A sailor that doesn’t bitch can be worrisome to others on board. He is not normal and perhaps planning something evil.
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You are talking about the cruise companies that is owned, based and operated in USA and mainly “pray” on the US middle class (which is most Americans, I believe?)
I repeat. Not ALL cruise lines come in that category, although Carnival is the major, or controlling, shareholder in many cruise lines that operated in other parts of the world.
PS> I don’t know when and for which cruise line you were working, but I assume it was one of the “hated” US based ones?
If the customers are happy how can they be said to be preyed on?
Morning DeckApe,
Think that I need to clear a couple of things up based on your reply, especially as only certain sections have been quoted and not the whole post reference.
Of those offering negative opinions on the cruise industry and their handling of the current crisis, you are definitely in the minority in that you’ve actually put some time in within the industry. Note that there weren’t any others who came forward and claimed to have done so?
I have missed a whole heap of milestones that those on land take for granted. The birth of my first children is hitting a little harder than most though and that’s where that comment came from, because I volunteered to take this trip to try and help my colleagues get home. I could have quite easily stayed at home and not taken the trip, but that’s not who I am. There was a sentence in there of “I’m not telling you all this for sympathy, applause or credit.” and that was exactly why I put that sentence in there. Because I know all too well that as Merchant Mariners, we’ve signed on for this life and we’ve all missed significant events that we would have otherwise wanted to be home for.
At no point in my post, nor have I ever, made out that we’re in it alone. I didn’t start in the cruise industry and have a lot of friends spread out over all aspects of the industry at large. The situation in trying to get crews home and relieved is deplorable throughout. The point I was trying to make was to shoot down the comments about cruise ships not following the CDC guidelines and that being the reason that they are being denied access into ports. Were that true, then why would we have issues getting into South Africa, Namibia, Indonesia, the Philippines to name a few?
I think that if we were to take a good hard look at any area of the industry that we would find companies using tax laws and loopholes to avoid responsibilities and to grease the wheels of their industrial endeavors. How many countries have been exploited because there is oil or gas found within or near their territorial boundaries? The competition between destination ports is no different to a new oil terminal being built to entice tankers in for loading or unloading. Or a new coal pier being built that offers faster loading or unloading. The bitter irony is that I’ve traveled to more container ports with this current company than I did when working on container ships. I’ve visited 3rd world countries where there wasn’t much in the way of infrastructure in their ports but a couple of years later and the money from the travel industry invested and they’ve come on leaps and bounds. I’ve also seen those loathed and detested cruise companies put their vessels into service as hospital and accommodation ships during natural disasters.
I thank you for clarifying that your contempt is not for me, my ship mates and colleagues. After the last big oil and gas collapse, I saw a good number of mariners come across into the cruise industry and honestly, we’re all the better for it. And we all understand that nothing is forever and hope against job losses and industry down turns. Now it’s just the cruise industry’s turn. And I have no objection to people venting and blow off steam, but when folk start talking about something where it’s apparent that they have little to no experience in (and not saying yourself here) it grinds my gears!
And it’s brother by the by.
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Appreciate the support ombugge!
Lot in Manila Bay, some off Rotterdam, some off Mexico, some off Malaysia, some laid up in ports. Little bit of everywhere mate!