Royal Caribbean charts mass crew repatriation

Posted on 4 May, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

Crewmembers from Royal Caribb... - Royal Caribbean Cruises Office ...

Mass repatriation of the crew is being planned by Royal Caribbean after global cruises were halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Various ships and charter flights will be deployed to return crew home to 60 countries.

At least 11 vessels will be involved in the repatriation efforts, including three which will sail to Southampton where charter flights will be organised.

Thousands of staff have been left onboard ships operated by different lines around the world with the shutdown of sailings.

Royal Caribbean crew from the Caribbean, Central and South America will be transferred to certain ships and sailed home to the Bahamas, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, St Kitts, Dominica, St Lucia, Grenada, Trinidad, St Vincent and the Grenadines from Saturday (May 9).

Filipino and Indonesian crew will be flown home on charter flights from Barbados and Miami.

Indian crew will transfer to ships that will sail to their home country by June 3.

Canadians, most Europeans and crew from all other countries will sail to Southampton to be flown home from there, according to the Miami Herald.

Ukrainian and Romanian crew members will be flown home on charter flights from Miami.

The plans follow rival Carnival Cruise Line deploying nine ships to repatriate 10,000 crew to points around the world.

Germany, Italy and Spain join calls for suspension of EU airline refund rules

Posted on 4 May, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

After the Brexit: Quo vadis, EU? | Heinrich Böll Stiftung ...

The governments of Germany, Italy and Spain have joined 12 others in the EU demanding a suspension of airline refund rules.

Under EU 261 denied boarding regulations, airlines must refund customers within seven days of a flight being cancelled.

However, many airlines are facing drastic liquidity issues and are unable to issue cash refunds within that time frame.

The European Commission has issued new guidance and sanctioned credit notes being issued instead of cash only when passengers accept them.

Last Wednesday 12 EU governments called on the union’s executive body to suspend the rules and yesterday Germany, Italy and Spain were reported to have joined them.

French transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said in a statement: “I’m glad a very large majority of member states are supporting my request to authorise airlines and maritime groups to temporarily use vouchers when trips are cancelled, so as to relieve their cash reserves while protecting passengers’ rights to a refund.”

Governments in favour of a temporary change in the rules have said vouchers should be valid for a set period and include the right to reimbursement if they are not used before the expiry date.

They also want to ensure that financial protection is provided in the case of airline bankruptcies.

Carnival Corporation to ‘fully co-operate’ with a congressional inquiry

Posted on 3 May, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Corporation to ‘fully co-operate’ with congressional inquiry

Carnival Corporation has said it will fully co-operate with the US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure after it opened an inquiry into the company’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Bloomberg reported on Friday that letters had been sent to Carnival chief executive Arnold Donald, the US Coast Guard and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asking for internal documents and correspondence relating to outbreaks onboard its ships.

The letter asked Carnival to clarify its plan for improvement in the areas of public health and passenger safety which it said: “has not been seen up to this point”.

It also said the cruise giant appeared to be “still trying to sell this cruise line fantasy and ignoring the public health threat”.

A statement from Carnival said it was reviewing the letter and would fully co-operate with the committee.

The statement said: “Our goal is the same as the committee’s goal, to protect the health, safety and well-being of our guests and crew, along with compliance and environmental protection.”

In a call with journalists on April 16, Donald refuted suggestions the cruise industry was slow to react to the outbreak of coronavirus.

And he argued that cruise was one of the best-placed sectors of travel to cope with anticipated stricter health and safety protocols in the future.

He said: “The cruise industry put a pause on the cruise before anybody else did. Before hotels or restaurants and other places of social gathering.

“Cruise ships are not the cause. Neither are they the reason for the spread.”