Email received on port damage!!

[Sea and Me]

Please do not "bash" the messenger:) Today I received an email from a well know travel agency who stated what ports were affected by Irma. I think we all know that St. Maartin, St. Martin, St.Thomas and St. John are on the list of destruction. The ports that will be opened or not affected are: Bahamas, Dominica Republic, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Nevis, St. Bart's, Antigua, Haiti, St. Kitts, Turk and Caicos. The ports with no damage: Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curaco, Grand Cayman, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, St. Croix, and Trinidad.

 

This is what I received and I thought I would share. As posters have stated in a few posts the cruise lines will do their best to alter the itinerary to avoid the ports that were damaged.

 

 

Have a good day everyone.

[beg3yrs]

Thank you!

[Pam in CA]

That matches what I've read elsewhere. Key West and Cuba are also off cruise itineraries although Princess doesn't sail to them. Estimates are that it could take weeks or months before these ports are back on itineraries. Carnival has already announced revised itineraries for the next week.

[nini]

Pam,

In your experience, how long do you think Princess would take to let us know about changes?

Final payment for us is Oct. 24 for a January Eastern itinerary. The ports are Princess Cays, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

On another thread, the poster said that they spoke with Princess and final payments will not be extended and we have unknown ports if there are changes. I think we would want to know what exactly we are paying for. We are fine with other ports. One of our traveling couples has already bailed.

Your thoughts based on experience with Princess (which we really like, BTW)

TIA

[mellon1]

Friends are traveling on 2/2/18 Crown with us and are concerned about the stops, Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. So is there a lot of damage to the others, other than St. T being very bad? I didn't know if St. T would even be open by then. Doesn't matter we have seen them all and don't mind being on the ship for us, but this is only their 3rd cruise and they were hoping to see different islands.

 

What are your opinions, as the pros on the site??? Thanks.

[mellon1]

Pam,

In your experience, how long do you think Princess would take to let us know about changes?

Final payment for us is Oct. 24 for a January Eastern itinerary. The ports are Princess Cays, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

On another thread, the poster said that they spoke with Princess and final payments will not be extended and we have unknown ports if there are changes. I think we would want to know what exactly we are paying for. We are fine with other ports. One of our traveling couples has already bailed.

Your thoughts based on experience with Princess (which we really like, BTW)

TIA

 

We also have a couple looking to cancel. Sad as we were looking forward to them going, but we understand. It is their vacation and some people just don't like being on the ship and look forward to the ports.

 

With people canceling, wondering if pricing will go down??

[GoHuskies!]

Please do not "bash" the messenger:) Today I received an email from a well know travel agency who stated what ports were affected by Irma. I think we all know that St. Maartin, St. Martin, St.Thomas and St. John are on the list of destruction. The ports that will be opened or not affected are: Bahamas, Dominica Republic, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Nevis, St. Bart's, Antigua, Haiti, St. Kitts, Turk and Caicos. The ports with no damage: Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curaco, Grand Cayman, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, St. Croix, and Trinidad.

 

This is what I received and I thought I would share. As posters have stated in a few posts the cruise lines will do their best to alter the itinerary to avoid the ports that were damaged.

 

 

Have a good day everyone.

Thank you for posting this. Just one question--you included "Dominica Republic". Do you mean the Dominican Republic or the island of Dominica? I've been to Dominica and they have a very small pier at which to dock--my ship, the Azamara Journey, tied up its forward and aft lines to bollards on land, since the pier was too short. But a very interesting small port with a great fort overlooking the small harbor--I hope it was not damaged.

[Grego]

We also have a couple looking to cancel. Sad as we were looking forward to them going, but we understand. It is their vacation and some people just don't like being on the ship and look forward to the ports.

 

With people canceling, wondering if pricing will go down??

I can understand as well that folks look forward to seeing ports and not looking at the water all the time. I would think that if Princess can find dockage at some of the ports that are in good shape and not usually called on by Princess, they will do so. We would love to get to St. Vincent or St. Croix. At the same time, I haven't seen anything to indicate that either Grenada or Dominica was affected and these could be substituted.

 

We will know within the next week or so what changes are made to the CB's October 7th Caribbean voyage. It's a circle tour of the Caribbean but there are ports of call that are too damaged to be visited. Since it is circling the area, I doubt that she will visit other areas in the west but might rather get to Dominica and Grenada instead.

