The cruise ship Mariner of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and is the host of Coinsbank Blockchain Cruise Asia, located on Wednesday, January 17, 2018, on Paradise Beach in Phuket, Thailand. When 600 cryptocurrency enthusiasts set sail from Singapore on Monday evening for their second annual blockchain cruise, the price of Bitcoin was well over $ 13,500. When their 1,021-foot ship went to Thailand on Wednesday for an afternoon of bottomless drinks and crypto-focused conversation on a sun-drenched private beach, Bitcoin was in a $ 10,000 crater.
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Royal Caribbean Cruises is temporarily suspending all operations for its employees from India and, according to a report from the Crew Center, will suspend the employment in the country as more and more cases of Covid-19 are occurring there.
India reported a record number of coronavirus cases on Monday for the fifth consecutive year, with over 350,000 new infections over a 24-hour period and a total of 17 million infections in the country.
“It’s always unhappy when we have to cancel orders, but we believe it is a prudent decision at this point,” the news agency reported, citing a letter it received from Royal Caribbean International. “It’s not the way we want to work, but it’s the reality of the quick changes we have to make for a variety of reasons, often unplanned and beyond our direct control.”
According to the crew center report, around 300 Indian crew members should be working on the company’s ship Anthem of the Seas as of May 3. A person familiar with the matter told the news agency that the crew would be provided accommodations under quarantine guidelines. Some of the workers have already been to St. Marten, the report says.
A spokesman for the Royal Caribbean told CNBC in an email: “We are continuing to monitor the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, including travel restrictions to and from areas with a high fall rate. To ensure the health and safety of our crew ensure guests and residents of the destination we are visiting we are currently being extra careful with the movement of crew members from India to our ships due to the recent surge in COVID-19. “