Cruise Lines Staffing Issues

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, trey420 said:

Well do you have anything to back that statement up?  I'm not saying you're wrong.  But people just say stuff to fit their narrative a lot.  If they are short staffed I'm not sure what happened to the flock.

Having worked with international crew on cruise ships, I can tell you that most of the lower level jobs on cruise ships provide an above median middle class income in the home countries like Indonesia, Philippines, and India, where the majority of crew come from.  What happened to the crew?  They were out of work for 2 years, had no "covid relief paychecks" from their governments, so they found new work.  The crew started to realize that while the pay is good on cruise ships, the stability they thought was always there really isn't as their savings eroded, and decided that a lower paying, but stable job is better for their families.  Those who want to come back, have issues getting vaccines (the Philippines is only since the beginning of the year reaching fully vaccinated numbers approaching the US (still in the low 60%), and the same for Indonesia and India.  They are also having difficulty getting visas due to short staffing and closures of US consulates.  Also, the working conditions have deteriorated, with many countries not allowing crew to go ashore, or to change out.

[not-enough-cruising]

50 minutes ago, trey420 said:

Well do you have anything to back that statement up?  I'm not saying you're wrong.  But people just say stuff to fit their narrative a lot.  If they are short staffed I'm not sure what happened to the flock.

Income stats for any country in the world, as well as for many industries are openly published all over the internet 

[jcc1025]

We were on the Radiance shakeout cruise about a month ago in LA before they moved to Alaska. It was a great time, but we could sense that a number of the crew were new and learning on the job. Like always they were all wonderful, but you could tell a lot of training was going on. There were only about 450 passengers, and this cruise was designed to give them some experience before paying passengers came on board. I got into a discussion with a long-time crew bartender in the Schooner bar on day and he said that over 2000 crew members did not return from the pandemic break. That Royal was working at recruiting like all service industries. He said no passengers had been on the ship in two years and that most of the crew had only just got on board as they had come over from Malta. 

The ship was in great shape and the staff in the specialty restaurants were what we would expect, it was more the main dining room and some of the bars that we noticed the learning curve. 

We see the same thing on shore-based service businesses and is part of the move back from the break. We have a couple of cruises booked and know that it will return to past levels and after working in the customer service industry all my working life I don't complain as much as others on this site. 

I am always amazed at the number of people on these boards who complain and complain about anything and everything but continue to cruise. Happy sailing to everyone. 

[chengkp75]

12 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Income stats for any country in the world, as well as for many industries are openly published all over the internet 

Yep.  Minimum wage for any seafarer, from any nation, by law, who works 70 hour week, is about $1100-1200 per month.  Average doctor's salary in Philippines is $2150/month.  Minimum wage in Philippines is $10.88 per day or $326 for working 30 days straight.  The average income in Philippines is $3200 per year.

[bigque]

I’m sure all the cruise lines are fighting for experienced crew members from the same talent pool so it has to be hard to get experience right now! 

[brillohead]

23 hours ago, sailor05 said:

If they only have 50% or 75% of the crew, then maybe they should keep capacity at that level until they have what they need. I sure don't want to pay full price for half the service. I've seen lots of complaints here and elsewhere about the lack of service/staffing.

This is where I totally fault Royal.  I'm "loyal to Royal" but I also admit when they screwed the pooch on something, and they definitely should have coordinated their booking levels with their staffing levels.

I had friends who booked B2B on Explorer just two days before it sailed (April 30th sailing)... I was glad to see my friends in person again, but no way did Royal have any business booking more rooms at that point, when they already knew how many of their staffers were at the end of their contracts and leaving, and that they weren't able to get more staffers in to replace them.

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, jerseyjjs said:

Just wondering.....have there been staff shortages in the premium restaurants or anywhere else that requires an extra fee?

Yes.  Friends ate at Chops on Explorer last week, said there were only two waiters for the entire restaurant. 

Izumi on Explorer is only open for lunch -- not open for dinner at all.

