Crew on cruise ships - a little sad update
A short collection of up date from the Financial Times, Japan Times and BBC.
While cruise passengers were gradually repatriated through March and April, many crew members stayed behind. Cruise operations were initially paused for 30 days - ample time, it seemed, for the pandemic to blow over. The pandemic did no such thing, leaving crew members in limbo as 30 days turned into 40, 50, 60 and more.
The CDC extended its no-sail order and countries, concerned about the spread of the coronavirus, shut down their ports to cruise ships.
With no end to the pandemic in sight, there are now an estimated 54,200 crew members on board 85 cruise ships in US waters, the US Coast Guard told the BBC. Many more are stranded at sea elsewhere. In an article on 17 May, the Miami Herald newspaper put the number at more than 100,000 around the world
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52722765
BBC July 2020
In May alone, at least six cruise ship crew members around the world died of causes not related to the pandemic. Five of them were apparently cases of suicide.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/28/world/coronavirus-cruise-suicide/
Japan Times 28.05.2020
Kendra Ulrich, shipping campaigns director for the environmental group Stand.earth. “This is the latest example of a morally bankrupt business culture and one that they are going to have to make public and substantive changes to, to regain public trust.”
https://www.ft.com/content/d8ff5129-6817-4a19-af02-1316f8defe52
JUNE 7 2020 Alice Hancock London Financial Times
Author: Stephan Busch, Academic Director at the State University for the Humanities Moscow RGGU, Faculty of Tourism & Hospitality and the Swiss International University earned his Master Certificate in Hospitality Management from Cornell University, USA. He has a diverse experience in launching operations, business development and service training- for hotel and cruise companies in Asia, Europe, Canada and Russia.
www.itsjusthotelsservice.com, contact@itsjusthotelsservice.com