Princess Cruises will be providing crew members of the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess with two months paid time off.
Diamond Princess Crew to Get Paid Time Off
It is tough to be a crew member aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship right now, as the ship is currently under quarantine in Japan due to the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19). To support the crew, Princess Cruises has sent out a letter on Diamond Princess informing them they’ll receive two months of paid time off, including salary and the average gratuity amount.
Here is the letter from Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz which was sent to the crew of the ship, it was posted on the Crew Center site:
“We are deeply grateful and incredibly proud of all of you. We understand that each of you are under great stress in this extraordinary situation, and we hope you are taking some time to speak with your family and friends – as well as reaching out to our Crew Assistance resources.
We have been working to determine how we can best support you once we are past this difficult time. You deserve, and will need, a break. So, we offer you two months of paid time off. This will include your salary and any average gratuities you may normally receive.
We strongly encourage you to use the paid time off for much needed rest. If you decide to leave when the quarantine and later choose to rejoin a ship before the two months pass, you will still receive this extra pay.
In addition, all reasonable charges to your onboard account for this voyage will be cleared. You will not incur any other charges during the quarantine period.
We will also handle your flights to return home and your job will be protected to return for another contract.
We learn more information every day, and we appreciate your patience as we do our best to keep you informed. Your colleagues across the fleet and all of us ashore send you our ongoing support and thanks.”
It’s nice to see the cruise line not just focus on the guests but also the crew. They are the ones behind the scenes working as hard as they can making sure the vessel is being sanitized, delivering food to all the cabins several times a day, and they themselves are also away from family and friends during the quarantine period. Several crew members have also been infected with the virus and have been taken on land for further quarantine and medical attention in Japan.
The cruise line has thanked the crew for their support during this difficult time and supports them. Just like guests, the crew has new services available including 24-hour support from shoreside leaders, free wifi, direct phone and video chat with trained counselors, and spiritual resources in seven different languages 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, the crew bar which is also one of the central and most important venues for the crew, remains closed during the quarantine to minimize the risk of the virus spreading.
Also Read: Royal Caribbean Cancels Two Cruises Due to Coronavirus
The ship now has 135 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus and infected passengers and crew are being taken off the ship for medical care in Japan. This is the largest number of infections outside mainland China and shows how easy it is for things like this to spread on cruise ships.
Worldwide there are more than 45,000 people infected and over 1,100 dead from this disease. Coronavirus, which does now has the official name of COVID-19, first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province in December 2019.
