{"id":5661,"date":"2020-03-16T14:10:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T21:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5661"},"modified":"2020-03-16T14:10:42","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T21:10:42","slug":"the-final-countdown-news-from-aboard-03-16-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5661","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cFinal\u201d Countdown \u2013 News From Aboard \u2013 [03\/16\/2020]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"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<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an update for friends and family as much as I am able to provide it. Nothing more. Nothing less.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please do not share the link or content of this blog without permission from the author.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As doubtlessly most of you know by now, all major cruise lines temporarily suspended operations late last night. Unfortunately, there is very very little I can tell you about this. For one, in situations like this, we as employees have to be very careful what we say as we absolutely cannot be seen as speaking for the company. The industry is trying very hard to present a united voice right now, and I am not going to be the one to disrupt that. If you need or want official updates, I urge you to keep an eye on the official channels. If you don\u2019t have or know those official channels, drop me a line and I\u2019ll tell you where to look. It just won\u2019t be here.<\/p>\n

Moreover, however, is that we actually do not know<\/em> anything. We know that the announcement does affect our line, because it effects all lines. We know that we will not be taking on any more guests for the next month. We know that our shipboard staff has told us to remain calm and that this is temporary. That\u2019s all we know. We do not yet know how this effects crew, we do not know if we are going home, we do not know if we are staying. We know, literally, nothing.<\/p>\n

The only information I have is the same as what everyone else has access to: our ship will be disembarking guests as scheduled in Florida.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it. That\u2019s the only official information anyone has.<\/p>\n

I will tell you this: I am<\/em> frightened. I am not frightened of getting sick. I have never been frightened of getting sick. If I were to catch this thing I would be stuck in bed for a few days and then I would most likely be fine. My only fear about getting ill is that I might pass it onto someone that actually would<\/em> be in trouble if they contracted it. I fear that I would make a loved one very sick; that\u2019s why my hands always smell of anti-bacterial soap these days, and why I have never complained about having to clean everything I touch. Protect the herd.<\/p>\n

So no, I am not frightened of getting sick myself. What I am scared about is what this temporary shut down could mean for my family. Right now, we still do not know what\u2019s happening, but the worst case scenario is that they could send Amras home (as he is technically service staff and is on the guest manifest instead of the crew list, and his upcoming contract on this vessel has officially been terminated) and then keep me on board. If they allow us to leave voluntarily then that\u2019s fine, we could leave together and cross the border home as a unit. However, if they mandate keeping crew members onboard while we wait this out he may have to fly on ahead alone. And that is a whole other layer because of our ongoing immigration application.<\/p>\n

I do not even want to think about the possible outcome if something went wrong at the border and I wasn\u2019t there to help.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just me, or even just us, that I am frightened for. It\u2019s every one of the people that\u2019s on in my shipboard family. Even the ones on different lines, the ones I\u2019ve never met and might never meet. It is very possible \u2013 though again not official \u2013 that a lot of crew members will be coming home soon. They will be coming home through possibly your airports, to your towns or your cities. Our industry has taken a great amount of heat lately, despite the fact that we are truly not the bad guys. I fear that if and when we come home, we will be shunned by society; scrutinized or even feared just because we have come from a ship. Please <\/em>before you jump to any conclusions about anyone<\/em>, please know that we are stressed, frightened and in many cases mentally exhausted. I cannot stress how difficult it is for many of my colleagues to lose a month or more of employment; many people who work on ships are from very different cultures and a month without income is a very scary thing no matter what; but when you live paycheque to paycheque on a contract basis, it becomes even more impactful.<\/p>\n

So please, be kind. To us. To yourselves, to each other. To the whole world. Keep us in your thoughts if you can, and we will \u2013 as always \u2013 keep you in ours.<\/p>\n

The long and the short of it is, that as soon as we know something official so will all our friends and all our loved ones.<\/p>\n

For now, I beg you to be patient, be kind, and carry on\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-below-the-waterline","category-transitions"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1tj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5663,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5661\/revisions\/5663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}