Staffing a NCL Ship

[drvmywifecrzy]

How long do you think it will take to staff a NCL ship? 

 

What about 10 NCL ships?

 

What about non essential roles like entertainment?

[chengkp75]

Just like those unemployed due to covid in the US, crew are waiting for their jobs to return.  The difficulty is getting crew travel arrangements, given all the various countries' restrictions.  My guess is that charter flights like TUI and Aida used to get their crew to the ships will be the primary means of crewing.  

[PelicanBill]

And for travel to the US from many countries, you have the issue of needing VISAs to get people through the US Airports and onto the ships.. and so they can go shopping when in port for their essential items (that's not going to go over well when local communities figure it out).  Makes me wonder if friendlier ports like Progresso and St. Maarten will be busy loading crews.  Many US Embassies are not processing VISAs right now. There are so many moving parts that need to be greased again to move efficiently.

[chengkp75]

The crew only require C1/D1 crew visas, which are almost universally granted to ship's crews.  There is a payment and an interview at a US embassy in the home country, but these are nearly always done en bloc with a group of crew by the crewing agency.  Having a previous crew visa virtually removes any difficulties in obtaining a new one.  The US considers merchant mariners, of all nationalities, to be essential workers, so these visas will be processed.  The cessation of visa services has been for "routine" visas, while those with a "critical need" to travel can apply for "emergency service", and as crew are "essential" they have a "critical need".

[drvmywifecrzy]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Just like those unemployed due to covid in the US, crew are waiting for their jobs to return.  The difficulty is getting crew travel arrangements, given all the various countries' restrictions.  My guess is that charter flights like TUI and Aida used to get their crew to the ships will be the primary means of crewing.  

 

So does that mean 5 days, 30 days???

[SeaShark]

My concern in all this is that given the length of this "pause" and the uncertainty behind its end date, many crew might just decide to give up on cruise ship work and move on to other jobs. Then when things finally do start up again, we're going to see ships with a greater percentage of rookie crew members than we have seen in the past.

 

Letting all that experience walk away is going to cause the service experience to suffer.

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, SeaShark said:

My concern in all this is that given the length of this "pause" and the uncertainty behind its end date, many crew might just decide to give up on cruise ship work and move on to other jobs. Then when things finally do start up again, we're going to see ships with a greater percentage of rookie crew members than we have seen in the past.

 

Letting all that experience walk away is going to cause the service experience to suffer.

My impression from talking with crew members is that there ARE no other jobs in the countries they live in, at least none that pay as well as cruise ships do. Think about it: if there were a robust jobs market in their home countries, would they voluntarily leave their homes and families for 6 months-1 year at a time? There may be some crew members who may decide not to return, but I highly doubt it will be significant. If anything, I think we'll see lots of new people wanting to work on cruise ships as well as the veterans returning.

[SeaShark]

3 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

My impression from talking with crew members is that there ARE no other jobs in the countries they live in, at least none that pay as well as cruise ships do. Think about it: if there were a robust jobs market in their home countries, would they voluntarily leave their homes and families for 6 months-1 year at a time? There may be some crew members who may decide not to return, but I highly doubt it will be significant. If anything, I think we'll see lots of new people wanting to work on cruise ships as well as the veterans returning.

 

Hardly, if there were no other jobs, then everyone in the country would be doing cruise work and we all know that isn't the case. Yes, some (bold font not necessary) will not return...which is what I said. Obviously it will be some...not everyone will choose to not return. And "lots of new people"...you mean an increase in the percentage of rookies?

[DCGuy64]

7 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Hardly, if there were no other jobs, then everyone in the country would be doing cruise work and we all know that isn't the case. Yes, some (bold font not necessary) will not return...which is what I said. Obviously it will be some...not everyone will choose to not return. And "lots of new people"...you mean an increase in the percentage of rookies?

I never said there were NO other jobs, but from my conversations with crew members over the years, it's clear to me that there are many more people than jobs to be had, hence why some of them choose to do cruise ship work. I also follow a few crew members on social media and they assure me that they all want to get back to sea ASAP. I guess we shall see!

[BermudaBound2014]

MSC cruises are starting to staff ships in preparation for European sailing. Greece recently opened up some of it's ports to cruise ships and it looks to me like MSC is going to try to act on that announcement. According to this article, it takes between a month and a month and a half to staff MSC cruise ships.

http://crew-center.com/230-mauritian-crew-arrive-italy-restart-msc-cruise-ships?fbclid=IwAR1I1G8R461mnthzaGCNzXI5LidxvvfvN-ytcjKoHcKo3-o6dJXmlRnjRqg

 

 

[SeaShark]

54 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

My impression from talking with crew members is that there ARE no other jobs in the countries they live in, at least none that pay as well as cruise ships do. Think about it: if there were a robust jobs market in their home countries, would they voluntarily leave their homes and families for 6 months-1 year at a time? There may be some crew members who may decide not to return, but I highly doubt it will be significant. If anything, I think we'll see lots of new people wanting to work on cruise ships as well as the veterans returning.

 

36 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I never said there were NO other jobs . . .

 

Well....somebody said it. 

[DCGuy64]

2 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

 

Well....somebody said it. 

LOL, touché! I guess I should check my own posts before responding, LOL. Ya got me! 😂Re-reading it, I guess I should have been clearer.

I meant that if there were lots of other jobs that pay as well and have the benefits, then they wouldn't be taking cruise ship jobs.

