Hurricane Maria

[Maraprince]

Mine is October 2 so no telling where we will end up. Just cruising around to nowhere is fine with me. Although I do have a nonrefundable excursion in Nassau. Oh well.

 

 

Booked my shore excursions through RCL so if we miss a scheduled port I will get back my money.

 

Are you sure you cannot get a refund if Nassau is skipped? I would check into that just to be on the safe side. They may not be able to run it if Nassau is affect by the storm.

 

MARAPRINCE

[wendychloecruiser]

Mine is October 2 so no telling where we will end up. Just cruising around to nowhere is fine with me. Although I do have a nonrefundable excursion in Nassau. Oh well.

 

Why am I not surprised that a tour operator in Nassau would have a non refundable excursion?

[gentlemancruiser]

The ABCs are fantastic ports, marvelous scuba and snorkeling...Bonaire especially....we loved it there. We would be excited with these changes...enjoy!

With Maria now at Cat 3 and strengthening, Adventure racing towards Aruba to get out of the way

Edited September 18, 2017 by gentlemancruiser

[MikeNJ1109]

First Irma comes roaring through, and pretty much slams St. Maartin, the US & British VI's, and several other islands in the Antilles. Now Maria is approaching, with the potential of slamming Puerto Rico as well as some of the same islands from a couple weeks ago.

 

My wife and I are due to cruise in November as part of a milestone birthday, with Puerto Rico and St. Thomas being the main ports scheduled, but it wouldn't surprise us to see some changes between to the itinerary between now and then.

 

We're just shaking our heads at this point, and wondering how things could get any worse for the people and the Island Nations involved. A part of us would want to visit both islands and do our small part to help in the rebuilding but know that choice is out of our hands (we have made a donation to the American Red Cross, fwiw) but we also are looking forward to celebrating the milestone (we've had the trip planned for over a year and a half at this point). Guess I'm just using this post as a way to vent and as a catharsis ... any others with mixed feelings at this point as well?

 

Michael

[Pstreet12]

We're B2B on Allure sailing Sept. 24. If anyone gets word of further schedule changes for Allure, please post.

[francesbenitez]

We are extremely nervous and anxious... Even though Irma didn't cause a lot of damage in PR, we are still trying to recover in terms of electricity and debris. This is a big hurricane... I cannot begin to explain how scared I am of this one...

[Maraprince]

First Irma comes roaring through, and pretty much slams St. Maartin, the US & British VI's, and several other islands in the Antilles. Now Maria is approaching, with the potential of slamming Puerto Rico as well as some of the same islands from a couple weeks ago.

 

My wife and I are due to cruise in November as part of a milestone birthday, with Puerto Rico and St. Thomas being the main ports scheduled, but it wouldn't surprise us to see some changes between to the itinerary between now and then.

 

We're just shaking our heads at this point, and wondering how things could get any worse for the people and the Island Nations involved. A part of us would want to visit both islands and do our small part to help in the rebuilding but know that choice is out of our hands (we have made a donation to the American Red Cross, fwiw) but we also are looking forward to celebrating the milestone (we've had the trip planned for over a year and a half at this point). Guess I'm just using this post as a way to vent and as a catharsis ... any others with mixed feelings at this point as well?

 

Michael

 

 

It is not looking good at this point. My sailing is 10/28 but I would not be surprised if one or more of our ports is changed. I cannot tell you how sorry I am to see the damage to these islands that I have come to know over the years and the losses that these islands may never fully recover from for years to come.

 

Yes, the damage in the US to several states was horrifying but at least we have a system (somewhat) to deal with disasters like this while many of these island nations were barely hanging in there. Now there is little or no way of reaching them to begin cleanup and rebuilding without new storms coming there way.

 

MARAPRINCE

[JAMESCC]

We must be! It was 2009 on the Explorer. I remember the Concierge, Ricky Ulgalde at the time, and several staff rented a van in Quebec and went partying in Montreal all night. They weren't feeling too well the next day. We've done this cruise every year since Royal started going to New England in 2007. It's our favorite cruise! I'm hoping Maria doesn't come our way.... or my homes way in SC!:eek: We survived Irma unscathed so fingers crossed!

Huh, we didn't go to Quebec though? It is a great cruise. 2009 on Explorer, that's funny. We were in the concierge too, we splurged for a grand suite, it was our honeymoon.

 

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[Jey01]

Hi, are you on the island? I lived there for 9 years and know if they get a direct hit it will be Chaos. One side of the island is still trying to get back to normal. Be safe!

 

 

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No we're from Arkansas lol. We love San Juan and are hopefully looking forward to sailing from there! If not we may do a last minute outta NOLA. Thank goodness for trip insurance for us. Prayers for everyone in the various islands. I ❤️ PR. And the USVI has me heartbroken

 

 

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[torpeedo]

Huh, we didn't go to Quebec though? It is a great cruise. 2009 on Explorer, that's funny. We were in the concierge too, we splurged for a grand suite, it was our honeymoon.

