Islands Post Hurricanes

Hi, I am looking into booking a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean from Port Canaveral but I am wondering what condition the islands are in after the Hurricane's last year. I know that Puerto Rico is still recovering but not sure about anywhere else. Wondering if anyone has been to any of the islands this year and can let me know what to expect if I go.

Thank you

We were in St. Thomas in November. We had been there previously 4 times. The island had very little electric, mold smells in the stores that were open. Lots of damage to Maeganks Bay and St. John. Go to the southern Caribbean where there was no damage.

Hi, I am looking into booking a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean from Port Canaveral but I am wondering what condition the islands are in after the Hurricane's last year. I know that Puerto Rico is still recovering but not sure about anywhere else. Wondering if anyone has been to any of the islands this year and can let me know what to expect if I go.

 

Thank you

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

We went on same cruise in December last year. We even stayed in San Juan for 5 extra days post cruise. Most places were open in San Juan. There were a few signs of uprooted trees outside the hotel (Marriott Stellaris) but all restaurants were up and running. We went into town a couple times. More damage there but quiet a few stores were open and the fort was amazing. All the other islands you mentioned we didn’t see any actual damage. We did tours on all the islands. It was amazing. Have a great time.

We went on same cruise in December last year. We even stayed in San Juan for 5 extra days post cruise. Most places were open in San Juan. There were a few signs of uprooted trees outside the hotel (Marriott Stellaris) but all restaurants were up and running. We went into town a couple times. More damage there but quiet a few stores were open and the fort was amazing. All the other islands you mentioned we didn’t see any actual damage. We did tours on all the islands. It was amazing. Have a great time.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

You saw no damage in St. Maarten? I've seen plenty of posts by other people stating that the island (especially on the French side) is still decimated. Did you stay right by the port?

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

Sorry we didn’t stop at st marten they bypassed it because of the damage. All other islands on that schedule were all good though. I think we docked in Martinique instead. Sorry again for the mistake.

Oh, I'd love to see Martinique too! I had my heart set on seeing Marigot and Grand Case, but may just stick to Dutch side.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

Oh, I'd love to see Martinique too! I had my heart set on seeing Marigot and Grand Case, but may just stick to Dutch side.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

Wasn’t my favorite island out of all of them but still beautiful. Antigua is amazing. As is Barbados. We will be going back again in December 2019 for the 10 day cruise with NCL. Girls cruise this past February was great going to Roatan Belize Cozumel and Costa Maya. Family cruise this October is just a 3 island stop As first time cruise for son daughter and grandkids so 3 days at sea Bahamas st Thomas and Tortola then girls cruise again in February For 9 days. It’s the only way to travel. Love it.

Hi! We're booked on the Celebrity Summit out of San Juan. Our itinerary is St. Croix, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and St. Maarten. Does anyone know if St. Maartin, Dominica, & Grenada have recovered well enough for tourists to visit? We've been to St. Maarten several times, we usually go to Orient Beach. Barbados we've been to once, the rest are new to us. Any suggestions/advice?

Hi! We're booked on the Celebrity Summit out of San Juan. Our itinerary is St. Croix, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and St. Maarten. Does anyone know if St. Maartin, Dominica, & Grenada have recovered well enough for tourists to visit? We've been to St. Maarten several times, we usually go to Orient Beach. Barbados we've been to once, the rest are new to us. Any suggestions/advice?

We missed out Dominica and St Maartin due to damage - hoping they are okay as we are back in December.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Forums mobile app

We're sailing out of San Juan in 3 weeks- St. Thomas, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten. We'll be back July 4th, so I'd be happy to give you a better idea then if you're still looking for info.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

I look forward to your report back!

St Thomas in November was not great. At Megan’s Bay they were planting new trees as it was bare. Grenada was fine, great island.

We did a cruise in March that left from San Juan. We went to St Croix, St Kitts, St Lucia, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbados, St Martin, and St Thomas.

Old San Juan was recovering. Not a lot of damage evident. They have electricity and water. The rest of Puerto Rico, not so much.

Lots of tarps.

Our taxi driver said that he still didn’t have electricity. The pier we left from in Old San Juan was partly restored but still showed damage. We mostly walked around OSJ and we visited the Forts

We stayed at El Convento and it was fine. The shops and restaurants were open and also seemed fine

The port area of St Croix had some damage... some of it from prior hurricanes. We didn’t go far from the pier.

St Kitts, St Lucia, Guadeloupe, and Barbados were fine. They hadn’t been affected by either hurricane. Antigua was fine but Barbuda - also part of that country - had been badly damaged. We had not been scheduled to go there.

St Maarten - the Dutch side had signs of damage, but they are making good progress. St Martin - the French side - had parts that looked like they hadn’t been touched, lots of reconstruction, and parts where people were living in tents set up in their yards.

I have photos but they are not on my iPad. I can post them later.

The parts of St Thomas we saw - mostly around the Havensight port area - were mostly fine. Senor Frogs was still damaged and closed. We took a catamaran tour to St John (Honeymoon Beach). We saw some damage, some rebuilding. We had a really great day!

Everywhere the people were so glad we had come. They were upbeat and in good spirits despite everything. It was amazing. We spent more than we might have and tipped well. Everyone was grateful. We were very glad we decided not to cancel.