So my impression is that unemployment is high in many places where our beloved crew members come from, which is why I believe that we'll likely (not a 100% guarantee, of course) see many of them returning. But as well, there will probably be some rookies, too.

1 hour ago, SeaShark said:

Then when things finally do start up again, we're going to see ships with a greater percentage of rookie crew members than we have seen in the past.

 

Letting all that experience walk away is going to cause the service experience to suffer.

Now on to what you said. You said "we're going to see ships with a greater percentage of rookie..." How do you know this?

And "letting all that experience walk away is going to cause the service experience to suffer. (Emphasis mine)

How can you know those things? I don't think you can, which is why you should have said these things might happen, because 'going' implies certainty, and that simply can't be known at this point.

I hope you have a great day, I have to finish work now and won't be able to respond until tomorrow at the earliest. Take care.

 

[BermudaBound2014]

9 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Now on to what you said. You said "we're going to see ships with a greater percentage of rookie..." How do you know this?

And "letting all that experience walk away is going to cause the service experience to suffer. (Emphasis mine)

How can you know those things? I don't think you can, which is why you should have said these things might happen, because 'going' implies certainty, and that simply can't be known at this point.

 

Ummmm, seriously?  If Seashark should not have implied certainty, how can you?

 

If Seaside couldn't 'know' those things", how can you be 100%  certain cruising will be back to normal by May?  To use your own words,  "I don't think you can which is why you should have said cruising 'might' be back to normal.

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by BermudaBound2014

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, drvmywifecrzy said:

 

So does that mean 5 days, 30 days???

Closer to 5 days, if they use charter flights, as each crew will need to be tested before the flight, and the results known before the flight.  Once crew are on the ship, it will take a couple of days to clean, renew linens, and stock the provisions.  A lot depends on how rapidly the cruise line "pulls the trigger" to get a cruise restarted.

[zqvol]

2 hours ago, SeaShark said:

My concern in all this is that given the length of this "pause" and the uncertainty behind its end date, many crew might just decide to give up on cruise ship work and move on to other jobs. Then when things finally do start up again, we're going to see ships with a greater percentage of rookie crew members than we have seen in the past.

 

Letting all that experience walk away is going to cause the service experience to suffer.

Just like the millions of US workers who have moved on to other jobs?

[roger001]

NCL is still pushing cruises for Nov 1st.  Just got an email for a 5 day to Mexico out of San Pedro on the Bliss...I believe that's what it was.  And then just a few hours later got a follow up telling me to hurry and get it booked.  

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, SeaShark said:

My concern in all this is that given the length of this "pause" and the uncertainty behind its end date, many crew might just decide to give up on cruise ship work and move on to other jobs.

Ahhhh, probably not. 

[nclsuncruiser]

6 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

My impression from talking with crew members is that there ARE no other jobs in the countries they live in, at least none that pay as well as cruise ships do. Think about it: if there were a robust jobs market in their home countries, would they voluntarily leave their homes and families for 6 months-1 year at a time? There may be some crew members who may decide not to return, but I highly doubt it will be significant. If anything, I think we'll see lots of new people wanting to work on cruise ships as well as the veterans returning.

 

6 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

Hardly, if there were no other jobs, then everyone in the country would be doing cruise work and we all know that isn't the case. Yes, some (bold font not necessary) will not return...which is what I said. Obviously it will be some...not everyone will choose to not return. And "lots of new people"...you mean an increase in the percentage of rookies?

 

I found the bold font helpful in how he was saying it, bolding or italics both giving emphasis compared to "there may be some crew members".   But I should defer to you as perhaps you are the english moderator on here!  I didn't see any need for your regular use of "..." between words in sentences but some might find it useful so I wouldn't generally comment.

[CruiseMH]

On 7/31/2020 at 3:37 PM, SeaShark said:

 

Hardly, if there were no other jobs, then everyone in the country would be doing cruise work and we all know that isn't the case.

 

Please don`t forget that the number of jobs in the cruise industry is limited. Thats why many cruise lines have training centres in the asian countries to find the best possible crew members. So there are a lot more people applying for a job than the cruise lines can take.

[drvmywifecrzy]

21 hours ago, CruiseMH said:

 

Please don`t forget that the number of jobs in the cruise industry is limited. Thats why many cruise lines have training centres in the asian countries to find the best possible crew members. So there are a lot more people applying for a job than the cruise lines can take.

 

Link?

 

[CruiseMH]

Link for what? Not able to have a short look into google by yourself ?

Is is necessary to attach a link to every single information mentioned in a posting?

With just 2 Minutes of searching google i found information about it here , here or here .

 

 

[chengkp75]

34 minutes ago, drvmywifecrzy said:

 

Link?

 

Link for what?  There are cruise line training centers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and India, owned/supported by all the major lines.  The number of cruise line crew is about 250,000 for all ships, representing about 180-190,000 onboard positions, and the remainder being those on vacation.

[drvmywifecrzy]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Link for what?  There are cruise line training centers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and India, owned/supported by all the major lines.  The number of cruise line crew is about 250,000 for all ships, representing about 180-190,000 onboard positions, and the remainder being those on vacation.

 

How do you know this data?

[SeaShark]

18 minutes ago, drvmywifecrzy said:

 

How do you know this data?

 

Considering just who it is you're asking, I think the better question might be "How could he NOT know it?"

[jaja]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Link for what?  There are cruise line training centers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and India, owned/supported by all the major lines.  The number of cruise line crew is about 250,000 for all ships, representing about 180-190,000 onboard positions, and the remainder being those on vacation.

As always, thanks for posting ...your expertise is always appreciated.