Cruise Ship Parking Lot

[a64pilot]

We came off the bank in the Bahamas two night s ago and saw this, very many Cruise Ships, I counted a dozen of them.
They were all lit up like normal.
Makes one wonder though how many people as in crew are for lack of a better term trapped on them, and what will happen to them if they get sick and need medical care.
Even though they are all Bahamian registered, I doubt the Bahamians will care for them. I guess maybe the USCG will Medevac?

[DDabs]

I heard from a pilot boat captain that cruise ships have to have 35 people on board as a skeleton crew.

[CFS Klopas]

Coast Guard said last week it was 100,000 crew over 120 ships in US waters.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sign...ry?id=70192718

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

We came off the bank in the Bahamas two night s ago and saw this, very many Cruise Ships, I counted a dozen of them.
They were all lit up like normal.
Makes one wonder though how many people as in crew are for lack of a better term trapped on them, and what will happen to them if they get sick and need medical care.
Even though they are all Bahamian registered, I doubt the Bahamians will care for them. I guess maybe the USCG will Medevac?

Wow, it must have been a sight to see...

Here is the picture from above, filtered by passenger ships stationary:

[SVTatia]

Pleasure craft parking lot

Here is the same area filtered for pleasure craft. There are a few underway...

[TxCoastSailor]

Yep, we crossed the banks on the evening of April 7 from Chubb Cay to Hen and Chicken Rocks and saw a continuous line of cruise ships anchored on the northern edge of the banks. The line ran from Great Stirrup Cay to Great Isaac Island.

[letsgetsailing3]

Well, they have to be somewhere.


Also the crew.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

Well, they have to be somewhere.


Also the crew.

and they can't fit in the Mojave desert...

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by CFS Klopas

Coast Guard said last week it was 100,000 crew over 120 ships in US waters.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sign...ry?id=70192718

While I’m not sure about 35, but your number can’t be right. That’s over 800 people per ship.
I would think 35 may be enough, there would I assume have to be enough people to sail the ship if it had to move for say a hurricane or something, and then enough Engineers to keep it operational, cooks, and I assume people to clean and do laundry. Just guessing.

I wonder if any of the ships have had an outbreak, and if so what was done? Oh, add medical staff to the above crew list too.

[contrail]

From what I have read, most of them have most of their crew aboard, because countries won't let them disembark to be repatriated. So, with big cruiseships, 800 actually seems pretty reasonable, to me.

[SVHarmonie]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

While I’m not sure about 35, but your number can’t be right. That’s over 800 people per ship.
I would think 35 may be enough, there would I assume have to be enough people.

Oh yes his number most certainly can be right!

Many of the ships carry well over 1000 "crew". Don't forget that includes all the passenger service staff as well as the operating crew. Typical ratios are about 1 crew member for every 2 to 3 passengers. And the largest ships these days carry over 4000 passengers...

[a64pilot]

My God I had no idea, so there were 10,000 people on those ships I passed?
How much food do they carry? Do any of them have outbreaks of the virus, and what’s the plan if they do?

[Zzmeyer]

I've noticed 8-10 cruise ships in Southern California where normally I see three or four transiting. Interestingly, some aren't anchored but moving at about nine knots. I assume most crew are trapped on board. Maybe to keep the stabilizers working?

[DDabs]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

While I’m not sure about 35, but your number can’t be right. That’s over 800 people per ship.
I would think 35 may be enough, there would I assume have to be enough people to sail the ship if it had to move for say a hurricane or something, and then enough Engineers to keep it operational, cooks, and I assume people to clean and do laundry. Just guessing.

I wonder if any of the ships have had an outbreak, and if so what was done? Oh, add medical staff to the above crew list too.

Yes 35 seems extremely low- I could see that as a bare minimum without any type of stew or housekeeping on board and maybe one cook.

I wonder if we'll ever get a "First person to single-hand cruise ship around the world"

[CFS Klopas]

A64, to get food they pull into Miami every couple weeks. A few ships do have the virus, most don't.

I suppose the reason they are anchored near S Florida is that that's where their logistic base is, but there isn't enough berthing space for all of them. A further guess why the guest staff is still aboard is they aren't US citizens and thus don't have permission to go ashore, though I have heard of a couple Americans stuck too. The majority of international flights are canceled, so some can't fly home.