Empress of the Seas - In Cuba what they going to do?

I've family and friends on this boat. Have not been able to reach them.

Anyone know what RC is going to do with this boat? I know the Sept 9 cruise is canceled but as of this afternoon the boat is still in cuba with passangers.

Can they get back to Ft Lauderdale or even if they do - wondering how anybody is going to get flights out of there.

I've family and friends on this boat. Have not been able to reach them.

 

Anyone know what RC is going to do with this boat? I know the Sept 9 cruise is canceled but as of this afternoon the boat is still in cuba with passangers.

 

Can they get back to Ft Lauderdale or even if they do - wondering how anybody is going to get flights out of there.

I believe Tampa is the home port of Empress now.

I'm thinking they will head toward Mexico where everyone else is congregating. They can't stay in Cuba. There might be enough time to get them back to FLL by Saturday but then the ship would have to race back out and make way west. It is supposed to hit Miami on Sunday morning.

Empress is now due back in Tampa at 7am Friday. Passengers can get off or stay onboard. They will sail out ASAP and stay out until it's safe to come back. They left Havana this morning rather than tonight.

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just had phone call--passengers can get off tomorrow or go out to sea for 5 days. Tampa airport will close. Car rentals are full. Hotels? This is from passenger on board. They will get off and stay with nearby relative but.....

just had phone call--passengers can get off tomorrow or go out to sea for 5 days. Tampa airport will close. Car rentals are full. Hotels? This is from passenger on board. They will get off and stay with nearby relative but.....

Have you seen an announcement that Tampa airport will close? I've not seen that yet.

Major earthquake in Mexico this morning. Country is in shambles USA can't help. Don't know if Mexico can deal with all these ships now.

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Mexico is not in shambles--the small area in Chipas is in trouble. Mexico is 2000 miles long. They are happily welcoming any/all cruise ships into the ports. Tourist money will be gratefully taken. This is a bonanza for those ports.

Have you seen an announcement that Tampa airport will close? I've not seen that yet.

Last flight from Tampa just took off. 8:30E.

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Last flight from Tampa just took off. 8:30E.

Thank-you.

I have a friend who stayed on the Empress and said the captain announced to the passengers who stayed onboard to avoid the hurricane , that they will be departing in Gavelston Texas. There was a lot of angry passengers due to this who are from the Tampa area. The reason was because the hurricane shifted more west and is headed directly for Tampa. The ship may not be able to port back there if the pier is damaged. This hurricane really must be a headache for the cruise lines and passengers. Prayers for all who are affected.

I was on this sailing and chose to get off Friday morning in Tampa. I could have stayed, but they said it could be up to five days until they returned to Tampa. If they do go to another port, will RC pay for their flights home to Tampa?

I have a friend who stayed on the Empress and said the captain announced to the passengers who stayed onboard to avoid the hurricane , that they will be departing in Gavelston Texas. There was a lot of angry passengers due to this who are from the Tampa area. The reason was because the hurricane shifted more west and is headed directly for Tampa. The ship may not be able to port back there if the pier is damaged. This hurricane really must be a headache for the cruise lines and passengers. Prayers for all who are affected.

So why didn't all these people from the Tampa area get off the ship also? Hurricanes are very unpredictable.. no one thought about the pier in Tampa being damaged?

So why didn't all these people from the Tampa area get off the ship also?

They wanted the extra C&A points.:p

So why didn't all these people from the Tampa area get off the ship also? Hurricanes are very unpredictable.. no one thought about the pier in Tampa being damaged?

Exactly. Those people have no right to complain where they end up disembarking. They had the choice to get off. They chose not to.

Empress came into Galveston Tx this afternoon around 5:00. I watched it come in.

Has it left yet? I'm on the 9/18 sailing and so far RC says everything is on schedule but I see they are using it for humanitarian purposes now in the Keys but also that there is still a lot of lingering flooding and electrical outages in Havana. Not to mention clean up from the flooding. Port Tampa Bay says it is now due in Monday morning. I'm concerned as we are supposed to fly to Tampa on Friday and I'd rather not get to Tampa and have something change and then have to try and get back or find a place to stay.

We are also booked on 9.18. I s/w RCI customer service yesterday. Told "still up in the air"; waiting to hear more about Cuba conditions??? They suggested to wait it out vs us cancelling and filing a Trip protection claim. If RCI cancels then full refund. RCI is posting itinerary changes daily on their website; still no mention about ours :(

Latest news is they are awaiting confirmation of infrastructure in Havana prior to making a decision:

So why didn't all these people from the Tampa area get off the ship also? Hurricanes are very unpredictable.. no one thought about the pier in Tampa being damaged?