Johnny Rockets on Explorer two weeks ago had one employee who it was her first week there, and two employees who it was their second week there, and that's all that was working in the entire place -- three people, all newbies.

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Having worked with international crew on cruise ships, I can tell you that most of the lower level jobs on cruise ships provide an above median middle class income in the home countries like Indonesia, Philippines, and India, where the majority of crew come from.  What happened to the crew?  They were out of work for 2 years, had no "covid relief paychecks" from their governments, so they found new work.  The crew started to realize that while the pay is good on cruise ships, the stability they thought was always there really isn't as their savings eroded, and decided that a lower paying, but stable job is better for their families.  Those who want to come back, have issues getting vaccines (the Philippines is only since the beginning of the year reaching fully vaccinated numbers approaching the US (still in the low 60%), and the same for Indonesia and India.  They are also having difficulty getting visas due to short staffing and closures of US consulates.  Also, the working conditions have deteriorated, with many countries not allowing crew to go ashore, or to change out.

A friend was supposed to be on Wonder, but getting his visa and passport renewal from the Phillipines took too long, so he's working on Symphony now instead.  (He was already vaccinated and boostered, from his previous contract with Royal.)

The Loyalty Ambassador on Explorer told me just two weeks ago that they'll be expecting 30 crew from the Phillipines, but only 10 will get visas.  They have workers who want to work, they just can't get the paperwork to get them out of their home countries to come here and start working.  

[Tee & Chilli]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:Those who want to come back, have issues getting vaccines (the Philippines is only since the beginning of the year reaching fully vaccinated numbers approaching the US (still in the low 60%), and the same for Indonesia and India.  They are also having difficulty getting visas due to short staffing and closures of US consulates.  Also, the working conditions have deteriorated, with many countries not allowing crew to go ashore, or to change out.

 

Royal provides the vaccine?

[rudeney]

Here's the scary thing: If people continue to book cruises and pay "regular" fare for "substandard" service, guess what RCI will continue to do?  Offer cruises at regular far and provide substandard service!  People who experience bad service on the ship might be hesitant to complain because they don't want to the crew who are trying their best to get disciplined or fired.  That will just exacerbate the problem.  The only way to keep this from happening is to make sure it hits RCI in the bank account.  Don't book another cruises when you have bad service and let them know why.  If you get bad service, let them know and demand monetary compensation.  I know this sounds like being a whiner, but it's the only way RCI will understand.  Vote with your dollars.  

[sailor05]

I wonder if any of the other cruise lines are having the same or similar issue? I would assume so.

[Markanddonna]

We were on MSC in March and there was a huge staffing shortage because they allowed a booking surge with crew that were used to handling 500-800. Our sailing jumped to 3,300 in one week. 

 

We just got off the Anthem on a transatlantic. A previous poster said we didn't have enough crew but my perception was that they were adequate. We had four bar servers approach us within just one minutes time. Lots of servers offering coffee and juices on carts at the buffet. They were sailing at 60% capacity. Maybe they were preparing for full capacity in Europe.

Edited May 16, 2022 by Markanddonna

[chengkp75]

9 hours ago, Tee & Chilli said:

 

Royal provides the vaccine?

No, if the ships were near the US, they took advantage of the free vaccine at the ports, for crew that had been onboard long enough for quarantine.  Not sure other countries were as free with the vaccine for non-citizens.  New crew have to get the vaccine on their own prior to applying for the job.

4 hours ago, sailor05 said:

I wonder if any of the other cruise lines are having the same or similar issue? I would assume so.

All of them.

[Cruise a holic]

We were on the Celebrity Reflection in March and the ship had plenty of staff members, excellent service in all departments.  We will be on the Royal Caribbean Adventure in less then two weeks and hope that the service is as good. 

 

Will report back.

[Jasukkie]

Having spent time in the upside down (quarantine), regular passengers have no idea what goes on logistically dealing with covid. A lot of passengers getting moved, rooms getting deep cleaned, so much room service, so much guest relations, etc. Add to that crew getting sick and having to be out of service. There's a whole side of things going on you hopefully will never see.

