HAL to use ms Eurodam to repatriate Filipino and Indonesian crew back home

[Vict0riann]

And Westerdam tenders are moving back and forth now, too.  Must be an exciting day for all those crew.  Hope they get home safely and well. 

[KirkNC]

While this is great for the crew, what is the status of the payment for their remaining contracts.  I initially heard they would be paid through the end of the contract, hopefully that will still be the case ( it is a contract after all).  Of course it maybe a very long time before they get a new contract which may have a tremendously negative impact on them and their families.  I hope it works out as best as it can for them.

[JeffElizabeth]

Good to see they get to go home. I wonder how many they need for a skeleton crew. Engineers, maintenance,  and some cooks? I can see that some might want to keep their jobs and stay on board. 

[rjbean4]

57 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

And Westerdam tenders are moving back and forth now, too.  Must be an exciting day for all those crew.  Hope they get home safely and well. 

It may appear that way but if you zoom in on what appears to be Westerdam tenders on MarineTraffic  and put your cursor on them this was from as much at 18 hours ago so this would indicate that the transfer from the Westerdam to Eurodam has already been done.

[rafinmd]

16 minutes ago, rjbean4 said:

It may appear that way but if you zoom in on what appears to be Westerdam tenders on MarineTraffic  and put your cursor on them this was from as much at 18 hours ago so this would indicate that the transfer from the Westerdam to Eurodam has already been done.

And if you click on Westerdam on MarineTraffic and look at past track you can see where it went a lot closer to the Eurodam.

 

Roy

[slidergirl]

I did not see any answers to the questions I have about this:

1.  article said going to Los Angeles first to debark crew that needs to go to Europe to flights home at LAX.  Has the ship received permission to dock either at Long Beach or San Pedro?  Does the departing crew have HAL charters home or are they going to rely on the few commercial flights? 

2.  I did not see anything anywhere that said the Eurodam has permission to do provisioning and fueling at any of the ports along that LONG cruise.  Do they have something or are they going to rely "on the kindness of strangers" to get the crew home?

 

Only asking because plans lately on all of the cruise lines have been rather sketchy and were relying on last-second approvals for everything from docking to provisioning to fueling to debarking.  I sure hope HAL got their act together and has everything deliberately planned and approved before taking this on. 

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, JeffElizabeth said:

Good to see they get to go home. I wonder how many they need for a skeleton crew. Engineers, maintenance,  and some cooks? I can see that some might want to keep their jobs and stay on board. 

Minimum manning would be about 100-120, mostly deck and engine, with some galley staff to feed them.

[rkacruiser]

17 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Minimum manning would be about 100-120, mostly deck and engine, with some galley staff to feed them.

 

Thanks for providing this information.  I have been wondering what the minimum staffing requirements would be.  How many crew would the Bosum require at the minimum?

 

I guess the ship's Master and Chief Engineer would have to make their own beds?  🙁  

[St Pete Cruiser]

5 hours ago, rjbean4 said:

Checking in on this on MarineTraffic looks like the transfer is currently going on to move crew from Maasdam to Eurodam. Westerdam is sitting closer to La Paz and Maasdam and Eurodam are to the north. Maasdam tenders are in the water.

For a  cruise line with no guests on board, i.e., fare paying people, these ships are sure on the go!  Amsterdam crossing from Australia to South Africa only to turn around back to Indonesia.  Westerdam came all the way from Cambodia to San Diego and then down to PV and La Paz, Mexico.  Now Eurodam to do almost the complete reverse of what Westerdam just did.

[rjbean4]

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

And if you click on Westerdam on MarineTraffic and look at past track you can see where it went a lot closer to the Eurodam.

 

Roy

Yeah they have been moving around in that area of La Paz. Looks like now the transfers could be done as Maasdam is approaching the Westerdam and maybe Eurodam is getting ready to move out to start the trip to LA. All we can do is just watch the tracking websites and see where she goes. 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Thanks for providing this information.  I have been wondering what the minimum staffing requirements would be.  How many crew would the Bosum require at the minimum?

