Questions for those who just got of the Dawn today (November 12th)

I hope you had a wonderful re-positioning cruise. A few questions for those who were on the sailing...

1 - Did you dock at the Pan American pier or right in Old San Juan (our docs say differently from what the rep on the phone told me)

2 - How did you find San Juan - restaurants, stores open? Power on?

3 - I heard you had St. Croix cancelled on you. Did the captain make any comments on why this was done? I am curious because three ports were changed on us, so this may affect us too.

4 - How was St. Thomas?

Comments on shows and dining (including dailies) would be awesome too if anybody has them).

Thanks

I hope you had a wonderful re-positioning cruise. A few questions for those who were on the sailing...

 

1 - Did you dock at the Pan American pier or right in Old San Juan (our docs say differently from what the rep on the phone told me)

 

Thanks

I am not on this cruise, but the bridge camera as on Nov. 12th shows it is docked in the Pan American East Pier next to the old airport (can see couple of small planes, small boat pier and Condado skyline).

I am not on this cruise, but the bridge camera as on Nov. 12th shows it is docked in the Pan American East Pier next to the old airport (can see couple of small planes, small boat pier and Condado skyline).

 

Thanks for the comment. I forgot that some ships still had the webcams. RCCL does not seem to use them anymore, so I had forgotten about them. Looks like the Pan American pier. One question down...a few more I hopefully await responses on.

You aren't sailing for four months. Any information about St. Croix, San Juan and St. Thomas will be pure speculation and is going to be completely different than what you face in the spring.

St Thomas had most stores open yesterday. They had few offered excursions since we were given 25 hours notice. The skyway is closed. Most people people went to Megan’s bay

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You aren't sailing for four months. Any information about St. Croix, San Juan and St. Thomas will be pure speculation and is going to be completely different than what you face in the spring.

This is November, next month is December - that makes it a month and a bit - 6 weeks to be exact. The cruise we are sailing on is December 28th. Not sure why you call December springtime?:confused:

St Thomas had most stores open yesterday. They had few offered excursions since we were given 25 hours notice. The skyway is closed. Most people people went to Megan’s bay

 

 

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Thanks for the update. Did you do Megan's Bay? Was there evidence of damage there or did it seem OK?

This is November, next month is December - that makes it a month and a bit - 6 weeks to be exact. The cruise we are sailing on is December 28th. Not sure why you call December springtime?:confused:[/quote

 

Your countdown clock says 4 months 22 days!

I just walked in the door from this cruise. It was amazing. We didn't dock in Old San Juan but took a tour and they let us off to shop there. A lot of the stores were closed but it was Sunday. For the most part the damage didn't seem too severe but every now and then you would see a building demolished by the storm. Power was on but we were told it's inconsistent. Actually sailing from San Juan should be fine.

This is November, next month is December - that makes it a month and a bit - 6 weeks to be exact. The cruise we are sailing on is December 28th. Not sure why you call December springtime?:confused:[/quote

 

Your countdown clock says 4 months 22 days!

No it doesn't - 1 month 16 days;)

 

Actually, you were correct. It looks as though I may have pasted the Image URL and not the Ticker URL into my signature for all my upcoming cruises. My error. Thanks for pointing it out.

Thanks for the update. Did you do Megan's Bay? Was there evidence of damage there or did it seem OK?

I did not go to Megan’s Bay but knew skit of people who did. I went shopping instead.

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As far as St. Croix I was told that NCL scouted the island the day before and decided it just wasn't ready for visitors and that St. Thomas was more ready.

In St. Thomas we took a tour around the island. The beauty of the island is still there but the devastation is heart breaking. People's lives have been totally changed. That being said, Megan's Bay looked fine, Coki beach looked amazing and the people of St. Thomas are strong and will come back from this.

I just walked in the door from this cruise. It was amazing. We didn't dock in Old San Juan but took a tour and they let us off to shop there. A lot of the stores were closed but it was Sunday. For the most part the damage didn't seem too severe but every now and then you would see a building demolished by the storm. Power was on but we were told it's inconsistent. Actually sailing from San Juan should be fine.

Thanks for the information, especially so soon after returning home. Glad you had an amazing cruise. It will be our first time on the Dawn, but we loved the Sun and the Spirit years ago, so this will hopefully be a nice reminiscing trip for us since we have only sailed RCCL's largest, newest ships for the past few years. Sailing from San Juan should be fine, I am just concerned about our 3 day pre-cruise stay in San Juan with power on and off (we have the 9th floor in an apartment booked through Airbnb and our two back-up hotels have cancelled on us). I would love to hear more about your voyage if you get an opportunity later.

The electricity situation should be much better by the time you go. I wouldn't worry too much about it until closer to your cruise.

No it doesn't - 1 month 16 days;)

 

Actually, you were correct. It looks as though I may have pasted the Image URL and not the Ticker URL into my signature for all my upcoming cruises. My error. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

That is why I said spring.

 

Having said that I think that they are working quickly. I would expect St. Thomas to be pretty good. an Juan concerns me because of the power issues. There are some good Facebook groups that are documenting recovery efforts that you might want to explore.

 

That is why I said spring.

 

Having said that I think that they are working quickly. I would expect St. Thomas to be pretty good. an Juan concerns me because of the power issues. There are some good Facebook groups that are documenting recovery efforts that you might want to explore.

The Dawn leaves San Juan the first week in December to head to home port in Tampa, so I was originally confused why you were mentioning the spring for my sail date.

