Santiago de Cuba pier problems through November??

[ebslcc]

I saw this from an Empress of the Seas roll call:

Quote

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2518603-empress-of-the-seas-best-of-cuba-november-4-2018/?page=2

I got an email yesterday.  It said that work on the pier in Santiago de Cuba had not been completed on schedule - and so they've changed the itinerary to Key West.  Knowing that all of the November itineraries have been changes make me more comfortable that it really is an unavoidable change.  

Does anyone know what the issue may be?  I am wondering if this impacts RCL's larger ship only?  I sure hope it doesn't impact our planned stop in Santiago early December!!!

 

Thanks!

Laurence

[jamscckmc]

I'm leaving on the Viking Star on Nov 8th and so far no change in our itinerary.

[ebslcc]

Thanks.  It appears that the problem is with RCL cruises only.  I didn't read all the RCL roll calls but some indicated their Santiago de Cuba stops are changed to Key West and/or extended time in Havana. 

 

Perhaps the reason is the Empress is a larger ship and they don't want to tender?

[tybeelucy2]

I'm on the December sailing of Empress, and our Key West and Santiago stops were dropped and replaced with Havana and Grand Cayman. 

[Felinis]

On 10/25/2018 at 2:34 AM, ebslcc said:

Thanks.  It appears that the problem is with RCL cruises only.  I didn't read all the RCL roll calls but some indicated their Santiago de Cuba stops are changed to Key West and/or extended time in Havana. 

 

Perhaps the reason is the Empress is a larger ship and they don't want to tender?

 

The Empress is not a large ship.  Our October 30th port call in SDC was also canceled in favor of two days in Havana.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Felinis
misspelling

[ebslcc]

I saw this in an Azamara Roll Call posted by Azamara's "Chief Blogging Officer"

 

Yes, the cruise dock in Santiago de Cuba is currently out of commission. We are continuing with our planned calls to Santiago De Cuba because there is another dock primarily used for cargo. We won't know if it is confirmed for us to use until a few days before our upcoming calls, and if not available, we will tender our guests ashore.  Our ships are small enough to use this cargo pier and/or tender close enough to shore. The larger ships do not have this option in this particular port of call. In the meantime, Cuba is working to repair the cruise dock in Santiago.

 

[cmh]

On 11/2/2018 at 8:13 PM, ebslcc said:

I saw this in an Azamara Roll Call posted by Azamara's "Chief Blogging Officer"

 

Yes, the cruise dock in Santiago de Cuba is currently out of commission. We are continuing with our planned calls to Santiago De Cuba because there is another dock primarily used for cargo. We won't know if it is confirmed for us to use until a few days before our upcoming calls, and if not available, we will tender our guests ashore.  Our ships are small enough to use this cargo pier and/or tender close enough to shore. The larger ships do not have this option in this particular port of call. In the meantime, Cuba is working to repair the cruise dock in Santiago.

 

Does anyone who has taken a cruise recently know if this cruise dock has been reopened?

[khitchcock]

Our Royal Caribbean December 9, 2018 cruise was unable to call on Santiago de Cuba due to the pier construction. Our Key West and Santiago stops were dropped and replaced with Havana and Grand Cayman. 

Does anyone know if the port in Santiago is open now to Royal Caribbean? We have another cruise in April with a call to Santiago de Cuba. 

[travelerchris]

We just returned from Azamara Journey on 1-5. We were able to dock in Santiago. It's a very industrial port but we enjoyed it. We did a private tour with Out of the Box Tours and LOVED it. Several people that did the cruise ship tour didn't enjoy it. Contact for the tour operator is Yoennis Díaz Moreno yoe@outofthebox.zone. He and his guides speak excellent English. 

[cruizinfools]

On 1/7/2019 at 9:39 AM, travelerchris said:

We just returned from Azamara Journey on 1-5. We were able to dock in Santiago. It's a very industrial port but we enjoyed it. We did a private tour with Out of the Box Tours and LOVED it. Several people that did the cruise ship tour didn't enjoy it. Contact for the tour operator is Yoennis Díaz Moreno yoe@outofthebox.zone. He and his guides speak excellent English. 

