Volcano on St Vincent is now code Red and apparently RCL has sent a ship to help evacuate

[kearney]

Saw a post on twitter that the lava dome has now reached the top of the crater and they are evacuating people on the leeward side... The poster noted that RCL was sending a ship to help evacuate.. it looks like Serenade of the Seas is on its way there.  Hope this is only a temporary situation.... but it is nice to see RCL jump in to help 

[lovescats5]

Maybe it will be a good test for Covid.  

[smokeybandit]

And thanks to the CDC, Royal isn't allowing anyone on board who isn't vaccinated.

[kearney]

Looks like RCL is sending 3 ships and Carnaval is also sending a ship. news story on evacuation

[kearney]

looking at marinetraffic.com it looks like Carnival Paradise is heading there. The nearest RCCL ships are actually Celebrity ships in Barbados.... Reflection appears to be moving towards St Vincent. Edge and Apex are off the coast of Barbados.

[Travelling2Some]

Very nice to see RCI step up.  I find I am becoming very attuned to the behavior of various corporations in terms of where I will spend money in the future (if I have any left, lol).

[sandebeach]

Glad to see Royal and Carnival stepping in to help. I remember how remarkable Royal was, in the help they gave the Bahamas after the last hurricane that struck Freeport and Abaco.

[kearney]

I was right, Celebrity Reflection is headed there as well

[Aplmac]

Pics from nearby Barbados

where the ships have been languishing for some time now!

 

Serenade is down there already

with two Celebrities making brisk passage Westward

as we speak.

 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-60.7/centery:13.1/zoom:9

 

 

 

[Sunshine3601]

God bless the people of St Vincent's.  Warms my heart to hear these cruise ships are on their way to help.  

The crew will probably be happy to see some new faces onboard.

[Missusdubbya]

1 hour ago, Travelling2Some said:

Very nice to see RCI step up.  I find I am becoming very attuned to the behavior of various corporations in terms of where I will spend money in the future (if I have any left, lol).

Me too, good on Royal for assisting 

[Sunshine3601]

I just read online news article that prime minister of st vincent said only vaccinated people may board the cruise ships that are helping evacuate!  And for people seeking refuge in shelter or other islands that offered to take evacuees must be vaccinated. 

 

Wow!  I hope he did a great job on getting everyone vaccinated if he is going to say this during an emergency of this nature.

[harkinmr]

13 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I just read online news article that prime minister of st vincent said only vaccinated people may board the cruise ships that are helping evacuate!  And for people seeking refuge in shelter or other islands that offered to take evacuees must be vaccinated. 

 

Wow!  I hope he did a great job on getting everyone vaccinated if he is going to say this during an emergency of this nature.

Wonder whether it was the cruise lines' request?  I can't imagine a Prime Minister making such a requirement himself given the urgency of the situation.

[Sunshine3601]

18 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

Wonder whether it was the cruise lines' request?  I can't imagine a Prime Minister making such a requirement himself given the urgency of the situation.

If prime minister is saying you must be vaccinated to go to a local shelter or evacuate to any of the 4 islands that said they will take evacuees sounds like he set the rule not the cruiselines.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcboston.com/news/national-international/st-vincent-warns-of-volcanic-eruption-orders-evacuations/2350305/%3famp

Edited April 9, 2021 by Sunshine3601

[harkinmr]

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

If prime minister is saying you must be vaccinated to go to a local shelter or evacuate to any of the 4 islands that said they will take evacuees sounds like he set the rule not the cruiselines.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcboston.com/news/national-international/st-vincent-warns-of-volcanic-eruption-orders-evacuations/2350305/%3famp

Well, seems they have administered a little over 10,500 doses of the vaccine.  According to Reuters that's only about 5 % of the population.  That would appear to leave a lot of people without a place to go.  Of course their COVID cases have been extremely low over the course of the pandemic.

[Sunshine3601]

4 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

Well, seems they have administered a little over 10,500 doses of the vaccine.  According to Reuters that's only about 5 % of the population.  That would appear to leave a lot of people without a place to go.  Of course their COVID cases have been extremely low over the course of the pandemic.

I was just looking up the same info on how many people there have been vaccinated.   Let's hope the online article has their info wrong as getting the people out of danger zone is most important.  

[pcur]

RCCL has always had a strong "social conscious".  They have helped in the Caribbean for decades after natural disasters.  They have a very strong presence in Labadee with the local workers, and have helped facilitate school supply donations with passengers who organize these efforts.  

 

RCCL just doesn't brag about it; they just pretty quietly do it....all the time.

[mayleeman]

They aren't leaving unvaxxed in the lurch! The area of evacuation is the northern end of St. Vincent. The W Post article says there are about 5 to 6,000 people affected by the evac order. I feel pretty sure the St Vincent govt will help the locals get south safely.

 

But sure, some people need to trash the CDC.

[Sunshine3601]

According to marinetraffic.com Serenade ots is there now.  Looks like a celebrity ship has left the area and heading back to barbados, hopefully with evacuees on board.  

[Jenjer]

Its good to see the ships getting to help. 

 

 

[AF-1]

Let's pray no one dies from this volcano.  Thank you for the cruise lines help.  

[kearney]

Just saw twitter report that the volcano is skewing ask and essentially beginning to erupt .... following @NEMSVG on twitter.... they seem to have the quickest information. I just hope this doesn't end up lasting years and destroying the economy of the island...hopefully the governments quick action to line up ships to evacuate with prevent a larger disaster...  Think about it..what are the odds in a typicial year of having empty cruise ships in the area....!  Now another issue is ash plumb and its impact on air traffic to other islands....

[sandebeach]

1 hour ago, kearney said:

Just saw twitter report that the volcano is skewing ask and essentially beginning to erupt .... following @NEMSVG on twitter.... they seem to have the quickest information. I just hope this doesn't end up lasting years and destroying the economy of the island...hopefully the governments quick action to line up ships to evacuate with prevent a larger disaster...  Think about it..what are the odds in a typicial year of having empty cruise ships in the area....!  Now another issue is ash plumb and its impact on air traffic to other islands....

Volcanic ash can definitely be a problem in the Islands. We were at a conference on St. Thomas many years ago, when Montserrat volcano erupted. Ash in sky was so bad that air traffic from St Thomas was cancelled for 2 days, which meant extra hotel days to pay for us. At least St. Thomas is a beautiful island to be stranded on! 

[sandebeach]

At 8:41 am this morning 9-4-21 an explosive eruption began at La Soufrière volcano in St. Vincent. This is a culmination of the seismic activity that began on April 8. The eruption is ongoing and more information will be shared as things progress. #lasoufriere #uwi #volcano #svg

[crewsweeper]

15 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

And thanks to the CDC, Royal isn't allowing anyone on board who isn't vaccinated.

CDC does not have jurisdiction outside US.  These ships aren't leaving from US ports.

 

And thanks be to god they are relatively close by.