More than 15,000 Filipino seafarers from several major cruise lines docked in Australia, United States, and Europe are expected to join their families in the country by the end of April after ending the mandatory 14-day quarantine period, according to recruitment consultant and migration expert Emmanuel Geslani.
He said three Royal Caribbean megaships anchored off key Australian cities will bring 2,854 Filipino, Indonesian, Chinese and Indian crew members to their own countries by the third week of April 2020.
The Spectrum of the Seas is expected to arrive in Manila on April 22, to disembark 577 Filipino crew while the rest of 382 Filipino crew from Celebrity Solstice will join the Voyager of the Seas.
Eight hundred eighty Filipino crew from Ovation of the Seas will also be transferred to the Voyager of the Seas while off the coast of Bali, Indonesia.
“The ship will set sail to the Philippines on April 19, 2020 and expected to arrive in Manila on April 25, to sign off 1,232 Filipino crew,” he said.
Filipino crews in several other cruise ships docked in US and Europe will be arriving in the country on various flights, he said.
The repatriation will be one of the largest arrivals of Filipino crews from three of the largest cruise ships on the world with each having a capacity of 4,000-5,000 passengers.
The cruise ships have disembarked all their passengers in Australia and all the crew members have been on quarantine on passenger cabins except for the technical and catering crews.
The company said the three Royal Caribbean’s ships will be refueled and restocked with a healthy crew before departing to a long journey to Asia.