We were on that sailing. Why did we not get off the ship in Tampa? Because at that time, Hurricane Irma was predicted to hit Cocoa Beach and we were under a mandatory evacuation order. 279 passengers elected to stay, some from Florida and many from other places. People from Texas started yelling that since we were in the Gulf of Mexico, why couldn't the ship let everyone off in Galveston? Keep in mind, those people were in no way ever to be effected by Irma........it was just "convenient" for them. We were told that we would stay out to sea until probably Wed., when they would know more about where Irma had gone. Irma hitting Tampa was not even in the picture. All of a sudden, they decided that the ship would become a relief ship and would go to either Key West or the Caribbean. That was then they said we would go to Galveston on Sunday instead of waiting to see what was happening in Tampa. We could get off Sunday night or wait until Monday morning.They took us to Galveston and then shuttled us to Houston to the airports. From then on, we were on our own. Many of us in Florida or South Carolina, or Georgia, had our cars at the parking garage in Tampa, so no matter where we lived, we needed to go to Tampa first. Flights and hotels in Houston were extremely hard to come by.........most hotels there are filled with FEMA, insurance adjusters, contractors, etc. The one hotel we finally found was being used by Home Depot relief workers and we got the last room there. So, we ended up staying there from Monday until this morning when we flew back to Tampa to get our car and drive home. We just got power here last night and until 2:00 this afternoon, we had no water. We are still under a boil water alert.

So, no, many of us did NOT just stay on that ship to cruise longer or get more points!! We were in the eye of the storm at the time we had to make the decision to get off or stay on the ship. As it turned out, Tampa was fine, the port re-opened yesterday, and Irma turned and hit our barrier island when it turned and went across the state of Florida. The crew was very accommodating at first and then things sort of went downhill. They moved everyone to decks 8, 9, & 10 to make it easier for the staff, so anyone on another deck had to pack, move, and unpack. I have never packed and unpacked so much in my life on a cruise. Normal unpacking when you get on the ship. Then, when we got to Tampa we had to pack, take our bags and go through Customs and then re-board. Then, pack again and unpack when they moved us to another deck. Then, when we got to Galveston, even if we were staying until Monday morning, we were given 45 minutes notice Sunday at 5:15 that we had to pack, take our bags off, and go through Customs and re-board with our bags. Customs never looked at our bags and just said, "Did you buy anything?" So, that made a total of 4 times...........LOL. We lived out of the suitcases until we got off in the morning and did the same thing at the hotel or the number of times would have been even higher.

You could ask the same question to 3 different crew members......not talking wait staff or room stewards, here........and get 3 different answers. They would announce one thing and then do another. They were incredibly disorganized with each passing day. By the last night, only the buffet was opened for dinner and the food was less than mediocre. As of today, according to RCCL, Empress of the Seas "may" be used in the Keys after they assess the need there. So, there was absolutely no reason that ship could not return to Tampa. Besides, if you look at our itinerary, we sailed from Tampa to the Keys before we got to Havana. So, just sail back over from Texas, stop in Tampa, let us off, and go on to Key West....it's not like it was out of their way!! I'm not sure I will sail with RCCL again after this experience.

I live outside of Naples Florida, most of the state was under mandatory evacuation. Traffic was at a stand still on the roads. People trying to get as far away as possible. I doubt anyone getting off that ship if they lived in the Keys or southwest Florida could have made it anywhere near there homes. The hotels were fool with evacuees. Shelters filled up fast no gasoline, or electric power, short supply of food as with no power it spoiled fast. People went as far as they could. I can't blame people for taking Royal up on there offer. Not my first Hurricane, just the worst I have seen. Some of those people could have possibly ended up in Tampa without shelter when Irma hit. What ever made Royal abandon them in another Hurricane devastated area I don't know. I have heard it was because people from Texas complained loud and hard that they wanted to go home, I don't know if that is true or not. Royal said the were going on Humanitarian mission. Maybe people without anywhere and anyway to go and the potential of no home to go to after Irma left would have been considered a humanitarian mission. Perhaps the people that wanted off in Texas offered a room or helped them find a place to stay until Irma left. I know so many people here in my area have lost everything except there humanity for helping each other. Not to mention the power companies coming from all over the US and volunteers from around the world unselfishly dedicating there time, water, food and comfort without wanting anything in return not looking for good PR as Royal did. When I thanked them they all said, you would do the same for us which in the past I have always tried to do. Perhaps some of those abandoned in Houston would have helped with the humanitarian effort as some did on other cruise ships. Again I don't know maybe the were given the option to stay on-board to help out and denied.

I've family and friends on this boat. Have not been able to reach them.

 

 

 

Anyone know what RC is going to do with this boat? I know the Sept 9 cruise is canceled but as of this afternoon the boat is still in cuba with passangers.

 

 

 

Can they get back to Ft Lauderdale or even if they do - wondering how anybody is going to get flights out of there.

It's a ship, boats you row[emoji33]

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