 

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Oops! I don't recall what year it was so I guess not the cruise in 2009. What a great honeymoon for you! I just hope we don't have to repeat the itinerary changes because of Maria :mad:

[fridaythe13th]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2017/09/18/hurricane-maria-forces-more-changes-cruise-itineraries-already-scrambled-irma/676185001/

 

RC and Carnival must be going crazy!!

[mafig]

We are extremely nervous and anxious... Even though Irma didn't cause a lot of damage in PR, we are still trying to recover in terms of electricity and debris. This is a big hurricane... I cannot begin to explain how scared I am of this one...

 

It's alright to be scared. Be prepared with enough food and water. I just saw a report on the news stating that Puerto Rico does have a lot of shelters. If you need to go to one, please do.

 

We'll all be thinking of you.

 

Please report back.

[parrotfeathers]

It was the Taste of Bahamas or something like that--highly recommended. It said nonrefundable but could be rescheduled if they had to cancel. I knew it was nonrefundable when I pushed the button. It wasn't offered through RCL.

 

Booked my shore excursions through RCL so if we miss a scheduled port I will get back my money.

 

Are you sure you cannot get a refund if Nassau is skipped? I would check into that just to be on the safe side. They may not be able to run it if Nassau is affect by the storm.

 

MARAPRINCE

[leosmom08]

We are on AOS out of San Juan 10/21. We are watching with building anxiety. I cannot fathom what all of those people are/will go through!

[rpmljm]

Booked my shore excursions through RCL so if we miss a scheduled port I will get back my money.

 

Are you sure you cannot get a refund if Nassau is skipped? I would check into that just to be on the safe side. They may not be able to run it if Nassau is affect by the storm.

 

MARAPRINCE

From what I have read on the RCCL letter posted on this thread...you don't actually get the money back. They give you onboard credit or another excursion.

[francesbenitez]

It's alright to be scared. Be prepared with enough food and water. I just saw a report on the news stating that Puerto Rico does have a lot of shelters. If you need to go to one, please do.

 

We'll all be thinking of you.

 

Please report back.

 

Thanks! Our home is pretty safe and we have enough supplies to last a week or two. The last report says that it might be a Cat 5 storm... Last cat 5 storm that hit PR was in 1928...

[Mr. Muster]

Following....

[Ourusualbeach]

From what I have read on the RCCL letter posted on this thread...you don't actually get the money back. They give you onboard credit or another excursion.

They will credit the amount if the excursion back to your Seapass in the form of refundable OBC. If you choose not to take another excursion or spend it on something else it I'll be refunded to your credit card that you secured your Seapass card with at the end of the cruise.

[Dennis#1]

They will credit the amount if the excursion back to your Seapass in the form of refundable OBC. If you choose not to take another excursion or spend it on something else it I'll be refunded to your credit card that you secured your Seapass card with at the end of the cruise.

 

Agree. This has been my experience also.

[StrangeBrew]

I called the day they changed the port , I ended up demanding they refund my money for the excursion I was now going to be unable to take . They tried to to get me to wait and book another , but ultimately I told them no . Why should they hold my money in their account drawing interest .

[Coopdog08]

Thanks! Our home is pretty safe and we have enough supplies to last a week or two. The last report says that it might be a Cat 5 storm... Last cat 5 storm that hit PR was in 1928...

Cat 5 160 mph on doorsteps of Dominica.

[francesbenitez]

Cat 5 160 mph on doorsteps of Dominica.

I've never been this scared in my life... after seeing the devastation Irma caused in Barbuda, St. Marteen and St Thomas, I am not emotionally ready to handle this... I'm speechless right now... thanks to everyone that is worried. I know that a lot of you, my fellow cruisers, love San Juan and consider it your favorite port... please keep us in your thoughts...

[gentlemancruiser]

Roseau, Dominica doesn't have the strongest structures. Of all of the islands they have a lot of very weak buildings in the city. A Cat 5 could destroy a lot of Roseau.

 

Roseau thought they would benefit from increased tourist because of the damage left by Irma.

Be careful what you wish for!!!

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Dominica_cruise_ship_sector_benefitting_from_Irma?profile=1228

[perditax]

It's slightly surreal to be on Oasis right now and traveling *towards* Maria (so we can port in Labadee tomorrow). Of course we should be a few days ahead of her arrival near Hispaniola. Still unnerving. (On that note ... shouldn't they be doing storm prep on Labadee by tomorrow?)

[JAMESCC]

We dodged hurricanes last year on Breakaway to Bermuda and ended up not missing any time in Bermuda. This year we played it safe going to Canada/NE but Hurricane Maria is worrying me now. What do you think?