Carnival Cruise Line will send nine ships to points around
the world to repatriate more than 10,000 crew members. The employees remain
onboard due to global travel restrictions that have limited their flight
options.
Sister brands Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and
Seabourn are also repatriating crew by sailing them home.
The Carnival Spirit, Splendor and Panorama are already en
route to the Philippines and Indonesia or awaiting clearance to debark crew there.
Other ships will sail to South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Panama,
East Asia, South Africa and India.
Carnival said 18 ships that have been at various U.S.
homeports will rendezvous in the Bahamas over the next several days as final
plans are put in place for the journeys. Carnival will move crew from ship to
ship using water shuttles off the coast of the Bahamas.
Carnival said all 10,000 crew members have undergone a health
check and declared fit for travel by Carnival’s medical team. They have had
their temperature taken daily and will do so again during the debarkation
process.
Prior to Carnival’s operations pause that started on March
13, its fleet of 27 ships had nearly 29,000 crew members -- 10,000 have already
repatriated via flights. Another 6,000 will be repatriated by air charters or
on the three ships that already departed.
“Given the pause in our operations, we are committed to
getting our crew members safely home to their families,” Carnival president Christine
Duffy said in a statement. “We sincerely thank them for their hard work,
patience and understanding during this process.”