Trini crew stuck on Norwegian Cruise

THREE TT citizens are stuck on a cruise ship docked in the Bahamas and are appealing for the government to communicate with their company, Norwegian Cruise Line, to get them home.

Newsday understands that Norwegian has written to the TT and other governments to have their crew, who are out of contract, back home.

Latoya Valere-Ali is one of those out of contract and anxious to return to her husband and two children.

Her husband, Ruiz Ali, has been in contact with Newsday in an effort to raise awareness and to encourage the Ministry of National Security to co-operate on a plan to have the crew on Norwegian's various vessels home.

Fortunately, Ali also worked for the company for nearly a decade, most recently in 2015, and is familiar with some people in senior positions at Norwegian. He is relying on them to press the government to open the border.

"The conditions are worsening. The quality of food is dropping gradually. It's getting really uncomfortable," said Ali.

On March 13, Norwegian Cruise Line ceased operations on all its vessels.

On March 20, Valere-Ali was told she would leave the vessel to return home on March 22.

"Low and behold," Ali said, "the government announced on March 21 that our borders would be closed at midnight on the 22nd.

"As such, the cruise line was not able to procure a flight in such a short time. She was actually sent across to another vessel, Norwegian Epic, from the Norwegian Sun, where she has been since."

Referring to a recent Newsday article about TT crew stranded on Royal Caribbean International's vessels, Ali added, "I'm also in communication with Norwegian to pursue exactly what (the stranded crew on Royal Caribbean) were saying, which is to sail the people home, take them through the same safety precautions, quarantine, and just accept them. Do whatever, but the fact is they (should be) home."

The crew on Valere-Ali's vessel began their quarantine on March 13 and she told her husband that, since then, no one has shown signs.

Similar to other cruise lines, the crew on Norwegian Epic have received a cabin each and have practised social isolation.

"(But) I feel like they're only testing people with symptoms," said Ali.

He hopes TT authorities act on it and encourage other Caricom countries to also open their borders.

"They have a lot of St Lucians on board, a lot of Vincentians, Bajans on board. What they probably can do is put all the Caribbean people on one or two cruise ships, sail down the islands and dispatch them accordingly. That might be more feasible for the company than keeping them for any length of time, like the next two or three months, on board.

Valere-Ali has been paid off for her contract.

According to Ali, the company issued a memo to those on board last week, giving them two options: either they end their contract immediately, receive severance and wait on board until the respective countries open their borders; or if they are in a department which is still functional, they resume work as normal and receive one-fifth of their regular salary.

Newsday has made several unsuccessful efforts over the past several days to reach Minister of National Security Stuart Young to raise the issue and ask if he has received any formal correspondence from Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line or any other cruise company which may have TT crew or passengers on board.