Cruise Lines Extend Acts Of Kindness Amidst Pandemic

With ships around the world grounded, cruise lines and their crews are finding new ways to make people smile during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With operations winding down, cruise lines refused to let food go to waste, instead donating supplies to local food banks both home and away. Fred Olsen donated leftover food parcels put together for passengers of Braemar’s disrupted Caribbean cruise to the Families in Need food bank near Suffolk, as well as donating 18 pallets of fruit and vegetables to local charities in Barbados. The food provided support for more than 130 families. 

P&O Cruises also donated surplus food to charities, refuges, youth centres and the homeless in partnership with UK Harvest. The food, eight tons of fruit, vegetables and fresh produce, had been intended to supply guests on Ventura. 

The nation has taken to doorsteps each Thursday night to clap for carers and key workers, and cruise lines haven’t stopped there. Saga’s crew members gathered to honour the NHS on the deck of Spirit of Discovery, before illuminating cabins in a #clapforcarers show of solidarity the following week. 

Ships have also been sounding out in support of our key workers, with Fred Olsen’s four ships sounding their horns in unison each week from their dock in the Firth of Forth. Elsewhere, ships gathered in Southampton put on a similar display, with their chorus of horns heard up to six miles away. Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and P&O Cruises’ Britannia are among those docked in what is usually the UK’s busiest port. 

Finally, Saga’s crew have been using the skills more often used to whip up some of the best bakes at sea to create bread and cakes for local NHS teams in and around its port on the Thames. Spirit of Discovery is the latest ship in the Saga fleet and is docked at the London International Cruise Terminal in Tilbury until operations resume.