As I’ve written about a couple of times, one of the things that I like most about living in Miami is that I get to watch planes fly overhead all day, given how close the city is to the airport. That gets especially interesting with some of the “unique” planes we see, like a 64 year old cargo plane that always comes from Honduras…

While I’m not personally a cruise ship fan nowadays (though I was as a kid), I also have an awesome view of the cruise port from when I live. I’m usually happy to not be on a cruise ship, though I do love watching all the ships arriving in the mornings and departing in the evenings, especially given that they make a 180 degree turn as they pull in.

While cruise ships usually all pull in and depart the same day, the past few days we’ve seen some boats parked here (seemingly) indefinitely, given that many cruise lines have suspended operations.

For example, Virgin Voyages was supposed to launch operations this month, but they’ve now postponed the inaugural season until July, and the ship has been parked in the harbor for several days now.

I’m far from a cruise ship expert, so I have a question, because collectively you guys seem to know just about everything — as I watch these ships parked so close by, what happens to all the crews?

Many of these ships have thousands of staff members coming from dozens of countries. At least when I took cruises back in the day, I remember there being a lot of Filipino staff, and you can’t really get much further than Miami to Manila…

Are all crews being flown home? Are they in their usual accommodations on the ship just waiting this out? Are they partying it up on the lido deck? Presumably the captain and some amount of crew stay onboard? If so, is there also a chef, or who is making their food?

Does the answer vary depending on whether the season is delayed all the way until summer (in which case I imagine they’re taken off the ship), vs. if a cruise line is suspending operations for just 30 days?

I know there are some random questions in there — I’m a naturally curious person, and as I see these ships parked here for days on end, I can’t help but wonder what’s happening onboard.

If anyone has a sense of how this stuff works, I’d love to know (and I imagine I’m not alone)!

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