Hurricane Maria

[Coopdog08]

I read Maria is the fastest intensifying storm in over 60 years.

I wouldn't brush off a tropical storm, but I would not be figuring out how to leave either. And you are right, I would never imagine a trop storm would be a cat 5 hurricane a day later. The past two weeks I've felt very aware of living on a peninsula and it is massive compared to these islands.

 

I can't imagine the dread people who have nowhere to go and know their structures will be demolished feel.

Maria is being horrible to Dominica. Came in on the southeast part of island, took a wobble north and went up the middle. The only part of the island to not have direct contact was the far southwest. Prayers...

[Coopdog08]

Search Roosevelt Skerrit on Facebook. He is the PM of Dominica. Very scary, reports galvanized steel flying all over the place.

Just horrible, absolutely horrible..

Roosevelt Skerrit "Tell the world that Dominica has been devastated...In the morning we will know how many dead there are..We were brutally hit."

From the guardian.

[Dennis#1]

Hospital in Dominica has lost its roof and generators have failed. Radio broadcasting station has also lost its roof.

 

Not good. My thoughts and prayers are for the patients at the Dominica hospital.

[caribill]

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 .

 

Assuming the excursion cost $150/person and you booked two spots, that would be $300 you are waiting for. Even at today's most generous interest for short term deposits, the interest earned would be less than one penny a day. Although I agree you should get your refund ASAP, I doubt it is being held back so that RCI can earn less than one penny a day by keeping it a while.

[Flamencacha]

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...

 

 

 

Hang in there. I lived there for 9 years and have many good friends on the island. Will be praying for all of you. I always tell people the storms are rough but the aftermath is the worse.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[let's go cruising]

What is the sense of people really watching this play out? Is Dominica like St. Thomas, St. Maarten or Barbuda?

 

Renee

[bouhunter]

What is the sense of people really watching this play out? Is Dominica like St. Thomas' date=' St. Maarten or Barbuda?

 

Renee[/quote']

 

What sense does your comment make?

[OKCcruiser8]

What sense does your comment make?

I think the poster is asking if the damage being sustained is most similar to what was received at St Thomas, St Maarten or Barbuda. Which of those 3? That's how I read it.

[slyster]

Praying for all those people. Cruises and vacations don't matter right now. You feel so helpless. We have family (my brother's inlaws) in Puerto Rico. They could have flown out and have chosen to stay. Mother Nature sure can be a nasty son of a b*tch.

[Flamencacha]

Praying for all those people. Cruises and vacations don't matter right now. You feel so helpless. We have family (my brother's inlaws) in Puerto Rico. They could have flown out and have chosen to stay. Mother Nature sure can be a nasty son of a b*tch.

 

 

 

Very well said. I am praying also.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sea and Me]

We had the good fortune of visiting most of these Caribbean islands. When we were in Dominica a few years ago we attended mass at the nursing home close to the church. Mass was over at the church but the priest said that he was going to say mass at the nursing facility. A very nice woman walked us over (a group of about 10) and the mass was in a small area. The people who lived there were older and I will always remember the woman and their hats!! The singing was wonderful and how devout the people were. These are my memories of Dominica! Praying for all those affected by the hurricanes.

[Coopdog08]

What is the sense of people really watching this play out? Is Dominica like St. Thomas' date=' St. Maarten or Barbuda?

 

Renee[/quote']

I would say it's in the st Maarten and Barbuda range. People were still communicating as late as 2am via twitter and Facebook either from the island or via friends who were talking to them. Evidently Dominica has many underwater sea cables that allowed this to play out while in the eye of the hurricane. It appears around 2am that those communications were cut off. I was following about 5 people via twitter or Facebook and there has been no communication from them since around 2am. They were reporting heavy destruction up to that point in the areas they were located.

[perditax]

What is the sense of people really watching this play out? Is Dominica like St. Thomas' date=' St. Maarten or Barbuda?

 

Renee[/quote']

 

 

I got the impression that Dominica has more people than Barbuda but very iffy construction. E.g. the report of the mayor's roof being blown off his house.

[vacationers]

Heard from my family and friends in some of these islands today. Specially PR. The damge from Irma was so extensive that the port in San Juan was very much damaged and barely useful. Remember that Irma did not hit directly. Now Maria is hitting the island directly as a Cat 5 and it will be very devastating and will take a very long time to rebuilt. Also remember the island filed for bankruptcy a while back and the economy is extremely bad. Going to Antigua in January but my friends tells me they have been hit very badly.

