Today Oceana completed her first season in Dubai, and for our colleagues on board, this was a wonderful opportunity to discover new destinations and become travel experts with regular visits to the same incredible ports of call.
Imagine then if you were working on board Oceana, but weren’t able to gain a visa to go ashore. This was the case for a number of our Indonesian colleagues on board.
In Indonesian culture, it’s common practice that individuals only have one name, unlike the western tradition of first and second names. As such, only one name appears on their passport. However, United Arab Emirates (UAE) immigration requires a passport to contain a first and last name in order to gain a visa. As this wasn’t the case for our colleagues’ passports, they were refused.
We’re dedicated to supporting our ships’ company to be comfortable, happy and healthy, and being unable to go ashore has a huge impact on people’s wellbeing. That’s why Oceana’s HR team worked very closely with the Indonesian Consulate in UAE to find a solution.
With the support of Oceana’s Senior Management Team (SMT), the local port agent, UAE Immigration authorities, and the Indonesian Consulate, the team were able to remove all official hurdles and our colleagues were granted their visas!
This is a huge achievement for Oceana and Carnival UK as Oceana is believed to be the fist ever ship where Indonesian ship’s company have been able to go ashore.
1 Comment
Fantastic work by Team Oceana! Shore leave is such an important part of life onboard and this will have made a huge difference.