MS Palm Beach Princess
Curiosity Continues
By Mike Groves
(10:01 PM, 12/29/2009)
"NO PAY, NO WAY" - new slogan for the employees. No matter what you are, citizen or not if you put in the time you are owed the money that you were told that you were going to make. I just feel sorry for those who are stuck on the boat. Management and the owners really are the bad guys. Right is right and wrong is wrong, in this case management is wrong. PERIOD." Hope
(10:36 PM, 12/29/2009)
This gang of beauracrats at the Port of Palm Beach are just another example of obvious "play for pay" in Palm Beach County.. Who can help? FBI? FDLE? Steve Wegal?
(10:39 PM, 12/29/2009)
"As I said yesterday, AVOID this wreck. They are just trying to pocket a few bucks and run!"
(10:59 PM, 12/29/2009)
"Scrap the old bucket and throw management into the sea"
Karan had clearly set out his stall [tough stance] by giving a very robust interview previously, “those fired Saturday were ringleaders of a work-stoppage on Friday, which he called "a conspiracy, mutiny and a strike." Some crewmembers later added; those fired included most of the ship's senior staff, crewmembers said, including the first mate, the first steward and the chief electrician.
According to other reports, caring, sharing Mr. Karan also said, "Whoever would like to stay and work, that is a privilege in this country and on this ship, by way of a work visa," he said. If they do not wish to work and would like to depart, we will gladly process their tickets." Clearly this company is big on welfare and team hugs then?
As for the rumor regarding dumping crew off in the Bahamas, Karan said, "We would never do that. We have no intention — and why would we do that?"
But no matter that Karan and others kept denying this and which I for one am not saying is anything other than the truth of the matter, countless others were still sticking to their guns and protesting that indeed it was the intention to dump them in a ‘far away’ land, ‘working conditions have gotten worse since Brazilian investor Mauro Sebben and the family of Chicago real estate developer Robert Krilich brought the ship out of bankruptcy last year. Pay has dropped. Job security has disappeared. Work conditions have gotten worse,’ they said.
One crewmember said he was fired about a week before Christmas after working on the Princess for 12 years and he was still unable to get any answers regarding the $2,000 he is owed. I personally find this a shameful way to conduct business and yet again only highlights the on-going and so it would appear, industry wide abuses that continue against foreign nationals and crew generally.
So yet again loyal, hard working crew appear to the ones that suffer the most at the hands of ruthless employers? Not withstanding that some were rightly dismissed for leading the recent strike action, I have made clear before that I disagree with any action that holds either a company or its fare paying passengers to ransom yet I still find it deplorable that those remaining crew ‘appear’ to be living in constant fear of what will happen next or when they will be paid?
I would imagine that they are also to afraid to even step ashore once the ship does dock in the Islands of the Caribbean for fear of not getting back onboard again, so rife are the rumors. As I said there is often no smoke without fire? So where did these extraordinary rumors emerge from?
Clearly the operators of the MS Palm Beach Princess have already come across as people not to be trusted by many; if one is to believe the various posts that have appeared, some of which no doubt emerged from employees. However looking at the numerous press articles and protracted tales of woe regarding this ship/company, it is also clear to see that there has been a lot of smoke and mirrors in play to? The company must have known very well it was in financial difficulties when initial strike action took place and I now feel that the crew were in fact told they would be subjected to the 25% pay cut muted by many.
Furthermore, the company failed to fix one of its main propulsion engines albeit they had three months to do so and yet they continued to use the services of tugboats at cost of $10,000 per day! Did they have any intention of paying those tugboat operators? Surely the repairs to the main engine during a one to two week period in dry dock would have been much more costs effective in the long run, but then of course, the ship can’t sail or board passenger’s eager to spend their dollars when in dry dock for one to two weeks!
In short it is this alone that I feel was the whole point of this ‘shoot from the hip, blasé incompetence’ towards the general well being of the vessel herself, her crew and her passengers – more revenue!
Most recent posting from the MS Palm Beach Princess Twitter page -
‘Happy New Year! Palm Beach Princess Casino is happy to announce that we has resumed our normal sailing schedule!’
(about 7 hours ago from web)
God only knows what the next story will be in this on-going saga.
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