Now Cruise Lines Are Struggling With Staff Shortages

Now cruise lines are having the same problem as the aviation industry when it comes to staffing shortages.

As summer begins and airlines are struggling with a pent-up demand for travel and surging numbers, carriers are finding themselves forced to make adjustments that have included cutting back on flights.

Cruise companies are encountering the same issues. As TravelPulse’s Theresa Norton wrote, COVID-19 is still casting a long shadow over the cruise industry more than two years after the pandemic first hit.

According to a story in Business Insider, cruise lines are having difficulties keeping up with new hires. As a result, they have been forced to limit capacity on ships, close onboard restaurants, even cancel some sailings.

In fact, TravelPulse’s own Claudette Covey reported earlier this month that Norwegian Cruise Lines limited the occupancy on its Pride of America ship – in part because of staffing issues. The Pride of America normally has 930-940 staff members on board; it has 550 now.

Holland America is also facing this issue, Michael Smith, senior vice president-guest experience noted to Norton.

“Like the whole of the cruise industry they are suffering with getting staff onto the ships for a variety of reasons. There’s a lot of demand to work on ships but there are also little things called visas, like Schengen visas and U.S. visas to work on the ships in U.S. waters.

“There are certain countries where appointments to get those visas can be as long as six months out. So we may have staff that want to join the ship but we can’t get the visas for them to join the ship,” Smith said. “We do have some shortages, but we are fortunate we’re being able to move staff from one ship to another ship to fill those gaps. Most of our shortages are in the galley operations, but we are moving staff within departments, not necessarily to go and cook but maybe to serve in Lido Market or do other cleaning jobs in different parts of the ship; it just depends.”

Similarly, Cunard has cut capacity on its Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria ships, telling Business Insider that the “wider impact of COVID-19” has had an effect on the decision.

Carnival has temporarily closed two restaurants on every ship to help combat the staffing issues.

“Our rapid restart has required us to bring back thousands of crew members in a very short time, which has increased the number of resources needed for government officials to process the large number of visa applications and slowed down our ability to fully staff some of our functions, including our culinary team,” a Carnival spokesperson told Insider in a statement.