Posted on 05/22/2022 10:34:22 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
Three cruise brands are suffering from crew shortages, but the reasons the lines cite for the lack of extra hands on deck couldn’t be more different. Norwegian Cruise Line’s, Carnival Cruise Line’s and Cunard Line’s recent moves are likely examples of a broader industry staffing issue that could impact service levels on many cruise ships this spring and summer.
Norwegian caps capacity Norwegian Cruise Line has been forced to limit passenger capacity on its United States-based Pride of America ship, which reentered service in April and sails exclusively around the Hawaiian Islands.
As reported by Travel Pulse, NCL President Harry Sommer said the ship is currently sailing with fewer than 500 crew but usually operates with more than 900, which has prompted the line to cut back on the number of cruisers it allows on each of the vessel’s voyages to allow for the level of service customers expect. Bookings for the ship are closed until at least November, and scheduled departures until that time are booked at only slightly more than half full — between 1,100 and 1,200 passengers on a ship that maxes out at 2,186.
Given that the ship is registered in the U.S. and employs a largely American crew, it’s unlikely that the shortage is being caused by visa delays, which other lines have cited as a reason for trouble bringing workers back on board.
When asked for comment, the cruise line’s official statement took a different approach — that the number of crew members is low because the capacity is low, instead of the other way around.
“We have been operating at lower capacities for initial sailings (about 40%),” the statement said. “As a result, our staffing levels have been adjusted to accommodate the number of guests on board, therefore limiting some of [the] venues available.”
Cunard limits passenger numbers Last week, Cunard capped passenger capacity on an undisclosed number of Alaska and Europe itineraries into early July, meaning some passengers already booked on those sailings aboard Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria will be notified that their bookings have been canceled.
Cunard blames COVID-19-related flight issues, which have delayed or prevented some crew members from reaching their designated vessels.
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“The wider impact of COVID-19 is affecting hospitality in general and disrupting airlines, and as such, this is impacting the number of crew members we are able to get to our ships,” Cunard said in a statement.
“We are therefore limiting the number of guests sailing on Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria as we build crew numbers back up. Unfortunately, this means that we need to cancel a number of existing bookings.
“We expect the wider impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry and disruption to airlines to be relatively short term.”
Cruisers bumped from their Cunard voyages due to capacity limits will receive full refunds, as well as 25% of the fare paid in the form of a future cruise credit to be used to book a new sailing by Dec. 31, 2024.
Carnival closes restaurants
Cucina del Capitano on a Carnival Cruise Line ship. (Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line) Meanwhile, Carnival said late Monday that it will temporarily close two popular restaurants across its fleet.
The Chef’s Table — which offers a semiprivate, multicourse, chef-led dining experience with a hefty price tag — and extra-fee Italian restaurant Cucina Del Capitano will be shuttered (for dinner only) through at least June 30 on all vessels. The only exception will be Cucina on Mardi Gras, as it is part of the ship’s complimentary dining offerings and is used as an overflow eatery for the main dining room.
The cause, according to a statement from Carnival, is related to difficulty procuring crew visas.
“Our rapid and successful restart has required us to bring back thousands of crew members in a very short time, which has increased the number of resources needed for government officials to process the large number of visa applications and slowed down our ability to fully staff some of our functions, including our culinary team,” Carnival told The Points Guy in an email.
On May 2, 2022, Carnival became the first cruise line to return all of its ships to service — no small feat, particularly with limited crew — but the situation is a bit ironic.
“Carnival Splendor is the … final Carnival ship to welcome guests back on board … completing an impressive and successful restart of guest operations and setting the pace for the rest of the U.S. cruise industry,” read a statement from the line.
The Chef’s Table on a Carnival Cruise Line ship. (Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line) Passengers who had already paid for reservations at the Chef’s Table or Cucina Del Capitano on upcoming sailings will be notified of the cancellations, and they will be issued full refunds.
A summer of service woes? If the trend keeps up, what all of this could point to is a summer where we see more capacity reduction, additional onboard venue closures or even completely canceled cruises. Alternatively, cruisers may experience longer lines, increased wait times or a general reduction in service levels from what they ordinarily expect on board.
During a conference in May, Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy discussed some of the challenges Carnival Corp. brands have been facing with regard to staffing, indicating that the shortage is being caused by both visa processing lags and losing crew to other industries because they needed to find work during the cruise shutdown.
“I think the labor impact that [the cruise] industry has seen has been … harder than any other industry,” Duffy said.
“You can’t operate fully unless you have enough staff. People are being creative about it, but we’re not over the hump yet to say ‘What is this really going to look like, and how do we get back?'”
