Disclaimer: The following is once again only the opinion of the author, it does not represent the views of the company that employs me. It is not an official statement. It is not to be shared, quoted or otherwise referenced as an official statement
This is an update for friends and family as much as I am able to provide it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Please do not share the link to or content of this blog without checking with the author first.
When I was in high school my Gramma went into a nursing home, and I remember bracing myself for having to go to see her. Some years later, my other Gran passed away and I was asked to speak at her funeral, despite the fact that I adored my Gran, I did not cry. Because tears were not in the script, this was not the place for tears.
Many years after that, my father was very very ill. Ill enough that we feared he would not come back to us. Ill enough that ambulances had to be called. I remember that night in flashes, but the thing I remember the most, is my mother handing me the phone with the 911 operator on the other end, and suddenly having all my panic dissipate like someone had turned off a tap, I had a job to do…I could lose it later, I could cry later. This was not the time. I had a very clear vision of little 5-year old me tugging insistently at my skirt, and big me taking her by the hand and putting her behind me where she would be safe, because I couldn’t help her right now…big me had things to do.
Now, I need to be that girl again.
Since my last update there have been some fairly major developments. True to my word, I am providing as much information as I am able to here, please keep in mind that these truly are only my person opinions and speculations, I am not speaking for the company, I am merely relaying what little we know.
As of about an hour ago, Canada closed its border to all non-citizens/permanent residents. This puts us in a difficult position because Amras is currently neither, but is half-way through the immigration process. However, because we are married, and can provide proof of our relationship, he is exempt through me.
The wrinkle is that if I, at this point, self-terminate my contract and disembark the vessel, it is highly likely that I will not get paid. I am supposed to wait for official word from the company as to my options. As it stands at the moment, both of us losing our paycheques isn’t really an option. So we are waiting to see what options we do have. Thankfully I have a boss who is 100% on our side and who has told us that there is no possibility that whatever action I choose to take will be held against me. Even if I somehow flew home tomorrow, I would be welcome back when all this was over.
We have been in touch with the immigration lawyer who is handling our case and his advice was to come home together “now”, however, for various reasons, one of which is that our call in Jamaica has been cancelled and we will now be heading straight to Florida to dock on the 20th …. this is not possible. It is looking more and more as if I will have to remain onboard and Amras will have to stay in Florida with trusted friends until the worst of this blows over.
Understand that this is not what either of us want. What we want is to be able to go home, self-quarantine for two weeks and generally hide from the world and try to recover from all of this.
However, this is one of those cases where what we want and what may be necessary are possibly not going to line up.
As of right now, we have no idea when that will be.
Please keep in mind that this is all currently conjecture. At the moment there are only a few solid facts that we actually do know:
- Amras’ contract has officially been terminated. Since the border closure and airport restrictions mean that he can’t actually fly to his home airport, we are in the process of talking to onboard management as to what our options are as a result of that.
- Because I am crew, my contract remains in place as long as I stay onboard. At the moment that’s the holding pattern I am in. We are, again, waiting to see if we have other options on that.
- We have people in Florida who are willing to take one or both of us in should it be necessary.
- We will be debarking guests in our next port.
That’s it, that’s all the solid facts we have.
Truth is, it’s a little bit chaotic out here. In a way that’s very difficult to explain. Everyone we see has the same shell-shocked “what’s going on” look.
A lot of us may be coming home in the next few weeks. We will be tired, and frightened and confused, and sick to our stomachs not from the virus but from the insanity and the stress we have had to live through for the last few days that is difficult to understand or explain. Some of us may be stuck in limbo potentially far from home. Please, remember that this isn’t our fault, remember that we have families to care for and bills to pay and people to get home to, people who are worried about us. People who miss are dearly. Remember that we are human, we are individuals, not clockwork dolls or numbers belonging to some faceless corporation to blame for everything that’s currently going wrong. And the last thing any of us, ever, want to do, is cause pain to anyone. We will do as we are told, we will self-quarantine, we will stay isolated, we will respect shut downs and barriers.
But please…remember we are people, and we are just one of many thousands that are hurting from this insanity.
I have said this before, and I will go on saying it: this is a “9/11” moment. Times like this can tear all of us apart or they can bind us closer together. Now is not the time to turn on each other. It is not the time to be suspicious of each other or blame one another. It is a time to be cautious yes, but it is more than anything a time to be kind. To bolster each other up as much as possible. The world is a complicated scary place at the best of times, and right now it is more complicated and scary than ever. Please, be kind to each other.
When I know more, so will you.
In the meantime, stay safe, say kind, and stay human….