Author Topic: Coronavirus : general discussion focussed on the impact on the cruise industry  (Read 60937 times)

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Online Rob Lightbody

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P&O Ferries are making 1,100 people redundant...  :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-52625025

Interesting... Same owner as QE2....
Passionate about QE2's service life for 40 years and creator of this website.  I have worked in IT for 28 years and created my personal QE2 website in 1994.


Online Rob Lightbody

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The News is not good.
This, regarding Carnival ships, from Southampton

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/18442111.carnival-plans-large-number-redundancies-southampton-coronavirus-lockdown/?ref=fbshr&fbclid=IwAR1-VsBzNq2LRPymh7f7lLcwGREqXiqNER6ulRO9Ez5Vz5m-JO5pcbhD2gY

Grim news indeed, in unprecedented times.  The cruise industry is one of the worst hit of all, and although they can furlough UK staff, they don't know what the other side looks like, or when it is.  The running costs of lots of laid up ships won't be helping things.
Passionate about QE2's service life for 40 years and creator of this website.  I have worked in IT for 28 years and created my personal QE2 website in 1994.

Offline Twynkle

Interesting... Same owner as QE2....

...yes, and was I dreaming, or did i read that Saudi Arabian business invest recently in Carnival?
Oil prices plummeting - petrol here is 99p p.g


Online Chris Thompson

My sympathies go out to all those crew and staff stuck onboard, I remember how upset we would get when told we could not go ashore after a few days at sea due to Coastguard checks etc. What these folks are being put through is diabolical!!!!

Online Lynda Bradford

It has just appeared as a Documentary on Demand, here :

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/documentary/20200509/4001358/

and should be available to watch until 9 August, so just choose the time that suits you best!

Thanks for posting Isabelle. It is over an hour long but this is an excellent documentary and one worth watching. I felt really sad for the woman whose husband died, especially as it appears that her plea for help was ignored. 

The test done on how a virus could be spread in a buffet situation is something that the cruise and hotel industry could take note. 

I hate buffets for the very reason that has been demonstrated in the video, people passing on germs by touching the different utensils and lids. 

Interesting that on cruise ships there already are good procedures when Norovirus has been identified on a ship, where only staff serve food in the buffet.  When I was onboard QM2 in February and March there was no Coronavirus onboard ship, but I still think they should have taken the precaution to have food served in the Kings Court rather than the free for all buffet. 

Thanks to everyone who are posting news on this topic.  Very sad that so many crew are still onboard ships and unable to return home and even sadder that some have taken their life.  I know of some Cunard crew who have now returned home but have not seen any announcement from Cunard on what they are doing to help crew, although there is probably news on social media. 
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Online cunardqueen

Quote
The test done on how a virus could be spread in a buffet situation is something that the cruise and hotel industry could take note.   

Iv noticed over the past few years the trend with some Vegas Buffets is to have individual-sized portions plated  to minimize handling, it works well and a vast portion of Dessert portions are being served as that. But there is still that element of society that will touch and grab. With serving tongs there is nothing worse than finding the tongs for what you want at the next serving station. But alas to have a person covering serving stations dishing the food out does increase costs. And sadly at the end of the day cost does play a big factor no matter how much "they doth protest"

If we think back to only a few month going out for a meal, just how often did your server appear at your table , its probably much more than you ever imagined 

How many of us can honestly say we would sanitize our hands on QE2 when the dispense machines were in place at The Lido. assuming that is they had been checked to make sure there was liquid in them.

Being a single person with the Table for one situation, it was always surprising when being seated , invariably at a table set for two, just how often the other setting was just left there, and that applies to any  restaurant.

My little bug bear , is toast, its always nice at breakfast to toast your own bread, with those toasting machines , they do operate at a high temperature , which is all well and good but if some idiot decides they want to toast a croissant , it just catches fires . Where as if you are being served toast , then you have no idea when you server last cleaned their hands before putting your bread in the toaster.  Alas it was something i never found was very good on QE2 at breakfast, it was usually pretty cold by the time it arrived.               
From the moment you first glimpsed the Queen,
 you just knew you were in for a very special time ahead.!

Offline Andy Holloway

A friend of my daughter took this this morning in Weymouth Bay.

"The Queen Victoria joins its fellow Cunard liner Queen Mary 2, as well as P&O ships Aurora, Azura and Arcadia.

Last night,[Friday] the Ventura set off and was replaced by the Brittania."

Online Rob Lightbody

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Amazing photo.

What the general public don't know when they see this, is that these ships still have their engines running to power everything, and a not tiny crew on board to look after them.  It's not even "warm layup" is it, they're just fully operational basically?
Passionate about QE2's service life for 40 years and creator of this website.  I have worked in IT for 28 years and created my personal QE2 website in 1994.


Online Rob Lightbody

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Passionate about QE2's service life for 40 years and creator of this website.  I have worked in IT for 28 years and created my personal QE2 website in 1994.

Offline Isabelle Prondzynski

The Ship Society of South Africa, in its Facebook page :

https://www.facebook.com/Ship-Society-of-South-Africa-141928952554571/?

... mentions a steady flow of cruise ships arriving in Cape Town at a time of year when they would not normally be expected. It is heartening to read that these ships are arriving in order to drop off their South African crew members, so that they can get home.

Some ships mentioned are :

Island Princess
Rotterdam
Veendam
Volendam
Crown Princess

These ships are just taking bunker and continuing on their way with the remaining crew.

Offline Twynkle

https://twitter.com/CruiseshipP/status/1264521915391229952

The sad thing is that brand new Iona isn't there - she was due to make her Maiden Voyage on May 14th.


Online Rob Lightbody

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Cruising and Coronavirus - How to get going again?

Started by Rob LightbodyBoard Sea Shanties

Replies: 64
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Last post Sep 23, 2021, 04:05 AM
by Trevor Harris