida-fleet-anchorages-and-princess-cays-visits.html
"Why don't the ships just turn off all their power?" & other lay-up FAQ	https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22623-cruise-lay-up-best-practices-be-ready-to-enter-service.html

 

And here's another glimpse at Princess crew (has sound!):

 

[SeaDog-46]

Queensland Australia has ordered all cruise ships to leave there waters by 23:59 LT 8th April 2020.

Sea Princess, Sun Princess & Pacific Explorer [ex Dawn Princess] are in the Coral Sea north bound together heading for Manilla.  The last Pacific Dawn [ex Regal Princess] will follow the others north to Manilla after completing bunkering at Brisbane.

Ruby Princess will remain at Port Kembla NSW for some time.

Golden Princess is in Australian Bight bound for Jakarta.