San Juan port-Fascination

As many speculated... so far 3 cruises cancelled and Miami based until further notice.... stinks for those booked but understandable under the circumstances. I hope they are able to disembark the PR residents on the ship so they can get home to assess situations!

As many speculated... so far 3 cruises cancelled and Miami based until further notice.... stinks for those booked but understandable under the circumstances. I hope they are able to disembark the PR residents on the ship so they can get home to assess situations!

I really strongly stand by my post from last night; ship will end up chartered as housing

Sad for those that were planning their vacations. The full refund is awesome. Royal Caribbean is only offering Future cruise credit.

As for PR residents, they maybe better on the ship. But it is understandable.

Let's keep them all in our thoughts and prayers

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I really strongly stand by my post from last night; ship will end up chartered as housing

Or what if the Fascination takes over the Elation's cruises for a week or two so the Elation's dry dock can be fully completed?

I really strongly stand by my post from last night; ship will end up chartered as housing

I was thinking this too. It makes sense since they've cancelled several cruises to dock the ship in San Juan to use as housing for the recovery effort, at least in the short term. I wouldn't be surprised if FEMA is talking to both Carnival and Royal Caribbean right now to work it out.

Or what if the Fascination takes over the Elation's cruises for a week or two so the Elation's dry dock can be fully completed?

I know Elation had to depart dry dock during Irma for safety, but is the current dry dock not scheduled to complete on time? Is the Freeport yard able to accommodate extended time in dry Dock?

It really will depend if fed govt requests use of the ship for PR

I know Elation had to depart dry dock during Irma for safety, but is the current dry dock not scheduled to complete on time? Is the Freeport yard able to accommodate extended time in dry Dock?

 

It really will depend if fed govt requests use of the ship for PR

Not sure, but I know they lost a week or so due to Irma. Also looking at pictures on Instagram, there is still a lot of work to be done for her to be ready next week. If they get everything finished under the water line, they could just wet dock her to finish up the rest of the work.

San Juan will be closed to cruises for at least a month and I bet that's pretty conservative. As I noted, I wouldn't be surprised if both ships (Fascination and AoS) are contracted out as housing for the recovery effort. They can't set up a temporary homeport and reschedule so many people from so many cruises on such short notice.

 

It's an interesting problem, what to do with current cruisers. The people who live on PR will want to go home to check on their loved ones and homes, but the last thing PR needs is another 10,000 people to take care of in the aftermath, who are currently safe and secure. I wonder if they will be debarked and sheltered in Miami?

I've seen other cruise lines divert to Miami for the arrival port vs PR

OK, so we are booked on Fascination Sept 24. NO CALLS FROM CARNIVAL, NO NOTICES, all phone calls to Carnival say they will know and will send an update by 1 today, nope, no update, my flight has been cancelled so I cannot get there. There is no way that ship is leaving on Sunday. The fact that Carnival cannot let us know, is selfish and unprofessional!!! They would know by now if they were able to get the ship that is sailing in the ocean now, back to port. Other cruise lines are not entering PR. WHAT THE HELL?

https://www.carnival.com/travel-alerts.aspx

"Carnival Fascination – September 24

We continue to monitor Hurricane Maria and will confirm our itinerary once the post storm assessment has been completed. To stay up to date, please text CCL1 to CRUISE (278473).."

Text received at about 4:30 ET....

"Carnival Fascination September 24, 2017 -

As a result of damage to our cruise terminal and the uncertainty of when the Port of San Juan will reopen, we have no alternative but to cancel your cruise. A full refund will be automatically processed. An email with more information will follow. For more details, please visit www.carnival.com/travel-alerts."

Does anyone know if the docks at San Juan ports are still there and in tack? We are suppose to sail from San Juan but if there are no docks there how can we do that? Our cruise is October 1, 2017.

Looks like NO

Hurricane Maria

Itinerary Updates 9/22/2017 – 3:30:00 PM (EDT)

Carnival Fascination – San Juan

The Port of San Juan is currently closed. Fascination guests currently on board enjoyed a day in Antigua today and are now on their way to San Juan. Our intention is to be in position to dock this weekend, in the event the port re-opens, in order to give guests an opportunity to debark, if they wish to do so. Alternatively, guests may also remain on board as the ship repositions to Miami, where it will arrive on Tuesday afternoon and stay until Wednesday. Our airline partners are committed to working with our guests to waive any change fees associated with rescheduling flights.

Port officials have informed us that our terminal in San Juan has sustained extensive damage as a result of Hurricane Maria. The assessment is still in progress but it now appears that it will take several weeks to make the necessary repairs. Unfortunately, this means the following San Juan and Barbados sailings will have to be cancelled:

San Juan departures

September 24

October 1

October 8

Barbados departures

September 27

October 4

October 11

For all canceled cruises, a full refund will be automatically processed, including Fly2Fun reservations, pre-purchased Carnival Adventures, Fun Shop purchases and beverage packages. The refund will be processed to your original form of payment.

Given the circumstances, we are working with our airline partners to assist those guests with independent air travel regarding the waiver of change fees.

Additional information will be provided to our guests in an email later today.

