Crew Center received a letter that was sent to all crew members onboard Diamond Princess in regards to the quarantine they are currently experiencing. We would like to present the letter as a gold standard of the cruise ship industry as related to acknowledging the hard work of the crew under extraordinary circumstances, encouragement for continuing with the hard work by supporting the crew. As well as considering the human aspect of much needed and well deserved rest even at the midst of Princess Cruises experiencing a financial set back due to canceled cruises and additional costs that are affiliated with the coronavirus quarantine.

The letter signed by Jan Swartz, Group President of Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia, reads:

“We are deeply grateful and incredibly proud of all of you. We understand that each of you are under great stress in this extraordinary situation, and we hope you are taking some time to speak with your family and friends - as well as reaching out to our Crew Assistance resources.

We have been working to determine how we can best support you once we are past this difficult time. You deserve, and will need, a break. So, we offer you two months of paid time off. This will include your salary and any average gratuities you may normally receive.

We strongly encourage you to use the paid time off for much needed rest. If you decide to leave when the quarantine and later choose to rejoin a ship before the two months pass, you will still receive this extra pay.

In addition, all reasonable charges to your onboard account for this voyage will be cleared. You will not incur any other charges during the quarantine period.

We will also handle your flights to return home and your job will be protected to return for another contract.

We learn more information every day, and we appreciate your patience as we do our best to keep you informed. Your colleagues across the fleet and all of us ashore send you our ongoing support and thanks.”

We would like to commend Mrs. Jan Swartz letter for such empathetic and considerate response to the concerns communicated by the crew in the time of reasonable human fear as expressed by the crew and seeking support from its company leaders. It goes to show why Princess Cruise has a good crew retention track as they appear to not be only guest focused, but employee focused as well. We have heard the saying “the guest is always right,” but in the modern business model that has been thus far researched by large corporations it deems another truth that happy, acknowledged and supported workers produce hard and loyal workers which translates into happy paying customers.

Our thoughts go out to all on board of Diamond Diamond with hopes that this situation improves in a timely manner. In support, we all stand in greatness and in greatness we all achieve more. Thank you on behalf of crew members everywhere for taking a stance and being an epitome of a great leader.