Puerto Rico

[Mercruiser]

In order to recover, PR needs an operating airport and a marine port. These are the same facilities needed for Carnival and RCL to operate cruises. I am wondering if there will be a shortage of berthing space, given the huge volumes of cargo that will be needed for rebuilding.

 

Since posting this, I've been watching the progress closely for the airport and the shipping ports. The airport has only been getting about 2000 passengers a day off the island on about 10 commercial flights. They are having significant technology problems with damage to the air traffic control system infrastructure. Another problem: the airlines don't have working computers to check in passengers - they are reverting to phone calls to the mainland and hand written boarding passes. On the good news side, I see lots of cargo planes coming in to SJU, including one of those gigantic Antonov_An-124 (on flightradar24 web site). News reports suggest they will get the number of passenger planes up to 20 per day soon. The normal for SJU is about 100 (best I can tell). See this article, published 9/25 for more details (in Spanish - use Google translate): https://www.elnuevodia.com/negocios/consumo/nota/semantienelalimitacionde10vuelosdiariosenelaeropuerto-2360314/

 

Puerto Rico normally imports 85% of its food (http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=14092&ArticleId=342325). For this reason, it is very important to keep the shipping ports running. It sounds like the ocean shipping companies are up and running at full capacity. They are unloading vessels at the Isla Grande container terminal. Unfortunately, the truck drivers are not arriving to pick up the containers, so the docks are filling up with inbound cargo. They are working on solutions to enable the truck drivers to operate. Getting provisions to PR is not a problem. Getting provisions from the docks to the stores is a big problem. See https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/milesdevagonesconmercanciapermanecenenlosmuelles-2360301/

Here is a very good video showing the unloading of the ships. The Pan American pier, used by RCL and Celebrity, is on the opposite side of the Isla Grand airport, from the Crowley container pier.

https://www.elnuevodia.com/videos/noticias/locales/lleganbarcazasllenasalmuelledesanjuan-241861/#cxrecs_s

 

Given the limitations in airport capacity, I see no possibility that RCL Adventure OTS is going to home port out of San Juan for the next few weeks. Carnival made the right call cancelling their October Fascination cruises. Unfortunately, everyone is going to have to wait a while for RCL, Carnival, and Celebrity, to announce plans for November onwards cruises. I can wait. But I can understand the frustration for those of you who wish they would just cancel so that you can move on to "Plan B".

Edited September 26, 2017 by Mercruiser

[gerelmx]

SJU is operating

[hcat]

FEMA director (?) on Weather Channel interview said Air Traffiic Control system was heavily impacted so they are operating on a very cautious basis getting items in and people out of SJU

 

An example of how slow recovery can take was demonstrated in a sep story with a clip of Dania Beach Fla..small east coast mainland community...they estimate 6 months to clear Irma debris, etc..Dollar est unknown. Puerto Rico abd San Juan have many more issues to conquer..

Edited September 26, 2017 by hcat

[boscobeans]

SJU is operating

 

Yes, from reports yesterday only during daylight hours and using military radar for what limited air traffic control they have in effect.

 

bosco

[saltydoge]

Patience, because the logistics, canceling sailings or whatever, can not be done in an instant.

 

 

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You're right — the logistics are probably a nightmare and take a great deal of time.

[Mercruiser]

RCL just cancelled the 9/30 Adventure OTS sailing. No surprise.

 

They also wrote. "The ship will bring evacuees to Fort Lauderdale before returning to San Juan on October 6 to prepare for the October 7th*cruise."

 

They have also deleted St Croix from their port stops. I'll guess Celebrity will do the same.

 

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[Schplinky]

RCL just cancelled the 9/30 Adventure OTS sailing. No surprise.

 

They also wrote. "The ship will bring evacuees to Fort Lauderdale before returning to San Juan on October 6 to prepare for the October 7th*cruise."

 

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How they think people will be able to make it to SJU in early October is beyond me. Many of the hotels have either closed or announced they will be closed until Halloween.

[Mercruiser]

There are lots more SJU bound airplanes in the air today than yesterday - 18 right now. At least that is an improvement.

 

Yesterday, they flew N639CS in/out. This plane is owned by the US Marshalls Service. Presumably, they were evacuating Federal prisoners. Hard to run a jail without electricity.

 

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[Mercruiser]

This is the most complete list I've seen of hotel closures/openings:

 

http://puertoriconow.seepuertorico.com

 

We are flying in//out the day of the cruise.

