Caribbean ports changed due to storm damage?

We are scheduled to go to St. Maarten in January on the Equinox.

I understand the island is pretty much leveled. What is the likelihood Celebrity will choose another island?

Has this happened before to anyone?

We were supposed to visit St. Maarten and Tortola next month and are wondering where Celebrity will send us now. We LOVE St. Maarten and are grieving for the island and all it's inhabitants - both human and animal.

Itinerary changes happen all the time, not just when an island has been devastated like what's happening now. Once we were on a cruise and another ship had damaged the dock at our next port to the point where even tenders weren't an option so we were diverted to another island. We've also been diverted to avoid storms.

Cruise ships are critical to the economy of St. Maarten and I'm sure the island will rebuild as quickly as possible but there was so much destruction that it will take a while.

We are scheduled to go to St. Maarten in January on the Equinox.

 

I understand the island is pretty much leveled. What is the likelihood Celebrity will choose another island?

 

Has this happened before to anyone?

There is no way anyone here could have any idea about Sint Maarten in January:rolleyes:. We have friends there and hope our cruise can stop in December. But it's just silly to ask here what things will be like in four months.

Currently on Equinox. Perhaps you have missed my reports. We will visit Martinique instead of St. Martin. You can expect a similar change of itinerary although perhaps not to that particular alternative port.

Sint Maarten residents together with French and Dutch authorities will work hard to reopen the airport and port as soon as possible, they live on tourism. It is now too early to set a forecast for when the cruises will return to port.

When Hurricane Ivan struck Grand Cayman in 2005 our Christmas cruise had to divert to Jamaica instead. I'd be surprised if St Maarten will be ready to receive cruise ships and thousands of passengers before this Christmas too.

Been on several cruises where ports were changed due to hurricane damage. Got to St Bart's that way even though they too had some damage.

No way SXM or BVI will receive cruise ship soon. Although the cruise industry is the livelihood of the majority, international help will do better than a couple of cruise ship. They have other things to worry about than supplying fuel, lobster tail and beer for the tourist. The UK, FR, NL, USA is sending military and $$ to help out. That being said, Miami is the hub were they get supplies, etc. We would all like to help out but they need a roof over their head first, new school, new hospital, etc, a never ending list. God bless them - we will return and send donation thru our local branch.

I predict St Maarten will be accepting cruise ships sooner than anyone would guess now...I'll bet by October (Nov at latest) they will be back to operational.

Have lived through 5 hurricanes, the last one 11 months ago in an economy that depends nearly 100% on tourism. Seeing the devastation in SXM, and knowing that the effort will be focused entirely on rebuilding the thousands of destroyed and uninhabitable structures, I think no way they are accepting cruise ships in the next 30 or 60 days. And, if they do, they have lost their collective minds.

We are scheduled to go to St. Maarten in January on the Equinox.

 

I understand the island is pretty much leveled. What is the likelihood Celebrity will choose another island?

 

Has this happened before to anyone?

Very likely you will go somewhere else.

Keith

We've got San Juan, St Thomas and St Maarten in March, 2018. I expect to make San Juan and St Thomas but St Maarten maybe not. In the event that we do we'll be reworking to budget to contribute as much as we can to the local economy. We'd much rather help that way than blindly contribute to some foundation.

Tourism is their livelihood. They will need income to be able to afford all the expenses of rebuilding. They will open the ports as soon as they can.

If you get to go, tip heavily, buy lots of souvenirs, support the economy.

Tourism is there livelihood but even in the USA it took a long time to open New Orleans.

I remember what St. Maarten looked like after it was devastated the last time around. It will take time but the good news is when it rebuilt it was better then ever.

Keith

We've got San Juan, St Thomas and St Maarten in March, 2018. I expect to make San Juan and St Thomas but St Maarten maybe not. In the event that we do we'll be reworking to budget to contribute as much as we can to the local economy. We'd much rather help that way than blindly contribute to some foundation.

We have the same islands, different cruise. Our plan is the same..... plan to help as much as possible if we stop there.

If you did not see - there is another hurricane coming their way in another few days.

If you did not see - there is another hurricane coming their way in another few days.

Hopefully JOSE will turn North enough to just affect the islands close to and including St Maarten and then head off into the Atlantic.

Still not the best news..

bosco

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8055

Cruise port assessment info

Weather Underground tracking for JOSE

https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/atlantic/2017/hurricane-jose

Currently on Equinox. Perhaps you have missed my reports. We will visit Martinique instead of St. Martin. You can expect a similar change of itinerary although perhaps not to that particular alternative port.

Would like to know more about your current sailing as we are to board on 9/15 - where have you been posting and is it possible to update what ports you will be stopping at - knowing of course that they changed your original itinerary but your current one seems doubtful as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer

We're on the Equinox 9/25. Suppose to be visiting St Thomas, Tortola, St Maarten and Antigua. Also Barbados and St Lucia. With the exception of Barbados and St Lucia It will be interested to see what the change in itinerary will be.

I doubt they will be able to go to any of those four islands. There wouldn't be anything to see, except for the ruins of this devastating hurricane.

Would like to know more about your current sailing as we are to board on 9/15 - where have you been posting and is it possible to update what ports you will be stopping at - knowing of course that they changed your original itinerary but your current one seems doubtful as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer

If you go to Travel Alerts on the Celebrity website they've listed the revised itinerary for the Sept 4 sailing. I imagine they'll adjust the Sept 15th sailing depending on what happens with Irma this weekend.

Hurricane Luis in 1995 was only a Cat.4 and cause catastrophic damage. They were months without power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Luis

First St Thomas and Tortola were eliminated (pre hurricane) and we headed south to Curaçao which was added.

Then St. Martin is cancelled and Martinique added as its substitute.

I fully expect Antigua to be cancelled but that is just my opinion as it hasn't happened yet.