 

I guess the ship's Master and Chief Engineer would have to make their own beds?  🙁  

Well, it will depend on the certificate of inspection from the flag state as to how many, and which jobs are required.  Typically, the Bosun is not a required position, but the unlicensed deck department would require a minimum of 6, two per each watch.  These would act as "helmsman" and "lookout" for their 4 hours on, 8 hours off deck watch.  There may be more required just due to the size of cruise ships, and the enclosed nature of their mooring stations, but most of the Bosun's crew on a cruise ship are dayworking maintenance types (painting, varnishing, washing down the outside decks, and cleaning the pools).  Yes, a "crew steward" would not be required, but most officer unions require that the officers get room cleaning.

[SeaDog-46]

Chief - if you can run a very large container ship with about 15 crew & most tankers with under 30 crew - how come 100 would be needed on an empty cruise ship?  Most of the Australian fleet were running 1 on deck watch, unmanned engine rooms, 2 stewads & 1 cook.  This was before the government broke cabartage rules & allowed overseas ships under a permit. Now we have just over a handfull left.

[Heartgrove]

6 hours ago, KirkNC said:

While this is great for the crew, what is the status of the payment for their remaining contracts.  I initially heard they would be paid through the end of the contract, hopefully that will still be the case ( it is a contract after all).  Of course it maybe a very long time before they get a new contract which may have a tremendously negative impact on them and their families.  I hope it works out as best as it can for them.

 

I read an article on the crew contracts and compensation yesterday  but can't  recall specifics as it does vary by cruise line and the type of crew member. The Hotel Staff vs. Deck/Engineering have different types of contracts as well as Officer/Shoreside employees. Needless to say it is not 100% and even have term limits with dates vs contract date depending on which is sooner.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Heartgrove

[chengkp75]

24 minutes ago, SeaDog-46 said:

Chief - if you can run a very large container ship with about 15 crew & most tankers with under 30 crew - how come 100 would be needed on an empty cruise ship?  Most of the Australian fleet were running 1 on deck watch, unmanned engine rooms, 2 stewads & 1 cook.  This was before the government broke cabartage rules & allowed overseas ships under a permit. Now we have just over a handfull left.

Well, the certificate of inspection for cruise ships that I've seen don't make any distinction as to whether there are passengers onboard or not.  So, most will require 2 officers and 2 ratings per bridge watch.  Most cruise ships are not set up for unattended operation (this requires special equipment, testing, and documentation), so one engineering officer and two ratings on each engine watch, and then, for the engineers, the watch standers are only doing watch duties, so you've got to have some dayworking maintenance officers and ratings.  Then there are the electrical engineers.  Oh, trust me, coming from all types of cargo ships to see the manning on cruise ships was kind of like seeing the manning on naval vessels.  50 engine and 50 deck are pretty common department sizes for 2000-2500 pax cruise ships (so, small/medium size), and you could likely get away with less due to less use of equipment with no pax, I can't say how much the documents would reduce the manning.

[KirkNC]

13 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, the certificate of inspection for cruise ships that I've seen don't make any distinction as to whether there are passengers onboard or not.  So, most will require 2 officers and 2 ratings per bridge watch.  Most cruise ships are not set up for unattended operation (this requires special equipment, testing, and documentation), so one engineering officer and two ratings on each engine watch, and then, for the engineers, the watch standers are only doing watch duties, so you've got to have some dayworking maintenance officers and ratings.  Then there are the electrical engineers.  Oh, trust me, coming from all types of cargo ships to see the manning on cruise ships was kind of like seeing the manning on naval vessels.  50 engine and 50 deck are pretty common department sizes for 2000-2500 pax cruise ships (so, small/medium size), and you could likely get away with less due to less use of equipment with no pax, I can't say how much the documents would reduce the manning.

Any chance they could get some kind of waiver for while they have no passengers to allow less staff?  I think I know the answer.....

[chengkp75]

42 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Any chance they could get some kind of waiver for while they have no passengers to allow less staff?  I think I know the answer.....

They could definitely go below the "normal" engine and deck crew, as many of these positions are not statutory, but no, you cannot go below the minimum statutory manning, unless you essentially take the ship out of service, i.e. pull the plug and shut everything down.

[mightycruisequeen]

What a righteous move!  Way to go, Holland America! 🥰

[bobpatj]

It's wonderful to hear that our great Westerdam crew can go home!