MANILA - Carnival Cruise Line, one of the largest cruise ship companies in the world, made its first-ever stopover in Manila, Philippines. Its ship Carnival Panorama docked at the Manila port Friday morning.

The vessel is on a 25-day transpacific voyage from Singapore to Long Beach, California in the United States. It has stops in Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii.

Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac welcomed the ship and graced a commemoration event inside the vessel which was attended by the ship’s top officers, including Captain Luca Lazzarino.

Lazzarino tells ABS-CBN the industry is bouncing back from the pandemic and it was a good decision to stop by the Philippines with its rich culture and it’s the country where many of its workers hail from.

“Cruise tourism is growing. Opportunity for many countries. Of course, this is the country with the most seamanship, heritage, history, they will provide even more people,” the captain said.

Cacdac said there are over 100,000 Filipino cruise ship workers globally and the number continues to rise. There are also more vacancies as many cruise ship companies continue to open new routes or voyages.

“The number of our cruise ship workers almost already equals the number of regular seafarers onboard merchant ships or vessels. This really shows na very in demand ang mga Filipino cruise ship workers,” Cacdac said.

Carnival Panorama has nearly 4,000 passengers and 1,400 crew— 400 of which are Filipinos. Its highest-ranked Filipino is Finance Director Jojo Pechayco who has been working in the company for 25 years now. He said Filipinos are really sought after in the cruise industry.

“They love Filipino workers. We’re not just like working, we’re really passionate. Kahit magtanong ka sa ibang department, number one gusto nila katrabaho Filipino,” Pechayco said.

The cruise ship stayed in the Philippines for only about half a day. Many Filipino workers took this opportunity to meet with their families as it was the first time their ship set sailed in Manila. Some family members were also allowed to enter the ship.

When asked if the ship will come back to Manila, the ship’s captain admitted that he doesn’t know yet the future plan, but he is hopeful that will happen soon.