Voyager, Dubai to Rome.

[Travelcat2]

Contracts on cruise ships are always staggered, they never end at the same time. There may be a number of crew leaving but many were probably also meant to be staying well past the world cruise. Crew changes occur constantly that is proven to be the most efficient way to man a ship. So effective that the US navy now uses this system to cut costs as the ships can remain on location.

 

As for the way crew are recruited, yes this has changed, but not in the way you might think. Crew were once supplied by an agency (V-Ships of Monaco) but now they are doing this themselves. However most crew were simply required to sign a new contract either onboard or before they started their new contract. Furthermore, all training occurs onboard, so the training they receive will be the same as before. There may be changes to the type of training but it will all still happen onboard ship. The change from the agency to Regent recruitment is superficial as far as the running of the ship goes.

 

As far as the crew receiving better benefits, I haven't seen any of this myself as I still have many friends who work there, their comments have been generally indifference and some negative.

 

Thank you for that detailed explanation. I would think that Regent would not just hire everyone that has worked on the ship -- they would look for the best employees. I also heard that when their contract is up, they will know in advance when they will be returning to a Regent ship (rather than not knowing if they would be going back to Regent or another cruise line).

 

Do you know anything about the training received by the crew on Seabourn? From the reviews I have read, they concentrate on customer service and do not share any negative feelings with passengers.

[larry1365]

I heard from friends onboard the Voyager. They are safely through the Gulf of Aden. No incidents. They saw numerous military escort ships, two helicopters flew overhead at various times and they (as previously reported) had some special ops forces onboard.

 

Larry

[Travelcat2]

Thank you for posting. A lot of us were concerned about the Voyager having to sail so slowly through those waters.

[larry1365]

I was quite confident that Regent would take extra precautions.

 

Larry