Good News For Goan Seafarers, after being without a job and stuck in the pandemic situation, thousands of seafarers finally received the good news of Norwegian Escape Starts Recruitment. The international cruise industry has restarted operations.
On Saturday, Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCLNorwegian Escape docked at Mormugao Port Trust to pick up 2000 Goan crew members who had completed the rigorous Covid-19 testing process. The cruise vessel will pick 200 more Goans from Mumbai along with 400 other crew members before proceeding to Florida, the US to resume cruises between Miami and the Caribbean coast.
“This is the first cruise line to start operations and pick up crew from Goa,” said Parixit Pai Fondekar, the director of Kamaxi Overseas Consultants. “800 crew members are getting on board the vessel and 50% of them are Goans,” said Fondekar.
Norwegian Escape was the same ship that had docked at the Mormugao Port in June when they helped 475 crew members, who were stranded abroad due to the pandemic, return home.
“Employment opportunities on cruise lines are returning and we have started recruiting for security, nurses, and culinary positions, which are always in demand. A lot of people who have come home have decided not to go back on the ship. Many people said that they want to retire. So fresh hiring has already started,” said Fondekar.
In order for crew members to board the vessel without exposure to the virus, a huge bio-bubble was created which involved booking of the entire hotels in Goa and Mumbai by officials.
In the coming weeks, another cruise liner, Norwegian Joy, is expected to come to Goa and Mumbai, from Manila where it is presently docked, according to Fondekar. The seafarers underwent three rounds of Covid-19 RT-PCR tests so that they can surely embark on to the vessel.
To avoid any means of exposure to the virus the crew members were confined to their rooms in various hotels and were transported by buses to the vessel on Saturday.
“The seafarers will be kept in isolation for seven days on the vessel,” said Fondekar. The ship is currently carrying and hiring crew for Regent Seven Seas and Oceania Cruise who will be dropped off in Europe for their respective cruises.
Even as the economy is slowly getting back to some stability, a lot of people are slowly finding relief in their job hunting. As another cruise liner is expected, it will help ease out the current unemployment situation. People from various fields of skill can return back to work while new freshers can now finally apply and get a job. This is a slow process to get back to normalcy but at least there has been a start which will give these 400 goan crew members a job.