[ReneeFLL]

3 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

Having spent time in the upside down (quarantine), regular passengers have no idea what goes on logistically dealing with covid. A lot of passengers getting moved, rooms getting deep cleaned, so much room service, so much guest relations, etc. Add to that crew getting sick and having to be out of service. There's a whole side of things going on you hopefully will never see.

You were in quarantine on a ship?

[Jasukkie]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

You were in quarantine on a ship?

Yes. 

[Oceansaway17]

On 5/14/2022 at 7:37 PM, sailor05 said:

If they only have 50% or 75% of the crew, then maybe they should keep capacity at that level until they have what they need. I sure don't want to pay full price for half the service. I've seen lots of complaints here and elsewhere about the lack of service/staffing.

yes I agree do not increase passengers if you do not have the staff.

But then again the cruise lines are very greedy to make money as fast as they can to pay back debts.

Right now cruising is most interesting in how they deal and juggle rules, debts, people and covid.

 

But, we have all heard about how just in the last month increasing passenger count has created lot of issues.  oh well.   We also talk about gas prices too which is even more annoying.

[alexgtp]

I was on Anthem for NYE and it was understaffed. Sailed recently on Oasis and it was severely understaffed. Captain even stated to the fact they had less crew , but upped capacity.

[Cruising89143]

Looks like Carnival is making a few changes concerning a few dining options due to crew shortage. Wonder if we will see something similar to this on some of the RCI fleet?

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27508-staff-shortage-carnival-to-limit-dining-options-across-fleet.html

[rudeney]

1 hour ago, cruisingator2 said:

Looks like Carnival is making a few changes concerning a few dining options due to crew shortage. Wonder if we will see something similar to this on some of the RCI fleet?

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27508-staff-shortage-carnival-to-limit-dining-options-across-fleet.html

 

That strategy really makes no sense.  It takes a given number of staff to cook and serve food to a given number of passengers.  By closing venues, they are just consolidating all the poor service in one place.  

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, cruisingator2 said:

Looks like Carnival is making a few changes concerning a few dining options due to crew shortage. Wonder if we will see something similar to this on some of the RCI fleet?

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27508-staff-shortage-carnival-to-limit-dining-options-across-fleet.html

If another cruise line is doing it, Royal will follow soon.

[joeyancho]

FWIW,  we sailed the Liberty last week.  According to guest services the ship was about 80% full.  Everything seemed to be running smoothly.   No venues were closed.  MDR service  was as usual.  Bar service was prompt.  Room service was as usual.  Rooms were attended to twice daily.   

 

  

  

[clskinsfan]

1 hour ago, rudeney said:

 

That strategy really makes no sense.  It takes a given number of staff to cook and serve food to a given number of passengers.  By closing venues, they are just consolidating all the poor service in one place.  

I would prefer them to cut room staff and make them servers in all honesty. I can live without my room being made up every single day. But I cant stand poor restaurant service. 

[gatour]

1 hour ago, rudeney said:

 

That strategy really makes no sense.  It takes a given number of staff to cook and serve food to a given number of passengers.  By closing venues, they are just consolidating all the poor service in one place.  

 

11 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

I would prefer them to cut room staff and make them servers in all honesty. I can live without my room being made up every single day. But I cant stand poor restaurant service. 

To the first quote.  If they are short of staff in MDR plus staff in the specialy restaraunts, make sense to combine the two seperate staff that are available into the MDR or the remaing speciality restaurants.

 

In regards to the second quote.  It is not as simple reasigning room staff to the the restaurants.  The skill sets are different, training involved etc.  You can't simply snap your fingers and turn a room attendent into a server, assistant server etc. 

 

I have worked in restaraunts in a resort hotel and there was no way would just grab a member of house keeper and make them service the dining rooms.  Mind you if a house keeper wanted to transfer to Food and Beverage they would given consideration etc.  And then properly trained.