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Beginning Friday (June 12) and June 28, eleven cruise liners will call at Mumbai Port Trust just to disembark some 10,000 Indian crew stuck on these floating luxury hotels after the pandemic halted their operations at various places across the globe.
Of the list, ‘Celebrity Infinity’, owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, has already arrived at the port and the 1,450 crew are waiting for the Covid-19 test results before exiting the port.
‘Veendam’, a cruise ship operated by Holland America Line, is also expected in Mumbai today.
On Saturday, ‘Anthem of the Seas’, also owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises, is expected in Mumbai to drop off some 3,100 Indian seafarers.
‘Carnival Splendour’, the luxury liner owned by Carnival Corporation & plc will be in Mumbai on Saturday to disembark 800 crew, followed by ‘Emerald Princess’, owned by Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, on Sunday.
On June 15, ‘Zuiderdam’, a luxury liner owned by Holland America Line will berth at Mumbai Port, followed by ‘Majestic Princess’, owned by Princess Cruises on the same day.
‘Carnival Ecstasy’, the cruise liner owned by Carnival Corporation, is expected to arrive on June 18 to drop off 800 crew, followed by ‘Carnival Liberty’, also from Carnival Corporation, on June 20, to sign off 1,450 crew.
‘Carnival Fascination’, run by Carnival Corporation, will also anchor on June 20, to sign off 400 seafarers. ‘Horizon Pullmantur’, owned by Pullmantur Cruises will arrive on June 23 to drop off 65 crew, followed by ‘Norwegian Escape’, owned by Norwegian Cruise Line, on June 28, to disembark 1,250 crew.
In the past few days, Mumbai Port Trust had facilitated the arrival and disembarkation of crew from ‘Marella Discovery’, ‘Seven Seas Voyager’, ‘Ovation of the Seas’ and ‘Viking Orion’.
Some 20,000 Indian crew working on board cruise ships were left stranded all over the globe after the pandemic outbreak forced cruise lines to suspend operations.
Cruise liners have travelled thousands of nautical miles to Mumbai, just to drop off the stranded crew. Hundreds of crews have also been repatriated on chartered flights arranged by the cruise line operators to Mumbai and Goa over the past few days.
More crew are still stranded overseas. For instance, some 650 crew are stuck on ‘Marella Explorer’, the cruise liner owned by the United Kingdom-based travel company TUI Group, in the United Kingdom for 90 days.
The crew sign off from the cruise ships at Mumbai Port Trust has been made possible by the meticulous planning by port officials and efficient handling by the port pilots, a ship agency official said.
J M Baxi & Co, the Mumbai based ship agency, assisted the sign off process of four cruise ships so far with another three more lined up.
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