mayleeman

It certainly changes my calculus for flights under 1000 miles.

Picture of the banyan tree pretty much confirms it isn't likely to have much left.

I wonder how much of seniors' credit card debt is due to medical bills.

As my younger friends say...OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!

As I said before, according to county sources they are going to need the resorts for housing since the shelters, mostly schools, can't be used indefinitely. This was one reason why tourists are being diverted and discouraged from booking. The people who worked the west side aren't "local" any more, and they can't work there if they have to commute through the highway used for recovery and rebuilding. But I am a pessimist, I admit. (Maybe the resorts will house their workers and also be able to host some tourists.... 🤔). I would visit Slappy Cakes if I could get there!

Here are 3 before/after satellite pictures showing some of the coastal section of Lahaina. I haven't found any pictures showing how far toward the north the fire went. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/10/us/satellite-images-maui-fires-damage/index.html

Your familiarity with Maui is likely much much greater than mine, so sorry if I seemed too pedantic! I think tourism "as soon as it is practical" is correct, but I think it is going to require at least a year before the infrastructure, housing, workforce, and economic resources will be sufficient to have tourism be more than a trickle. I can't imagine all the planning meetings that are going to be needed, and all the legal battles over property provenance. I expect that there will be huge battles between restoring Lahaina (keeping its cultural/Hawaiian history preserved), and modernizing it (into another strand of high end resorts to maximize the economic return). It will, I am afraid, make the fighting over the observatories look like singing Kumbaya around a campfire. I hope insurance coverage was adequate for all those small businesses, but alas, it never is. Mind-boggling in the complexity of everything.

One of the local sources says that banyan trees are known to grow back but only if the roots aren't burned. That source says the Lahaina tree looks like it has damage that may not be survivable. They also might not be able to bring in arborists to do extensive recovery work or expend resources to save it amidst the devastation downtown. It is a complete wasteland for blocks. Perhaps Japan will send another one as that symbol you mentioned...but likely as cap off of the rebirth, not the beginning.

You might not realize how hard it will be to do that. The main 2 lane highway will not be running commercial vehicles for quite some time, and the tiny north shore road cannot accommodate much of anything except Jeep-type vehicles. The airport up north can fly tourists in and out, but the supplies have to get there, too, and rebuilding Lahaina is likely to take priority once the emergency helicopters aren't needed. Also, the workers who lived in the Lahaina area would need housing and try to recover some stability before they can start serving the whims of high-end tourists. Finally, much of the speculation I have seen is that much of the tourist accomodations will be being used for emergency housing throughout the island. Things in the tourist industry will be highly disrupted and many locales will never be the same.

I think if Celeb reps read this forum, in a couple years we can expect what I call "Gilligan-style" rowing machines in the gym connected to generators and the ship's batteries. You get a couple CC pts for every megawatt you produce.

Thanks! They were a couple miles from the evac zone, so spent most of the night packing. Just happens to be during a trip there by my DIL's brother and family from NC, so lots to do. Never had to evac, fortunately, and the gkids slept through it. Very happy when we finally heard from them!

The harbor is destroyed. Hundreds of homes are gone. Stopping in Kahului would make more sense, because that is a bigger port, the infrastructure is intact, and where most displaced people will be. Cell service in Lahaina will be disrupted for weeks so coordinating anything from cruise ships offshore will be virtually impossible. This will be a job requiring years. There is only 1 highway, 2 lanes wide, along the coast from the entire Kihei/Kahului area (another tiny road winds around the northern tip to the golf resort area). A small airport is up near Kapalua. Our kids live in Kihei and work in Kahului at the main hospital. Paradise has changed drastically.

Meanwhile, how much has a comparable cruise changed in price?

What is improper about it?

Yes. Look on the Celebrity main page here. There are a couple of long threads about Celebrity currently springing a casino vaping 2-month trial on pax on Equinox and Eclipse. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2947848-vaping-in-casino-on-equinox/?do=getNewComment

@mauimary Off topic: With your username, any family or property on Maui? Our kids live in Kihei a couple miles from the evac zone and packed up all night but didn't have to leave. They work at the hospital. Banyan Tree in Lahaina is gone, as are dozens of buildings in the old town section (including the oldest house in Maui, built in 1834). Hope any connections you have are ok!

People who criticize Celebrity here but continue to cruise get dissed for continuing to book on X and not "voting with their wallets." Now someone whose experience causes them to give up on celebrity gets criticized for telling us about it. Seems that any cruise that unpleasant is precisely what we would want to know about lest we think no one really means it.

I don't remember any discount, just the chance to get $55 in (promotional, not cashable) chips that is available to everybody, I believe. I think Celebrity has benefits for MGM members. Dunno about Caesars. Have you looked into the Blue Chip program? But they seem to be moving toward allowing vaping if that is important to you....

Celebrity Smoke

Celebrity Disapppointment

Thanks for the encouraging post! Just to complete the picture...what type of cabin did you have? Did you eat at any specialties? Any particular thing that made your cruise so good? And finally, did you nnotice if any other cruisers were similarly happily surprised?

I saw that. And a bunch of posts after that, too. Kinda got lost in my little gray cells!

OP is asking about the actual Eclipse experience rather than extending the lengthy thread that focused on the Eq. Seems reasonable to me.

And if it is for cost savings, can it be true (as told to one cruiser by their butler contact) that no butlers are being fired immediately? Is it going to lead to fewer getting new contracts over the adjustment period? Or could it be a way to cut down on unauthorized extras being provided by butlers to wangle higher tips?

Cutting costs improves stock...no intent to improve the customer experience. Ask the Circuit City CEO who ruined shopping there by laying off the experienced staff. Stock price was the goal, please the investors. Until shoppers voted with their wallets.