So go. Spend money. Bring smiles and hope that the recovery continues. They are doing their best to make sure you enjoy your visit. We were asked everywhere to tell our friends that they were open for business. And hope that Mother Nature gives them a break this year!

We did a cruise in March that left from San Juan. We went to St Croix, St Kitts, St Lucia, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbados, St Martin, and St Thomas.

 

Old San Juan was recovering. Not a lot of damage evident. They have electricity and water. The rest of Puerto Rico, not so much.

 

Lots of tarps.

 

 

Our taxi driver said that he still didn’t have electricity. The pier we left from in Old San Juan was partly restored but still showed damage. We mostly walked around OSJ and we visited the Forts

 

We stayed at El Convento and it was fine. The shops and restaurants were open and also seemed fine

 

The port area of St Croix had some damage... some of it from prior hurricanes. We didn’t go far from the pier.

 

St Kitts, St Lucia, Guadeloupe, and Barbados were fine. They hadn’t been affected by either hurricane. Antigua was fine but Barbuda - also part of that country - had been badly damaged. We had not been scheduled to go there.

 

St Maarten - the Dutch side had signs of damage, but they are making good progress. St Martin - the French side - had parts that looked like they hadn’t been touched, lots of reconstruction, and parts where people were living in tents set up in their yards.

 

I have photos but they are not on my iPad. I can post them later.

 

The parts of St Thomas we saw - mostly around the Havensight port area - were mostly fine. Senor Frogs was still damaged and closed. We took a catamaran tour to St John (Honeymoon Beach). We saw some damage, some rebuilding. We had a really great day!

 

Everywhere the people were so glad we had come. They were upbeat and in good spirits despite everything. It was amazing. We spent more than we might have and tipped well. Everyone was grateful. We were very glad we decided not to cancel.

 

So go. Spend money. Bring smiles and hope that the recovery continues. They are doing their best to make sure you enjoy your visit. We were asked everywhere to tell our friends that they were open for business. And hope that Mother Nature gives them a break this year!

What a great attitude you have! We'll be in St Thomas in October. Do you remember who took you to Honeymoon Beach in the catamaran? We're trying to decide what to do there.Thanks!

We did an eastern Caribbean a couple weeks ago. San Juan is back up & running just fine. We walked to Castillo San Cristobal from the port, took one of the trolleys from there to del Morro, walked to the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, then walked back to the port. There was some construction here & there, possibly hurricane related, but everything was open for business.

We took a taxi to Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas. Again, we could see some damage and sporadic construction, but saw no major devastation on the route we took.

Our final port was Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. I asked our taxi driver if they were hit. He said no, but his English wasn't the greatest, so I don't know if he understood me, because I've heard elsewhere that they were hit. A lot of road construction in that area, but saw no major damage.

What a great attitude you have! We'll be in St Thomas in October. Do you remember who took you to Honeymoon Beach in the catamaran? We're trying to decide what to do there.Thanks!

Thanks! I do have the name of the ship, but I have to go through my notes. I will get back to you on that. It was billed as a Champagne cruise to St John. The crew were great and we had a wonderful day.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Found a link for it. Dancing Dolphin was the ship and the Captain was a woman! Girl Power!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147405-d3755459-r371925497-St_Thomas_Cruise_Excursions_Tours-Charlotte_Amalie_St_Thomas_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Cyber Kat, thank you so much! Was this a ship's excursion? I've been looking at one on our celebrity Summit cruise coming up in October. Someone else had posted that it was disorganized and they ended up with only a half hour on the beach. Sorry to ask so many questions!

Cyber Kat, thank you so much! Was this a ship's excursion? I've been looking at one on our celebrity Summit cruise coming up in October. Someone else had posted that it was disorganized and they ended up with only a half hour on the beach. Sorry to ask so many questions!

Yes- we booked it through Viking. Not knowing the conditions, we just didn’t want to take a chance.

They had those open air taxi/bus vehicles to take us to the boat - about a 15 minute ride from Havensight. We boarded. Plenty of room for everyone to sit wherever they wanted. They had soft drinks until after we swam.

They got out to St John fairly quickly with some pointing out of sights and answering questions about the hurricane. They anchored off the beach and you could swim in or take the Zodiac.

They gave everyone life vests as a precaution. We elected to take the Zodiac [emoji12] but a lot of people swam.

It was just really nice we were all hanging out floating around chatting. It was really nice. One caution though - there were a lot of rocks in the water. Water shoes are advised. We had heard that we should take them because the hurricanes washed a lot of debris in the water. I didn’t notice anything but rocks

Slowly everyone headed back to the boat. I didn’t really time it. We just went back when we were ready. They had cheese, crackers, bread , fruit and chocolate and of course champagne! You could have rum punch or soda also. Some people mixed rum punch and champagne! It was our last day. They were making the most [emoji12]

They put up the sails and we had a leisurely sail back. It was a lovely end to a fabulous cruise!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Sounds great! Thanks again!

Grenada was fine, great island.

What tour / excursion did you do in Grenada, if any? We will be there for the first time in December and haven’t had any response on the Grenada board.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We're sailing out of San Juan in 3 weeks- St. Thomas, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten. We'll be back July 4th, so I'd be happy to give you a better idea then if you're still looking for info.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app