“What worked well was the initial restart. It was all great, up until … now. The U.S. State Department is very backed up with processing visas, so we’ve not been able to get people their visas that are required for them to come back to work. So we are really feeling the challenge of being able to get crew back. [Crew who] weren’t called back in that first [round] … they did get other work because there’s so much demand for labor.”
Duffy also said that visa issues aren’t just affecting employees on ships. Carnival Corp. brands that own land-based resorts in locations like Alaska are also having difficulty staffing those properties due to processing delays.
The industry hasn’t seen staffing issues this severe since January, when both Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean were forced to cancel entire voyages due to a lack of crew, many of whom had become ill with COVID-19.
“We feel terrible when we have to cancel a vacation,” Mark Tamis, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president of hotel operations, said during an interview at the time. “When we have to do something like this, we feel awful.”
They, with the exception of Carnival, have managed to avoid the bad press of covid infections onboard, by continuing with a business as usual approach.
The lines avoid any talk about the inflation rate worldwide as though all its customers are immune to it.
But crew shortages are starting to factor into the comebacks now, and we will see how this recovery plays out in the longrun.
To bad you can't spend the money on these record bookings by credit cards to pay off your Billions of dollars in debt- yet. - Tom
so even the third world refuses to work on these ships
The reason for the shortage is that all their would be employees are lined up to cross our southern border.
One of my buds is a Filipino dude. Right wing. It is a fact that a third of seafarers are Filipinos and he directly knows one of the guys who runs the mariner schools in Manila. He tells me the cruise ships want a double shot of the fake vaxx, and there were adverse effects on a number of them which scared off the the rest of the lower batches.
The Pride of America is covered by the Jones Act, so there are US citizenship requirements for the crew. There are minimum manning requirements for the deck and engine departments which if not met, the ship cannot sail. So the crew shortages are mostly likely occuring in the “hotel” side of the ship, wait staff, room stewards, etc.
The entire crew is covered by various collective bargaining agreements.
Come back from every cruise with covid because they made you take the jab which allows you to get covid multiple times?
They know how risky it is to get so many jabs and want no part of any mandatory jabbing. They’re not stupid.
Thanks for sharing that.
Who needs a buffet? Sail on the new Horn and Hardart cruise lines!
Carnival has stripped the Diamonds and Platinums (Elites) of all their goodies ...lunches, parties etc
Plus theres no more events for veterans ...
I’d introduce adventure.
Sail on the Andrea Dorea II in dense fog! Get that apartment you always wanted!
Everyone gets a sack lunch.
Plus theres no more events for veterans ...
If you noticed I singled out Carnival as not getting the message about keeping their mouth shut about things detrimental to cruising. No wonder the press uses them in articles against cruising.
The other lines just lie and obfuscate about their problems. -Tom
Tom, are any cruise lines porting in FL/USA accepting non-vaxed customers? Or is vax still a CDC requirement?
FYI, a friend recently went out of FL. A group of eight. 5 of 8 got covid. No on got very sick but did test positive. All were together a lot. Including car rides.
No I read it first in Cruise Hive ...
But its a fact ...
Another big problem with carnival alone is that in their warp speed attempt to be first to have all their ships back sailing they had to thinly divide their available staff and crew amongst them all ...
That wasnt too bad when there were just a few ships and a very limited passenger capacity ... about 50%
But now they also boast they are back up to full capacity but they dont have the staff and crew to handle all those passengers ...
Then they put the prices for everything up last month but had to offer 50& off last week ...
All they have to do is get rid of their cruise line mandated jabs requirement and they will go a long way to improving their lot ...
A big problem with covid is they can't figure out where and when you got it, because some people come down with it 2 days after exposure, some may take 14 days after exposure.-Tom
Unfortunately for the cruise lines in the USA, it looks like the unvaccinated are off limits, through 2022. -Tom
Thanks! Are any cruise lines porting in FL/USA accepting non-vaxed customers? Or is vax still a CDC requirement?
Gov. Ron Desantis had a law overturned, that stopped cruise lines from discriminating against non- vaxxed passengers.
It pretty well allowed the cruise lines to set their own rules.
Most of the Florida Cruise lines decided to placate the CDC by requiring 90-95% fully vaccinated passengers onboard. Then they made it more restrictive for unvaccinated passengers , like not being able to go on shore excursions on their own.
Since it is basically up to the cruise lines whether you are vaccinated or not, you might find a cruise line that is attuned to taking more unvaxxed passengers, they will be few and far between. -Tom
The Pride of America is a US flagged and crewed ship.
Ha!
No pilots, no FAA airmen, no ship staff….hmmmm….what could possibly be the cause of all of this labor shortage??
🤔
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