Philippine Consul General in San Francisco Henry S. Bensurto, Jr. sent off Filipino crew members onboard the Grand Princess cruise ship from San Francisco Port on Wednesday around 6:00 PM (Pacific Time) as the ship sailed off to Princess Cruises’ headquarters in Los Angeles.
Consul General Bensurto called one of the crew members on the phone to check on their situation. The crew member updated the Consul General of their situation, saying that all Filipino crew members are well and in good spirits, but are hoping they will be repatriated soon to the Philippines.
Consul General Bensurto has been coordinating with California State agencies and Carnival Corp. and Princess Cruises management on the repatriation of the remaining Filipino crew, who finished their quarantine period on the ship on April 4.
Based on updates from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the Grand Princess will reposition to outside Los Angeles. The ship will then join other Princess ships already in the LA area, and from there, repatriation arrangements will ensue.
“In the interim, all crew fleet-wide will remain onboard in the care of Princess until which time a plan of repatriation can be successfully executed,” stated the CalOES update. (Philippine Consulate General of San Francisco)