 

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[Schplinky]

This is the most complete list I've seen of hotel closures/openings:

 

http://puertoriconow.seepuertorico.com

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Forums mobile app

 

The Hampton Inn, Hilton, Doubltree and others have extended their closure to Halloween since this list was generated.

[PromoLaine]

We are on the Summit leaving San Juan on November 11th. We are booked to arrive the day before and stay at a hotel in

San Juan. Really uneasy now, wondering if the hotel will even be operational. And if not, how does that work with the airfare? I saw that one of the Royal Caribbean ships was rerouted to Maine and Nova Scotia. Don't think that would work for us....we go South from Chicago to get out of the cold!!

 

We are on this same ship and I have a great deal of concern. I live in Florida and all of the news is that PR has been devastated, residents there are leaving by the thousands as quickly as they can. When I called Celebrity she informed that there are no changes just yet but they will keep us informed. It is obvious that PR is not a viable port. While it may be able to dock a ship, it is not suitable for tourists by any means. I'm frustrated because I think it may just mean more days at Sea which is not what we want to do. It is understandable that they want to get life back to the Islands as quickly as possible, but I think it is just not logical for PR at this time. I need to cancel airfaire, hotel accomodations but don't know what to reschedule to and I'm sure many upcoming cruisers feel the same way. Hoping for some answers soon.

[Mercruiser]

This is the most complete list I've seen of hotel closures/openings:

 

http://puertoriconow.seepuertorico.com

 

We are flying in//out the day of the cruise.

 

 

It appears this list is being updated daily. It has been updated since I posted this earlier today.

[Mercruiser]

Being that Celebrity is owned by RCL. I don't expect to see Celebrity making Summit itinerary adjustments before RCL. As long as RCL is showing Adventure OTS continuing to homeport in San Juan, it seems very unlikely that Celebrity will go against their lead. Unfortunately, for those who want them to cancel part of the season, I don't see that happening any time soon, based on RCL's behavior thus far. I suggest you check RCL's itinerary updates alerts web page daily to see what the parent company cruise line is doing:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/royal/US/en_US/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

[TeeRick]

I am on Summit right now. We had a Q&A with some officers at our CC Connections Party yesterday. They have not been told yet if they will home port in San Juan starting in a few weeks or if they will be assigned a different home port. It is a very uncertain situation at this point.

[Mercruiser]

I am on Summit right now. We had a Q&A with some officers at our CC Connections Party yesterday. They have not been told yet if they will home port in San Juan starting in a few weeks or if they will be assigned a different home port. It is a very uncertain situation at this point.

TeeRick:

 

Thanks for reporting from Summit. Please post an update if you hear anything.

 

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[Hockeytaxi]

Just received an email (09/26/17 17:50 PT) from Celebrity regarding the 11/04/17 sailing. It shows roundtrip San Juan with the following changes:

St. Kitts for St. Croix

Antigua for St. Maarten

St. Lucia for Dominica

[Mrs. Nic]

This cruise board is great. Even though not a lot is known, it is nice to know that people are taking the time to share what they do know! Like Promolaine, I am less concerned about ports of call than I am about the situation when I land in San Juan the day before the cruise. Hopefully, American ingenuity and resources will get this island up and running again. More than three million Americans are in a world of hurt and my cruise is the least of anyone's problems.

 

Also hoping that Celebrity doesn't let us down. If rebooking later, or switching to another ship or port of departure makes more sense, then I hope that happens too.

[Mercruiser]

I just received this email from Celebrity about the Nov 18 cruise:

 

Dear Guest,

We look forward to welcoming you aboard your 7-*Night Southern Caribbean Cruise departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 18, but first we have an important update to share with you before we set sail.

Recent hurricanes have impacted several islands in the Caribbean. While facilities in San Juan suffered significant damage, we remain confident that the airport and cruise terminals will be functional at the time of your sailing, and we continue to work closely with local officials to provide food, water, and generators to those in need.

We’ve also adjusted your itinerary due to the impact of these storms on other islands. We will be unable to visit Philipsburg, St. Maarten or Roseau, Dominica. To make sure you continue to have an unforgettable vacation, we’ll visit the stunning ports of St. Johns, Antigua and Castries, St. Lucia instead.

We’re arranging a wide variety of shore excursions for you to choose from in Antigua and St. Lucia. Once we have them finalized, we’ll send you all the details you need to plan your excursions. You’ll be able to book online up to 2 days prior to your departure, or simply stop by the Shore Excursions desk on Deck 3 once you’re on board to learn more about the exciting experiences waiting for you.

