Cruise Line Job Guide Blog

As Hebridean International Cruises downsizes by selling the larger of the two vessels, hundreds of jobs are gone as well as the company withdraws from international operations. This coming summer of 2009, the 98 Berth Hebridean Spirit will be withdrawn.

“We have made the decision to withdraw from international operations to concentrate on our core, which is the operation of the Hebridean Princess in Scotland.” said the managing director Mike Deegan.

A refund or a transfer to a cruise with Hebridean Princess, a cruise operation not affected by the withdrawal of the company from international operations, is offered to all tourists and clients booked for cruise on the vessel Hebridean Spirit.

Hebridean Princess will continue to offer cruises throughout the Western Isles of Scotland in its 21^st season of operation. The vessel was chartered by the Queen for a family holiday back in 2006.

One of the reasons that they had was because of the increase in cost of operating the Hebridean Spirit due to the deterioration of the pound sterling against Euro and US dollar currency. They declared that they cannot keep up with this as the vessel is operating in a market where discounts are the best way to get passengers.

The vessel Hebridean Spirit was launched in 2001 and has operated in South America, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and in Northern Europe.

They also have said that they will work with all affected customers as they are aware that the cancellation of an anticipated holiday could be very upsetting. It is also one of their concern that they shall be losing some good staff who has rendered years of service for the cruise ship.

For more information about this news, visit cruise ship job news.

Cruise Line Companies came up with other ways to improve their service for new and old passengers who loves to take a cruise to relax and pamper themselves. As cruising is one of the fastest growing trend in tourism, the need for more cruise ships and crews is also climbing. But with this problematic economy, and the price tag a new cruise ship has, which is more or less a billion dollars, would it still be best to build new ships?

Well, most cruise companies have other solutions for this and that is to overhaul older vessels to make it look new for a fraction of the cost of building a new one. They’ve found out that renovating older ships are more financially sound for the company.

The cost of renovating a cruise ship is cheaper and faster than building a new one. Workers inspect, refurbish and repair ships from all of its sides and parts at a dry dock. It is a place where most people, even within the cruise industry has never seen. It may take hundreds of contractors to work alongside a cruise ship regular crew to work on a cruise ship that can take a few weeks to a few months.

Captain Hoyt, a pilot of Norwegian Spirit vessel, says that “The capital investment on one of this ships is enormous… Even if you have the money to build a new ship, the availability of shipyards and the delay in time for the construction for one of these is quite a bit”.

“The whole point is to keep the quality of the ship up and this is our opportunity here to to do all the upgrades that will bring us up to the premier level of the rest of the fleet.”

“I think when the passengers come on, the overall impact will be that of a new ship,” Hoyt said. “That’s what were shooting for.”

To learn more about this news and to see how the Norwegian Spirit vessel has been overhauled, please visit Cruise Ship News.

An ocean liner was forced to be quarantined in Sydney Harbour for more than 6 hours because of a swine flu scare last Saturday. The cruise ship had almost 5000 passengers and crews on board.

Health cards showed 2 people from the passengers has just recovered from influenza type A, which is an indication of swine flu making the disembarking passengers stay at the vessel Dawn Princess at Wharf Port.

Kerry Chant, a NSW Chief Health Officer said that the tests for influenza A of any type including swine influenza has come up last night.

Dr Chant said that “Passengers from the cruise ship who presented with mild influenza like illnesses and were tested by public health officials today have since been contacted [about] their test results, which are negative for human swine influenza”.

NSW Health Department then released a statement saying that the results from the tests for the virus from all of the passengers of the Dawn Princess showed that they can be released from voluntary home and hotel/motel isolation.

A 15 year old that was confirmed as the 14^th case of the virus in Australia started all the drama. Authorities from NSW screened the ship that was due to depart for Noumea at 4 pm the very same day.

A body was removed from the ship in Australia but authorities has declared that the rumors about that person dying from swine flu is not correct.

Carnival Corporation spokeswoman Sandy Olsen, declared that the death was a heart-related problem but could not confirm at what time and point of the journey the person passed away.

Another person was taken to Sydney hospital by ambulance but not due to respiratory illnesses announced Ms. Olsen and NSW Health.

Passengers were allowed to leave the ship after 6 pm but was advised to avoid unnecessary contact with others and to stay in Sydney. Passengers were supposed to board the ship about 10 pm but there was no declaration on the time that the ship will or can depart Australia.

For more information please visit Cruise Ship News.