English_in_Spain Posted November 15, 2017 #1 Share Posted November 15, 2017 We are cruising on Veendam in three weeks. Has anyone visited any of our islands recently? What are things like there? Is it still possible to enjoy our days ashore? We are coming a long way to take this cruise and hope we can still enjoy our ports of call (all but one of which I have visited before - some many times) Half Moon Cay, Bahamas St Thomas, USVI Basseterre, St Kitts Castries, St Lucia Bridgetown, Barbados Saint Georges, Grenada Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe St John's, Antigua San Juan, Puerto Rico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor@cruisecritic Posted November 15, 2017 #2 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Hi, Carol. Happy to provide a rundown, and for those that are constantly being updated, check out our Caribbean hub: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/2017-caribbean-open/ Anyway, here's what we know at this point: *St Kitts, St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Antigua were either not affected by any of the hurricanes or whatever effects have been fixed, so it should be the usual experience. *Ships began calling at St. Thomas, USVI, in earnest this week. One of editors is visiting today and will write a report; in the meantime, here's a news story that launched this week: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8207. *Puerto Rico's San Juan reopens to some cruise ships in late November; others are waiting until January to return. We'll keep you posted on what it's like once ships are back. Anyone have additional insights for Carol? Please share 'em. Carolyn Carolyn Spencer Brown Chief Content Strategist Cruise Critic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRUISEFAN0001 Posted November 15, 2017 #3 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Hoping we see some updated photos of the more well-known locations on the hurricane-damaged islands - to see the progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libertyelle Posted November 15, 2017 #4 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Any news about when the National Parks Service visitor centers in San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, USVI will reopen? Our family loves visiting our national parks, collecting NPS passport stamps and having the kids participate in each Park's Junior Ranger program. We are on the 12/2 RCI Anthem sailing and are crossing our fingers that will be an option at one or both of those ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_in_Spain Posted November 15, 2017 Author #5 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Hi, Carol. Happy to provide a rundown, and for those that are constantly being updated, check out our Caribbean hub: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/2017-caribbean-open/ Anyway, here's what we know at this point: *St Kitts, St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Antigua were either not affected by any of the hurricanes or whatever effects have been fixed, so it should be the usual experience. *Ships began calling at St. Thomas, USVI, in earnest this week. One of editors is visiting today and will write a report; in the meantime, here's a news story that launched this week: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8207. *Puerto Rico's San Juan reopens to some cruise ships in late November; others are waiting until January to return. We'll keep you posted on what it's like once ships are back. Anyone have additional insights for Carol? Please share 'em. Carolyn Carolyn Spencer Brown Chief Content Strategist Cruise Critic Thank you for your update. It looks like things will probably be ok although I still have my doubts about Puerto Rico. I was sad to lose St Martin from our itinerary as I was planning to sprinkle my husbands ashes and plant a plant in his memory at his favourite restaurant (Kakao Beach at Orient Bay). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jswdlw Posted November 15, 2017 #6 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Any news about when the National Parks Service visitor centers in San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, USVI will reopen? Our family loves visiting our national parks, collecting NPS passport stamps and having the kids participate in each Park's Junior Ranger program. We are on the 12/2 RCI Anthem sailing and are crossing our fingers that will be an option at one or both of those ports. I just saw this on the facebook national parks Hawksnest Beach and Honeymoon Beach are officially open! Vault toilets or port-o-potties are in place. A huge amount of debris was removed from the beaches themselves and park divers removed submerged debris from the swim areas. Even so, continue to be cautious when swimming anywhere in park waters. As you well know, a lot of "stuff" ended up blowing into the water around here! Trunk Bay is not open Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SisterSpike Posted November 20, 2017 #7 Share Posted November 20, 2017 We are cruising on Veendam in three weeks. Has anyone visited any of our islands recently? What are things like there? Is it still possible to enjoy our days ashore? We are coming a long way to take this cruise and hope we can still enjoy our ports of call (all but one of which I have visited before - some many times) Half Moon Cay, Bahamas St Thomas, USVI Basseterre, St Kitts Castries, St Lucia Bridgetown, Barbados Saint Georges, Grenada Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe St John's, Antigua San Juan, Puerto Rico We returned 2 weeks ago and went to all of these islands except Bahama. As CC said, most of these islands were not greatly affected by the hurricanes but some have taken in residents of the devastated islands. PR and St. Thomas have the worst conditions but it did not affect our visits there. I would not count on eating at a restaurant or stay on either of those islands, although things change daily. Don't worry and don't second guess your decision to go. Just GO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deladypilot Posted November 21, 2017 #8 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Any news about when the National Parks Service visitor centers in San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, USVI will reopen? Our family loves visiting our national parks, collecting NPS passport stamps and having the kids participate in each Park's Junior Ranger program. We are on the 12/2 RCI Anthem sailing and are crossing our fingers that will be an option at one or both of those ports. We too love to collect the Park stamps in our book. As of last weekend the parks offices were closed. You could still get out and walk around, have a picnic etc but no access to the museums etc. We were able to drive by a couple of them on our way to Bacardi and then back to the airport last weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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