If you’ve already booked excursions in St. Maarten or Dominica, you’ll automatically receive a full refund back to the form of payment used to book your excursions.

 

If you have any questions about your new ports of call, please call us at 1-*800-*280-*3423 or contact your travel agent.

We’re doing everything we can to support the ongoing relief efforts for all those affected by these devastating storms. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of these incredible islands, as they work toward a complete recovery. We hope you’re looking forward to visiting these beautiful destinations just as much as we are.

Sincerely,

Celebrity Cruises

[ischeer]

Celebrity is now saying: "Recent hurricanes have impacted several islands in the Caribbean. While facilities in San Juan suffered significant damage, we remain confident that the airport and cruise terminals will be functional at the time of your sailing, and we continue to work closely with local officials to provide food, water, and generators to those in need."

 

They are now showing San Juan, PR as homeport for all Summit sailings through the end of the year, and have reinstituted calls to St. Thomas.

[amunhbuu]

I think that they are being really optimistic at this point. We are booked on the November 25th cruise on the Summit. Our hotel just posted this on facebook last night:

 

To all of our guest who have tried to contact us and have sent us multiple messages on our status and how we are doing, we want everyone to know we are all safe and sound, us as a family and so is our staff all safe. We have had very limited signal on our phones and have been off the grid since last Wednesday till today Tuesday we were finally able to get a bit of signal. Thankfully our homes and our Inn suffered little damages, a lot of cleaning up to do and some serious fixes will have to take place too. But we are very thankful that everyone is safe and we want to send a million hugs and a million thank you’s to every single guest who sent us a message on these past few days. We will get back to all of you as soon as we are a little bit more stable. Unfortunately Ocean Park is still flooded SINCE Wednesday and nobody neither government nor the Fire Departments done anything to make these floods go away. We have been stranded in our house/inn since Wednesday and they have unfortunately only passed once on Thursday but never did a follow up in case anyone needed water or food. Luckily family, friends and past guest have offered help to us and we’ve been brought some necessities for the next couple of days. We want to let everyone know that all of us are safe and sound and hopefully we should be back to normal in the next couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone our there!

[Mrs. Nic]

Regarding 11/11 Summit sailing....no info listed on website (11/4 and 11/18 are there) and no email. Guess they are still working on updating the ports of call.

[gg88]

Regarding 11/11 Summit sailing....no info listed on website (11/4 and 11/18 are there) and no email. Guess they are still working on updating the ports of call.

 

As of right now, Celebrity does not plan on changing any ports on the Nov 11 sailing. The only affected islands are Puerto Rico (which I guess remains to be seen whether this will change); and St Thomas, which has announced it will start accepting cruise passengers beginning in mid to late October. So, you're one of the 'lucky' ones that (if everything goes as forecasted today), your itinerary will be exactly what you booked :)

[PromoLaine]

As of right now, Celebrity does not plan on changing any ports on the Nov 11 sailing. The only affected islands are Puerto Rico (which I guess remains to be seen whether this will change); and St Thomas, which has announced it will start accepting cruise passengers beginning in mid to late October. So, you're one of the 'lucky' ones that (if everything goes as forecasted today), your itinerary will be exactly what you booked :)

 

Don't really consider myself "lucky" here at all. Puerto Rico is devastated. While I am supportive of restoration efforts and fully understand the Islands and Ports wanting to get back to business - Puerto Rico is not prepared to be a port. Our hotel has been devastated, there most likely will not be power for several weeks or months if that. Citizens are walking around with guns, there is no police protection whatsoever. Anyone arriving in Puerto Rico is a target for these desperate individuals and I don't feel there is any safe way to get to the Port. They have limited transportation. While the Port may be fine to dock a ship - it is the worst possible choice for tourists to come to. In calling Celebrity I was informed that I cannot change my cruise to another itinerary as they want to honor this sailing. I don't think this should be done at the guests expense.

[minnowcruiser]

Where have you read that there is no police protection? Just concerned but I haven't read this. I did read that the National Guard is being used where needed but I thought they were working in tandem with the local authorities.

[Quinte Girl]

Regarding 11/11 Summit sailing....no info listed on website (11/4 and 11/18 are there) and no email. Guess they are still working on updating the ports of call.

We are on this sailing as well. Anxious to get some info regarding this! Also concerned about our overnight hotel in San Juan prior to the cruise!!!!!