Flights for St. Thomas and St. Maarten might also effect cruises!

[southpawsdakota]

i just received an email from United. Our daughter was going on her honeymoon in January. The United message said that they will not be flying into St. Thomas or St. Maarten until after April 8th. All of their flights are cancelled until then. Obviously they feel that People will not be able to go there until then and I would think this should effect Cruises there.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the heads up. We visit those ports only as an itinerary.

 

 

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[cr8tiv1]

How would this affect cruise lines? No Princess ships embark or disembark from these islands?

[cloveygrl]

I think you are not taking into consideration the extensive equipment at airports versus a boat dock. We had flooding in Austin a couple years ago that took the airport equipment out for a long time - they had to use the flight towers out of another city to resume operations. The cruise ships are in constant contact with local authorities to make the best decision they can.

[OCruisers]

.... but ... but ... Princess does have port stops scheduled for St. Thomas and St. Maarten in January.

[southpawsdakota]

How would this affect cruise lines? No Princess ships embark or disembark from these islands?

It might say that things on the Islands will not be up and running whether you are just going to a resort or trying to see the Islands and doing excursions. Just gave the info, take it for what it is.

[satxdiver]

Since the two islands are vacation spots, the airlines are looking at the pax load going to and coming from the islands. If they don't have a viable load factor to pay for the flight, they will not fly them. This of course depends on the facilities available on the islands and whether vacationers actually want to go there.

 

While a port may require less than an airport, the problem still remains once someone gets to the island what do they have to entertain themselves and in the case of land vacationers do they have the facilities to support an extended stay on the island.

 

So the situation for the ships is that the ship piers are available and ready first. Second are the facilities on the island available for the expected excursions. It will be months before the facilities on the islands are repaired to even be rudimentary. They have roads to be cleaned, beaches to be restored, shops to be gutted and rebuilt, power to be restored, etc. It will take time. I know how long it has taken Cozumel to recover from Wilma's visit over 10 years ago.

[senior lady]

Just got email that our nov.5th cruise on the royal is now going back to St Thomas

[broberts]

i just received an email from United. Our daughter was going on her honeymoon in January. The United message said that they will not be flying into St. Thomas or St. Maarten until after April 8th. All of their flights are cancelled until then. Obviously they feel that People will not be able to go there until then and I would think this should effect Cruises there.

 

This may be partly due to the airline anticipating a significant drop in demand. A significant number of resorts experienced extensive damage and may not be able to open for some time. Given the number of airlines that service the islands it is no surprise that some are dropping flights.

[Lucky TGO]

If it’s still that bad there i’m just staying on the ship.

Tony

[Keith1010]

Good information. I saw something similar on another board where the person's flight had been cancelled and they were not happy with the alternative flights.

Keith

[Steelers36]

If this is the case (United), it no doubt refers to any direct flights they operate to STT. You can get to STT via SJU and take what I call an "island hopper". Some of these are actually Jet Blue or aligned with AA. So you can get to STT before April, but you'd want to understand the condition of the place you intend to stay at.