 

We got an email from NCL that we will be skipping St. Croix on our New Year cruise and going to St. Thomas instead. A few earlier cruises on the Dawn for Nov/Dec got this message on Friday, but our cruise only got switched today. Guess they are thinking St. Croix is going to take longer to recover than anticipated originally.

 

San Juan is my biggest concern as it is the home port for the Dawn at that time and we will be there for three days pre-cruise. Just trying to get an idea of what to expect. I will be monitoring over the next 5 weeks before we leave to see what it is like there. I had not heard of those Facebook pages you mentioned. Please share if you know of them.

This is November, next month is December - that makes it a month and a bit - 6 weeks to be exact. The cruise we are sailing on is December 28th. Not sure why you call December springtime?:confused:

....

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The Dawn is actually leaving SJU on Jan 7...we are on the repo cruise to Tampa. That said, we also just received notification today about the switch from St. Croix to St. Thomas. There had been speculation and unofficial confirmation of it for a couple days though.

The Dawn leaves San Juan the first week in December to head to home port in Tampa, so I was originally confused why you were mentioning the spring for my sail date.

 

We got an email from NCL that we will be skipping St. Croix on our New Year cruise and going to St. Thomas instead. A few earlier cruises on the Dawn for Nov/Dec got this message on Friday, but our cruise only got switched today. Guess they are thinking St. Croix is going to take longer to recover than anticipated originally.

 

San Juan is my biggest concern as it is the home port for the Dawn at that time and we will be there for three days pre-cruise. Just trying to get an idea of what to expect. I will be monitoring over the next 5 weeks before we leave to see what it is like there. I had not heard of those Facebook pages you mentioned. Please share if you know of them.

We are on a b2b Nov 26th and Dec 3rd out of San Juan. They changed the port to St Thomas for the 1st week, the 2nd they are still planning on St Croix.

We are on a b2b Nov 26th and Dec 3rd out of San Juan. They changed the port to St Thomas for the 1st week, the 2nd they are still planning on St Croix.

They are now switching back to St Thomas for the Dec 3rd sailing also. Online itinerary and excursions have been updated.

We got off the Dawn in San Juan on Nov. 12. There were plenty of taxis at the cruise port. We stayed at the Hilton Doubletree. They not only have power, but service and food in the cafe were exceptional. There didn’t seem to be that many people around, and few tourists. For good reason. Almost everything is closed. We took a taxi one of the 3 days we stayed there. We wanted to try to see something of the fort and old town. After much walking, we found it Impossible to get a taxi. A police officer said he hadn’t seen a taxi in that area for two months. We found a cab line at the Sheridan, and a nice driver who showed us around. He said no cabs are running because there are no tourists. His rate was $38 an hour, which we thought was very reasonable. The bellhop at the hotel and front desk etc, seemed not to know about the fact that no taxis are cruising, since there are NO tourists. Lots of FEMA workers, police, highway patrol from New Jersey, coast guard and the Red Cross hospital ship Comfort, with big tents for people who were waiting for service. We did not feel unsafe. We felt that San Juan is not ready for tourists. Few stores or restaurants open. No traffic lights—the lights and poles are missing...lots of hurricane damage and no electricity except by big generators, some guarded by police officers.

Just our experience. People could not have been kinder or more helpful, as they dealt with no power and shortages. God Bless Puerto Rico!!

We got off the Dawn in San Juan on Nov. 12. There were plenty of taxis at the cruise port. We stayed at the Hilton Doubletree. They not only have power, but service and food in the cafe were exceptional. There didn’t seem to be that many people around, and few tourists. For good reason. Almost everything is closed. We took a taxi one of the 3 days we stayed there. We wanted to try to see something of the fort and old town. After much walking, we found it Impossible to get a taxi. A police officer said he hadn’t seen a taxi in that area for two months. We found a cab line at the Sheridan, and a nice driver who showed us around. He said no cabs are running because there are no tourists. His rate was $38 an hour, which we thought was very reasonable. The bellhop at the hotel and front desk etc, seemed not to know about the fact that no taxis are cruising, since there are NO tourists. Lots of FEMA workers, police, highway patrol from New Jersey, coast guard and the Red Cross hospital ship Comfort, with big tents for people who were waiting for service. We did not feel unsafe. We felt that San Juan is not ready for tourists. Few stores or restaurants open. No traffic lights—the lights and poles are missing...lots of hurricane damage and no electricity except by big generators, some guarded by police officers.

 

Just our experience. People could not have been kinder or more helpful, as they dealt with no power and shortages. God Bless Puerto Rico!!

Thanks for you perspective on what you found on the 12th of November in San Juan. It does not paint a rosy picture for those of us traveling there to cruise, but hopefully by the time we are there in 5 weeks, things will have improved and the tourists will be back, thus providing restaurant, store owners, and taxis more income from our tourist dollars.

We were on the repo and St. Thomas was working on getting back to normal. I believe we were the 5th cruise ship in, and the people were so happy to have us there.

When driving around you can see downed trees, downed power lines and poles, washed out roads etc., but the island is still very nice, just not gorgeous like it was.

In SJPR there were plenty of taxis at the cruise port. Old San Juan was still without power in a lot of places, but we wound up staying at the Condado Vanderbilt, and while pricy, it was fully functional and a nice place.

I would think that by the time you leave, SJPR and USVI will both be much further ahead in the rebuild process.

Hope this helps,

Mike