 

Praying that the only losses are material and that no one looses their live. Everyone please keep safe and all our prayers are with you.

[OCruisers]

Any port taking a direct cat 5 hit is going to be pretty much demolished.

T&P for all in Maria's path.

[Coopdog08]

I got the impression that Dominica has more people than Barbuda but very iffy construction. E.g. the report of the mayor's roof being blown off his house.

Barbuda pop 1600-1800 people (currently 0 as nobody has gone back since evacuating for Jose)

Dominica pop 72,000-74,000 people

[francesbenitez]

Hang in there. I lived there for 9 years and have many good friends on the island. Will be praying for all of you. I always tell people the storms are rough but the aftermath is the worse.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! Agree with you... the aftermath is horrible. We just want it to be over, and it hasn't even started yet...

[tx121]

This probably has to be one of the worst hurricane seasons. Every cruise line headquarters must be cringing at the moment and wondering what will happen after Hurricane Maria. It seems right now, the storm is headed again towards USVI, St Croix, St Kitts, Puerto Rico and possibly Bahamas. It's as though the hurricanes this season want to take out the whole Eastern Caribbean itineraries. :o

So if Maria stays a category 5 storm and hits each of these ports, where will RCCL put it's Oasis Class ships since they are limited to where they can dock. Im assuming all the Eastern Caribbean itineraries will become Western Caribbean, but with more ships also coming back from Europe, it will be so much ship congestion for ports to handle.

[Clarea]

This probably has to be one of the worst hurricane seasons. Every cruise line headquarters must be cringing at the moment and wondering what will happen after Hurricane Maria. It seems right now, the storm is headed again towards USVI, St Croix, St Kitts, Puerto Rico and possibly Bahamas. It's as though the hurricanes this season want to take out the whole Eastern Caribbean itineraries. :o

So if Maria stays a category 5 storm and hits each of these ports, where will RCCL put it's Oasis Class ships since they are limited to where they can dock. Im assuming all the Eastern Caribbean itineraries will become Western Caribbean, but with more ships also coming back from Europe, it will be so much ship congestion for ports to handle.

One thing that will help the ships coming back from Europe is the ability to tender. That opens up Coco Cay, Belize and Grand Cayman.

[cello56]

Does anyone know when Costa Maya and Roatan will be ready to handle Oasis class ships? Allure has Roatan on her schedule starting next fall, but I'm not sure if they are ready for the big girls just yet. That would open up two additional western ports to divert O/A/H to right now.

 

Prayers said for all in the path of Maria.

[cruiselvr04]

So sad to hear about Dominica. We were there in March and it is now one of our favorites. So lush, waterfalls, reminded us of Costa Rica. The people we met were wonderful. Most of the country is very poor per US standards with poor housing. Some of the roads on the hills were close to washing out before the storm. It will take years to rebuild and for the vegetation to return. Praying for all those on the island.

[Clarea]

Does anyone know when Costa Maya and Roatan will be ready to handle Oasis class ships? Allure has Roatan on her schedule starting next fall, but I'm not sure if they are ready for the big girls just yet. That would open up two additional western ports to divert O/A/H to right now.

 

Prayers said for all in the path of Maria.

Costa Maya can handle Oasis class now.

[island lady]

I am worried also about that really nice couple on Dominica that hosted the culinary/rain forest tour you can book through

RCI. We loved that experience as the couple there really made it special. They have a beautiful house up in the

mountain in the rain forest where she does her cooking class in an outdoor kitchen downstairs with very lush

landscaping with that gorgeous view. I hope they are safe. :o

 

We booked their wonderful tour again for our January Jewel cruise (and was in fact why we chose that itinerary)...but now of course that is uncertain. All those poor people that are suffering Irma...and now this so soon. Very sad.

Edited September 19, 2017 by island lady

[OSUbuckeye]

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...

 

You are in my prayers and those of many!

[hollon]

Hurricane Maria is going to be a cat 4 or even 5 hurricane, sweeping through almost the same route as Irma...... God bless those islands...

 

Any projection of how the 9/23 HOTS itinerary is going to change? It was St Thomas, San Juan, Labadee.... St thomas got swapped into St Kitts, but it looks like hurricane Maria is going to destroy St Kitts and San Juan.....

 

Anyone else going on HOTS on 9/23 wondering about this??

 

I hope they don't get hit hard, I'm on 9/23 as well. They say it's missing florida, so at least we will be on the ship, (unless things change) but will we encounter rough seas and missed islands, I hope they can reroute us.