Curious if you had an overnight in Santiago? The 1/24 Journey itinerary has us arriving in Santiago at 5 pm on 1/30 and indicates we are docked. We do overnight but our itinerary indicates we are tendering on 1/31. Wondering if you had a similar itinerary and then you actually docked for the entire stay. 

Edited January 9, 2019 by cruizinfools

[ebslcc]

9 minutes ago, cruizinfools said:

Curious if you had an overnight in Santiago? The 1/24 Journey itinerary has us arriving in Santiago at 5 pm on 1/30 and indicates we are docked. We do overnight but our itinerary indicates we are tendering on 1/31. Wondering if you had a similar itinerary and then you actually docked for the entire stay. 

I heard from our tour guide our ship may be the first to be docked vs. tendering.  Do you have tour plans for the evening on 1/31?  Since your ship is staying overnight, I HIGHLY recommend either DIY and go to some of the musical venues around town or join the Stoycho free evening musical tour (we did) https://www.guruwalk.com/santiago-de-cuba.  I haven't done a review on Guruwalk yet but our experience is similar to what's written there.  Of the 3 Cuban ports we went to Santiago offered the most authentic "back in time" Cuban music venues we experienced.  I think it can be scary to some folks walking around town in Santiago at night with the dimly lit streets especially if you are unfamiliar with the streets.  Stoycho is well connected to the musical scene in Santiago, he knows what's happening around town - his wife is one of the singers for the Santiago group Vocal Vidas https://*****.com/y87o7g8r.   You may see them performing at El Morro fortress during the day...if you do go in the chapel the acoustics is excellent.  Touring with him we feel very safe walking around late into the night and we don't have to figure out where to go!  I still haven't got around to writing about our Cuba cruise a few weeks ago.  I will post some photos and tips on navigating the streets in the next few days.

 

Laurence

 

BTW, the Rough Guide (available in your local library) has a HUGE list of Santiago clubs.  Many are within 15 to 20 minutes walk from the port.  However not all are "live" at night.

 

[travelerchris]

8 hours ago, cruizinfools said:

Curious if you had an overnight in Santiago? The 1/24 Journey itinerary has us arriving in Santiago at 5 pm on 1/30 and indicates we are docked. We do overnight but our itinerary indicates we are tendering on 1/31. Wondering if you had a similar itinerary and then you actually docked for the entire stay. 

We didn't have an overnight. I think that would have been fun. We were told we would tender and then the day before Capt. Gianmario announced we would be docking. 

[cruizinfools]

1 hour ago, travelerchris said:

We didn't have an overnight. I think that would have been fun. We were told we would tender and then the day before Capt. Gianmario announced we would be docking. 

 

Thank you! That is what I wanted to know. I think our White Night will probably be scheduled for that night. Since this is our first Azamara cruise we will elect to experience the White Night event rather than go ashore. If it is not or the White Night party is over early, some of our roll call members are considering going ashore to a nightclub together. 

[El Paso Cruisers]

On 1/7/2019 at 10:39 AM, travelerchris said:

We just returned from Azamara Journey on 1-5. We were able to dock in Santiago. It's a very industrial port but we enjoyed it. We did a private tour with Out of the Box Tours and LOVED it. Several people that did the cruise ship tour didn't enjoy it. Contact for the tour operator is Yoennis Díaz Moreno yoe@outofthebox.zone. He and his guides speak excellent English. 

My wife and I are looking for tours that do not require a lot of walking. Does this tour you are talking about have a lot of walking involved?

[travelerchris]

Yes, it was quite a bit of walking. But Yoe can adjust the touring to your ability. He is local and knows the area well. Most people will take you to the Fort, which is a lot of walking. We also did a tour of old town walking. I would recommend you contact Yoe at yoe@outofthebox.zone. If you chose to do that, please tell him we recommended him It'll make him feel good. AND he took us to a fabulous restaurant for lunch on our tour. 

[El Paso Cruisers]

3 hours ago, travelerchris said:

Yes, it was quite a bit of walking. But Yoe can adjust the touring to your ability. He is local and knows the area well. Most people will take you to the Fort, which is a lot of walking. We also did a tour of old town walking. I would recommend you contact Yoe at yoe@outofthebox.zone. If you chose to do that, please tell him we recommended him It'll make him feel good. AND he took us to a fabulous restaurant for lunch on our tour. 

Thanks for your speedy reply and we will contact Yoe.