Change in ports in the Caribbean

[Slyfox16]

We were looking at the Regal Princess 10/26 repositioning cruise, which has several ports. Does anyone know when or someone to contact to see what ports Princess might be substituting?

[CruiserBruce]

Give it some time. People in the affected islands are now battening down for Jose. There are far more important things on the agenda.

[skynight]

We were looking at the Regal Princess 10/26 repositioning cruise, which has several ports. Does anyone know when or someone to contact to see what ports Princess might be substituting?

Your question is way too early. I'm sure Princess will check with the authorities in St. Maarten and Antigua at the proper time. These areas are still dealing with a possible hit from Jose. TV reports indicated that Antigua did not receive catastrophic damage from Irma.

[Colo Cruiser]

They (Princess) will contact you.

[offical]

They (Princess) will contact you.

How do I sign up for roll call. My name is georgia and don herrick caribbean princess oct 7th. Could you please email me gherr27203@aol.com Thank you

[dchip]

How do I sign up for roll call. My name is georgia and don herrick caribbean princess oct 7th. Could you please email me gherr27203@aol.com Thank you

 

 

Here is the link to your Roll Call. Go to the last page and post there. 🤗

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2359500

 

Cheers, Denise

[Keith1010]

Please give this time to be sorted out.

 

Keith

[sunsetbeachgal]

Just be patient and keep checking the web site. The damage on St Martin looks extensive

[Grego]

If there is a chance that the island can accept a ship, they will stop there. The economy of most of these islands depends on the ship and its passengers.

[janetz]

We are on this sailing

There are only 3 ports in the 10 day sailing.

 

Since we do stop at Bonaire I would imagine Aruba will replace St Maarten

 

Time will tell :)

[dchip]

We are on this sailing

There are only 3 ports in the 10 day sailing.

 

Since we do stop at Bonaire I would imagine Aruba will replace St Maarten

 

Time will tell :)

 

We are also on that cruise. I hope it's Curaçao if we have to substitute 🤗 I just love that port.

 

We have some favorite vendors in St Maarten. Hoping and praying they are all safe. If we do stop there, we will be looking to spend whatever we can to help out.

Cheers, Denise

[Go-Bucks!]

I wish posters wouldn't give cliched answers that make the OP feel badly that they even asked. I've seen this done over and over and it seems unkind.

 

Obviously the hurricane just happened (I'm sure the OP also knows that), but if someone has an upcoming cruise or are looking to book a cruise in the near future (3+ weeks away) then they naturally are wondering if anyone has heard whether certain ports are open.

 

Unless you have a specific answer, why not just skip posting? :halo:

[Lucky TGO]

I think it to soon to know. You may have to wait a few more days.

Tony

[paul929207]

The people on these islands have much bigger problems than whether a ship will be stopping or not. You may not know until you are sailing into or by a port.

[satxdiver]

In October 2015, Wilma became a hurricane in the Caribbean and accelerated to a category 5. It passed over Cozumel before hitting the Yucatan of Mexico and then reentering the Gulf to later hit Florida. It devastated Cozumel a low lying small island destroying about everything including the cruise piers. We were on a cruise a few months later and did visit Cozumel using tenders. It looked like a war zone. Point is that the ship kept its schedule as advertised and did not skip Cozumel. While this may or may not hold true for the islands that were wiped out by Irma we shall see. Don't expect changes to port calls but do expect disaster areas that no longer have the appeal they once had.

[CruiserBruce]

I wish posters wouldn't give cliched answers that make the OP feel badly that they even asked. I've seen this done over and over and it seems unkind.

 

Obviously the hurricane just happened (I'm sure the OP also knows that), but if someone has an upcoming cruise or are looking to book a cruise in the near future (3+ weeks away) then they naturally are wondering if anyone has heard whether certain ports are open.

 

Unless you have a specific answer, why not just skip posting? :halo:

 

Understand your thoughts, but whether or not your cruise makes a certain port 3 weeks from now is not critical, or really, even mildly important, in the big picture. We are talking people's lives. Asking if you can make that port while rescues are still going on is, at best, insensitive. I won't comment on what it is on the other end.

 

If someone asked 2 or 3 weeks from now, (not within 48 or 72 hours of the crisis, when absolutely no decisions based on real assessments could be made), that is a far more reasonable request.

[tothemall&beyond]

Your question is way too early. I'm sure Princess will check with the authorities in St. Maarten and Antigua at the proper time. These areas are still dealing with a possible hit from Jose. TV reports indicated that Antigua did not receive catastrophic damage from Irma.

 

The following ports have been totally destroyed:

Turks and Caicos

St. Marteen

St. John

St. Thomas

St. Barts

Barbuda

 

These ports have significant damage but not total devastation:

Antigua - it just wasn't as bad as Barbuda, and being used as a relief/recovery staging location for Barbuda, as St. Croix is for St. Thomas and St. John)

 

Princess HAS to make some decisions soon because many people (ourselves included) have final payment dates approaching. Our is 2 weeks from now, so I spoke with Princess Customer Relations Dept. yesterday. I was told:

1) They are not extending final payment dates.

2) They may or may not change itineraries (this is nonsense -- they have to for many of these islands)

3) If they do change itineraries, no decisions have been made as to where.

