International Shipping Partners (ISP), the Miami based technical manager of Gemini and Ocean pearl that had been on charter to the collapsed Spanish operator Hppy Cruise, says it has chartered a plane to repatriate crews of the two ships.
“I can inform you that the Gemini and the Ocean Prearl are both alongside in Gibraltar. All crewmembers are being treated well, and there is more than sufficient food onboard. There are no health issues onboard,” Nils-Erik Lund, managing director of ISP told Cruise Business Online in an email. He referred to an earlier report from Peruvian sources.
“Happy Cruises has unexpectedly cancelled their cruises, and ISP as technical managers of the vessels, have had to take care of the hotel crew. The owner of the vessels, are paying the hotel crew the salaries they are owed. A number of crew has been repatriated, and it is expected that by Thursday of this week, all 560 hotel crew members have been paid and repatriated,” Lund continued.
“The travel arrangements have been complicated due to the many nationalities, and the different visa requirements. Due to this we have chartered to Airbus 320 plans to transport the majority of the crew from Gibraltar to London, and we have then arranged tickets from London to the crewmembers home countries,” he said.