 

Everyone should watch the fare structure over the next few weeks if cancellations keep mounting. I haven't looked to see what the availability is for the upcoming season voyages, but they are usually sold out. If holes occur and need to be filled, then watch for the deals.

[OCruisers]

Seems St. Croix is in much better shape than the other US Virgin Islands.

[mellon1]

I can understand as well that folks look forward to seeing ports and not looking at the water all the time. I would think that if Princess can find dockage at some of the ports that are in good shape and not usually called on by Princess, they will do so. We would love to get to St. Vincent or St. Croix. At the same time, I haven't seen anything to indicate that either Grenada or Dominica was affected and these could be substituted.

 

We will know within the next week or so what changes are made to the CB's October 7th Caribbean voyage. It's a circle tour of the Caribbean but there are ports of call that are too damaged to be visited. Since it is circling the area, I doubt that she will visit other areas in the west but might rather get to Dominica and Grenada instead.

 

Everyone should watch the fare structure over the next few weeks if cancellations keep mounting. I haven't looked to see what the availability is for the upcoming season voyages, but they are usually sold out. If holes occur and need to be filled, then watch for the deals.

 

That would be great if the prices went down. I feel terrible though benefiting from other people's misfortune. We sent in our donation to help with Irma with Samaritan's Purse and feel it will go to good use. I do agree with the posters to help out the Islands as much as possible if the she goes there, but without electricity and water that will be difficult.

 

We were in a shop awhile back in St. T and they said it was taking them 3 years to fix the road and it still isn't done yet. They said all the shops were peeved because they were loosing $$, especially where the road was torn up. I guess I would THINK, in my tiny brain, that help from the US would come in to rebuild and things would move faster than so-called island time.

[reedprincess]

Friends are traveling on 2/2/18 Crown with us and are concerned about the stops, Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. So is there a lot of damage to the others, other than St. T being very bad? I didn't know if St. T would even be open by then. Doesn't matter we have seen them all and don't mind being on the ship for us, but this is only their 3rd cruise and they were hoping to see different islands.

 

What are your opinions, as the pros on the site??? Thanks.

The only port in that itinerary that would be questionable for opening by February is St Thomas. All the others are open and sustained minimal or minor overall damages.

[reedprincess]

Thank you for posting this. Just one question--you included "Dominica Republic". Do you mean the Dominican Republic or the island of Dominica? I've been to Dominica and they have a very small pier at which to dock--my ship, the Azamara Journey, tied up its forward and aft lines to bollards on land, since the pier was too short. But a very interesting small port with a great fort overlooking the small harbor--I hope it was not damaged.

Neither Dominican Republic ports nor Dominica port were damaged, or damaged much

Dominica has two dock areas, ships as large as Royal Princess dock there. One is in town directly and one is just north of town, a $5 cab ride or shuttle ride.

[mellon1]

The only port in that itinerary that would be questionable for opening by February is St Thomas. All the others are open and sustained minimal or minor overall damages.

 

Thanks for the update. You look at these videos and they look horrifying like something out of a movie and not real life.

[myfuzzy]

We are scheduled to be in St Martin on October 30th, I am watching my emails....I booked direct through Princess.

[BoopTennis]

Friends are traveling on 2/2/18 Crown with us and are concerned about the stops, Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. So is there a lot of damage to the others, other than St. T being very bad? I didn't know if St. T would even be open by then. Doesn't matter we have seen them all and don't mind being on the ship for us, but this is only their 3rd cruise and they were hoping to see different islands.

 

What are your opinions, as the pros on the site??? Thanks.

 

we are on your same cruise, with another couple. We hoped to see all these islands but we will be happy with wherever they decide to take us. We are in the midwest so going on a cruise in early February is a good thing no matter where we are!

[Host CJSKIDS]

We are scheduled to be in St Martin on October 30th, I am watching my emails....I booked direct through Princess.

 

There is absolutely NO WAY that anyone will be going to St Martin on October 30th. The island has been so destroyed and they are having such issues. It will be 2018 before ships are going back there. They are struggling to even get aide there. It's complete devastation.

 

For the first time since 1648 the borders are closed between the Dutch and the French side.

 

 

It has just been announced on our news that if all goes to plan, Key West will be open to tourism on Oct 20th.

[dickinson]

Pam,

In your experience, how long do you think Princess would take to let us know about changes?