 

I asked them, as I also posit here, in what other situation in life would you toss a few thousand dollars over to someone and not know what you're going to get for that money? I doubt there would be any such situations. So it is ridiculous for Princess to hold hard and fast to final payments without advising people where they will be going. And disingenuous of those who of you who see no problem with it. It is also not acceptable to be put on a western itinerary for the same money.

 

For those of you saying we have to go to these islands to spend money to support them. How? Spend money on what? and where? Most of these islands will not be re-built within THIS Caribbean season. Certainly not St. Marteen, St. John, Barbuda, and probably Grand Turk. There won't be any stores in which to spend money. There won't be any restaurants in which to eat. And, I'm sorry to say this, but it is already the case that the residents of these islands are desperate and already becoming violent, and it may not be safe for well-intentioned tourists arriving with/flashing money.

[tothemall&beyond]

Understand your thoughts, but whether or not your cruise makes a certain port 3 weeks from now is not critical, or really, even mildly important, in the big picture. We are talking people's lives. Asking if you can make that port while rescues are still going on is, at best, insensitive. I won't comment on what it is on the other end.

 

If someone asked 2 or 3 weeks from now, (not within 48 or 72 hours of the crisis, when absolutely no decisions based on real assessments could be made), that is a far more reasonable request.

 

Some of us have to make final payment before then!

[CruiserBruce]

Some of us have to make final payment before then!

 

The cruise will go, it just may not stop at the previously planned ports.

 

As you seem to have the final list of damaged and destroyed ports, it seems you have the info you need. Make your decision.

 

As to substituted ports, that takes time to arrange. It isn't settled overnight.

[tothemall&beyond]

The cruise will go, it just may not stop at the previously planned ports.

 

As you seem to have the final list of damaged and destroyed ports, it seems you have the info you need. Make your decision.

 

As to substituted ports, that takes time to arrange. It isn't settled overnight.

 

I don't necessarily want to cancel, I just want to know where I'd be going. So I do not have the info I need. If they say, for instance, Barbados, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, etc. instead of our St. Kitts, St. Marteen, Antigua, Turks and Caicos itinerary, that'd be fine. Montego Bay, Cozumel and Costa Maya, wouldn't.

 

Yes, we do have the "final list of damaged and destroyed ports". I mistakenly left out St. Kitts/Nevis which also had significant infrastructure damage. We live in South Florida, and unlike most of the country, we've had wall to wall coverage of nothing but the hurricane on every station (even on PBS) for over a week. All we watched as we shuttered our home and did the final prep of our hurricane kit was what was coming our way and what it did in these islands. It hasn't been 48 or 72 hours -- it's been over a week. Princess could've and should've begun mapping out Plan B by now.

Edited September 12, 2017 by tothemall&beyond

[nukesubsailor]

Think about this----

Several cruise ports were damaged so badly as they cannot take any cruise ships for a few months.

All cruise lines have to find substitute ports for all their ships serving the Caribbean.

That is a lot of ships to reschedule for substitute ports.

Those ports are limited to how many ships they can handle at the same time so the scheduling becomes even more complicated.

So all the various cruise lines and available cruise ports have to get together and co-ordinate all the rescheduling.

Then the cruise lines have to see what adjustments they must make in their logistics to resupply their ships.

To expect all that to happen within a week of the hurricane is totally unrealistic.

[Redwing55]

Think about this----

Several cruise ports were damaged so badly as they cannot take any cruise ships for a few months.

All cruise lines have to find substitute ports for all their ships serving the Caribbean.

That is a lot of ships to reschedule for substitute ports.

Those ports are limited to how many ships they can handle at the same time so the scheduling becomes even more complicated.

So all the various cruise lines and available cruise ports have to get together and co-ordinate all the rescheduling.

Then the cruise lines have to see what adjustments they must make in their logistics to resupply their ships.

To expect all that to happen within a week of the hurricane is totally unrealistic.

 

I'm thinking that there will be less closed ports than you are implying. It may not be fair, but if the dock area is functional, don't be surprised if the port stays on the itinerary. And for some reason I doubt if the lines get together with respect to who's going to which port... it'll be first come first served, or whatever the local port authority approves. I do wonder if there may be some planning between lines when the parent company is the same.

[tothemall&beyond]

I'm thinking that there will be less closed ports than you are implying. It may not be fair, but if the dock area is functional, don't be surprised if the port stays on the itinerary. And for some reason I doubt if the lines get together with respect to who's going to which port... it'll be first come first served, or whatever the local port authority approves. I do wonder if there may be some planning between lines when the parent company is the same.

 

Forget the dock area -- there's no food, no water, no electric, no plumbing, no roads, no airports, no infrastructure at all. The islands that took the brunt of the storm will not be "open for business" this Caribbean season.

[GRAYTech]

Forget the dock area -- there's no food, no water, no electric, no plumbing, no roads, no airports, no infrastructure at all. The islands that took the brunt of the storm will not be "open for business" this Caribbean season.

 

After seeing video from the St. Martin dock area I would tend to agree. However, it is their economy. They will be highly motivated to get the dock area safe and ready for ships via tender at least. So yes it's bad but I wouldn't write-off the entire season just yet.

[MusicalBear]

I emailed the tour company I am using in St. Kitts in January and they said they only have a few trees and branches down.