There's open and there's open, if you know what I mean. The airport may open tomorrow evening, but I doubt they'll be allowing tourists onto the island. It will be open for people who live there and for people in the rescue and recovery effort.

 

PR has no excess food or water and no electricity. The tourist industry there will be at a standstill until the basics are restored.

I agree. I also heard on the news that the airport will be open but only for relief efforts and government planes, not open to tourists.

I agree. I also heard on the news that the airport will be open but only for relief efforts and government planes, not open to tourists.

SJ airport was chaos today. Hoping to get 10 flights out, ended with three. Tomorrow hoping to do two flights. These are AA flights. People said it was still wet in areas inside, windows broken, no reg comm systems working trying to use back up.

SJ airport was chaos today. Hoping to get 10 flights out, ended with three. Tomorrow hoping to do two flights. These are AA flights. People said it was still wet in areas inside, windows broken, no reg comm systems working trying to use back up.

They also had to return due to communication problems with ATC

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I don't want to start a new thread for this so hopefully someone sees this and can answer. I was on the cancelled 10/1 sailing and it says refunds will be processed to the original form of payment. I paid with Allstate gift cards. The original gift cards were electronic but I'm sure Carnival has no way to know that. Does anyone know if Carnival does their refunds on to electronic gift cards or am I waiting for a gift card to come in the mail?

I don't want to start a new thread for this so hopefully someone sees this and can answer. I was on the cancelled 10/1 sailing and it says refunds will be processed to the original form of payment. I paid with Allstate gift cards. The original gift cards were electronic but I'm sure Carnival has no way to know that. Does anyone know if Carnival does their refunds on to electronic gift cards or am I waiting for a gift card to come in the mail?

that's tough one hope you kept your original cards. I would call Carnival at this time about your sailing to get a better answer.

I really don't understand how Royal will be departing San Juan for a 3 day later this week, and as far as I've seen they haven't cancelled any of their later dates.

And somebody on this thread needs a new source. ;)

that's tough one hope you kept your original cards. I would call Carnival at this time about your sailing to get a better answer.

On the line with them now. Got through really quickly for anyone that needs to call in tonight. I've been on the phone with them for over half an hour though. A gift card is getting mailed to me but somehow I have 2 addresses on file. It's taken this long to try to get it fixed and I ended up on hold when I asked how long it would be before the card was mailed out.

I also tried to see if I could book the 10/8 offer that was sent in our cancellation email. She was trying to charge me $350 for Bahamas taxes, fees, and port expenses, which seemed high, and then was trying to connect that to my cancelled sailing or something. I was afraid I'd end up losing money so I just dropped the offer booking and I'll call back tomorrow when it says booking starts.

I have spent my day on the phone calling travelocity to gay my flights cancelled. They will only offer JetBlue credit for my oct 1 flight home. This whole thing is crazy and I totally understand the situation in Puerto Rico. Too bad the airlines are not working well with us cruisers!!!!

Or what if the Fascination takes over the Elation's cruises for a week or two so the Elation's dry dock can be fully completed?

Looks like that is what's happening.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2546584

I really strongly stand by my post from last night; ship will end up chartered as housing

According to this article, when Katrina hit NOLA and Carnival "rented" out three of their ships, the response was not what they had anticipated. Most of the cabins were not utilized. The last three paragraphs on page 2 says it all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092701960.html

According to this article, when Katrina hit NOLA and Carnival "rented" out three of their ships, the response was not what they had anticipated. Most of the cabins were not utilized. The last three paragraphs on page 2 says it all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092701960.html

Carnival still got paid.

Carnival still got paid.

Yes they did get paid but FEMA found out that the ships weren't being utilized like they thought they would. It makes no sense to spend 236 million dollars for housing and not have people use it because they thought it would be a dead end away from jobs and rebuilding. Just my thoughts...

Yes they did get paid but FEMA found out that the ships weren't being utilized like they thought they would. It makes no sense to spend 236 million dollars for housing and not have people use it because they thought it would be a dead end away from jobs and rebuilding. Just my thoughts...

Yes, I understand. And you make a good and reasonable point. Those that COULD leave the NOLA area, did so. Many people left for good. Those that needed the housing felt cut off from being able to work their way out of their issues. There was working infrastructure in surrounding areas and so they didn't want to use the ships.

I see Puerto Rico as different; the entire island is basically cut off now. There is no suitable temporary housing for responders / clean up crew. There is no area, right now, where people can relocate to, short of trying to leave the island if they have the resources and friends or family on mainland to house them. The population of PR is 8X-10X that of NOLA, and not all of NOLA was lights out for extended period of time.

Carnival still got paid.

Kind of sounds like you think they shouldn't have been? Is that the case?

Not their fault the cabins weren't utilized, they were available. Carnival could have instead been using the ships to sail out of other ports. Seems to me they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. :rolleyes:

Kind of sounds like you think they shouldn't have been? Is that the case?

 

Not their fault the cabins weren't utilized, they were available. Carnival could have instead been using the ships to sail out of other ports. Seems to me they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. :rolleyes:

No, I don't think that. Why are you under that impression? They were paid for the time the ship was out of revenue generating operation. I didn't cast any aspersions so don't use your misunderstanding to attack me...