Final payment for us is Oct. 24 for a January Eastern itinerary. The ports are Princess Cays, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

On another thread, the poster said that they spoke with Princess and final payments will not be extended and we have unknown ports if there are changes. I think we would want to know what exactly we are paying for. We are fine with other ports. One of our traveling couples has already bailed.

Your thoughts based on experience with Princess (which we really like, BTW)

TIA

 

I don't think any cruise line makes their decisions based on when final payment date is. The cruise contract allows them to change ports as needed at any time. In this case I would guess that they will make changes once they know for sure changes are necessary and they have made other arrangements. In other words.... we are replacing port stop A but instead will go to port stop B.

[myfuzzy]

There is absolutely NO WAY that anyone will be going to St Martin on October 30th. The island has been so destroyed and they are having such issues. It will be 2018 before ships are going back there. They are struggling to even get aide there. It's complete devastation.

 

For the first time since 1648 the borders are closed between the Dutch and the French side.

 

I guess what I meant was....we are scheduled, but not necessarily going there. I am awaiting word from Princess, directly to let us know of their plans on this particular cruise.

[Sea and Me]

Thank you for posting this. Just one question--you included "Dominica Republic". Do you mean the Dominican Republic or the island of Dominica? I've been to Dominica and they have a very small pier at which to dock--my ship, the Azamara Journey, tied up its forward and aft lines to bollards on land, since the pier was too short. But a very interesting small port with a great fort overlooking the small harbor--I hope it was not damaged.

The email I received (actually a news letter) stated Dominica Republic was opened.

[nini]

quote: "I don't think any cruise line makes their decisions based on when final payment date is. The cruise contract allows them to change ports as needed at any time. In this case I would guess that they will make changes once they know for sure changes are necessary and they have made other arrangements. In other words.... we are replacing port stop A but instead will go to port stop B."

 

I understand that final payment has nothing to do with the itinerary and changes. Yes, I understand the "contract". What I do not want is to visit trashed ports. I would think that it would behoove Princess to make the changes as they would most likely make ZERO dollars from shore excursions. Hard to do when it is a mess.

And yes, my heart and dollars for assistance go out to all.

[Pam in CA]

I'm guessing that Princess has teams working with the port agents to assess the damage in each port and the impact 3,000+ people suddenly descending on the port would have. I assume that they'll have an answer for the earliest cruises sometime soon.

 

While it's disappointing to miss a port, you probably would be able to go if you had planned to fly and stay. For that reason, it's hard for me to understand why someone would cancel if the itinerary changed. You can still enjoy the ship and have a great time.

[Colo Cruiser]

Pam,

In your experience, how long do you think Princess would take to let us know about changes?

Final payment for us is Oct. 24 for a January Eastern itinerary. The ports are Princess Cays, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

On another thread, the poster said that they spoke with Princess and final payments will not be extended and we have unknown ports if there are changes. I think we would want to know what exactly we are paying for. We are fine with other ports. One of our traveling couples has already bailed.

Your thoughts based on experience with Princess (which we really like, BTW)

TIA

 

 

You may not know until you are onboard.

[mellon1]

we are on your same cruise, with another couple. We hoped to see all these islands but we will be happy with wherever they decide to take us. We are in the midwest so going on a cruise in early February is a good thing no matter where we are!

 

We agree...we shut down to do the cruise...don't mind being on the ship, but others like to see everything. Friends are now canceling. Very sad as we love to see them...but we understand.

[Waynetor]

From snm-news.com:

PORT ST. MAARTEN:--- The cargo section at Port St. Maarten is operational and safe berthing of vessels has commenced since the earlier part of the week.

Damage assessments carried out including with the support of military devices, reveals that there are no obstructions to hinder vessels from docking at the cargo quay.

At the moment, the current focus of incoming goods into the country will be limited to relief goods but will also include building materials which are essential to the rebuilding effort of country Sint Maarten.

A number of requests have been received from private consignees, and Port St. Maarten’s Management advises that the aforementioned should follow-up with cargo agents to regulate the import of goods into the country.

U.S. cargo to be sent to the island as normal are to be shipped via Tropical Shipping, King Ocean and Seaboard Marine Line.

European cargo bound for country Sint Maarten normally is shipped via CMA-CGM and Seatrade StreamLines, and arrangements should be made via those companies.

Port St. Maarten Management will continue to provide updates related to cargo operations at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Operations.

Port of St. Maarten Press Release