Jewel of The Seas-January

I'm sure I'm worrying about things too early but anyone else concerned about cruising to the southern Carribean this winter?? This is basically a splurge for my hubby and I and I'm concerned that the islands won't be in great shape by the end of January?!:o

I'm sure I'm worrying about things too early but anyone else concerned about cruising to the southern Carribean this winter?? This is basically a splurge for my hubby and I and I'm concerned that the islands won't be in great shape by the end of January?!:o

The further south your itinerary takes you the less risk you will face. With regards to the itineraries offered on Jewel this January, the damage is more focused on St.Thomas, perhaps St.Croix, and the more northerly of the ports of call, not those in the south. Several of those listed on the itineraries are not in the Caribbean hurricane zone to begin with, so they would not have had any impact from the storms. RCI will also advise you in advance of any ports of call to be missed with alternatives or days at sea listed with a revised itinerary. The ports of call you will make will be fine, otherwise they will be not be scheduled for your itinerary.

Generally speaking, the southern Caribbean itineraries remain the least likely to have any itinerary impact. The eastern Caribbean itineraries - and westerns that would include Key West - are the ones that will likely have the most revised itineraries.

Southern Caribbean had very little impact from the hurricane. I would not have any concerns.

Keith

Southern Caribbean to means the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

If that is your itinerary, no worries as those islands were not affected by the hurricane.

If you are talking about the islands of St Thomas, St Maarten -- that is the eastern Caribbean and they will not be open for quite some time.

Southern Caribbean to means the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

If that is your itinerary, no worries as those islands were not affected by the hurricane.

If you are talking about the islands of St Thomas, St Maarten -- that is the eastern Caribbean and they will not be open for quite some time.

Jewel offers two itineraries in January from Puerto Rico to the Southern - one of which includes St. Thomas and St. Croix en route to the more southerly islands. Another does not. The one with St. Thomas may be revised, the other probably will not. None of the ABC's are included with either but Barbados and some of the others in that region are - and they will be fine.

The ABC's and Barbados are not in the Caribbean hurricane zone as mentioned before so they would not normally be affected anyway - and certainly were not this time.

The SOUTHERN Caribbean wasn't hit by the storms...and they rarely are. The Eastern Carib has been in line a lot this season...storms keep "training" over the same spots....terrible if you live in those places!

Ok, lets put some reality into the OP's concerns. Yes, there are definitely going to be changes to your itinerary. If visiting islands like St Maarten and St Thomas are important to you, then you might consider canceling. Otherwise, just sit back and let your cruise line revamp your itinerary so that you will be calling at Ports that are still functioning. You can believe that all the cruise lines are now going nutz trying to figure out revised itineraries.

Also consider that there are still islands that have not been touched by all the storms including places like Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire. We have a 21 day Caribbean cruise (Celebrity) in November and are not losing any sleep over where that cruise will go. We figure its up to the cruise line to deal with those issues and we shall just go with the flow.

Hank

I don’t think you have to worry about it. St Maarten was hit badly but will be open for cruise ships on November 11. Since the local economies depend so much on tourism, the islands will be trying very hard to get things back up and running. We did a western Caribbean cruise several months after they had been hard hit. There were still some signs of the destruction they experienced but we were still able to have a good port experience.

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Since the original post was rather vague, instead of guessing where OP is cruising I looked it up. In another post, she says this:

Virtually a first time cruiser here. Hubby and I are sailing on Jewel of the Seas, Caribbean, end of January. St. Thomas, St.kitts, Antigua, Barbados and st. Lucia.... We are beach goers, snorklers etc. not into history or walking tours, pretty active couple.

So - not a true full Southern itinerary and they will have problems porting at St. Thomas and perhaps Antigua.

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No, Antigua is fine. In fact, ships are diverting to Antigua if their original destinations have been damaged in hurricanes.

No, Antigua is fine. In fact, ships are diverting to Antigua if their original destinations have been damaged in hurricanes.

Good to hear. :)