Key West out for how long?

Scheduled on the Dream for T'giving week to KW, Freeport, and Nassau. How long with KW be out of the lineup? Will Carnival substitute a different port, or just add a sea day?

There is no way anyone can answer that accurately at this point.

I have a cruise scheduled for October, 2018 (over a year from now) which includes St. Maarten - Even if the pier is repaired to accept ships by then, I don't expect St. Maarten to be restored to even a shadow of what it was before Irma

Of course right now it's only speculation, but I would think that Key West will be out of commission for quite some time. Damage is extensive. You may get a substitute port or possibly a sea day, but it's way too soon to know. You'll receive notification of any changes prior to your cruise.

We won't know until they get the water supply back and of course electricity.

The Overseas Highway (the road that connects Key West to the mainland) is still closed, between Upper Matecumbe Key and Lower Matecumbe Key, between Lower Matecumbe Key and Long Key, and between Long Key and Duck Key.

I have friends that live in the Keys and they have no idea when they will be able to get back on the island. All they know at this point is their house is still standing.

Scheduled on the Dream for T'giving week to KW, Freeport, and Nassau. How long with KW be out of the lineup? Will Carnival substitute a different port, or just add a sea day?

From what I have seen and heard key west was actually spared the brunt of the storm. I have not seen much in structural damage in key west although there was lots of flooding. Many news stations are showing pics they have a caption of key west although the pics are not in actual key west but further up the road. If you follow both Reed Trimmer and Mike Theiss who are storm chasers they have both said key west missed the brunt of storm and is not in bad shape. Once they get full electricity they should be good to go although there will still be road and yard clean up. I think the biggest concern is how much of the flooding hurt business and when they can open. MM 15-74 is were the major destruction happened and it will take quite some time to rebuild.

From what I have seen and heard key west was actually spared the brunt of the storm.

Hmmmm.....news just said this morning that 1 in 4 structures were lost.

Hmmmm.....news just said this morning that 1 in 4 structures were lost.

That's the issue, it should say the Keys, not key west. Yes there was very bad damage in big pine, marathon, key largo, islamorda, etc which people are referring to as key west when in reality they are not key west but part of the keys.

Monroe County (the extreme tip of mainland Florida on the east coast and the Keys) have had a law for about the last 17 years (?) that anything structure that has been destroyed in a storm may not be replaced unless the new structures meet Monroe County building code (even stricter than the Miami-Dade Code which has been adapted throughout the state).

Keep in mind that many of the structures in Key West have withstood hurricanes for many years.

And yes, many of the pictures are not of Key West but are of Marathon or further north. As someone who used to live in Marathon, we recognized some of the aerial shots and know that at least one of the favorite Marathon shots being used is an area of housing that was on borrowed time before being hit by a major storm.

This is a fairly recent shot of the Keys https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/irma/index.html

I wouldn't get my hopes up for a stop in a couple of months. It looks like most of the structures survived but the docks are full of sand and debris, no telling what's in the shipping channel.

Just want to say:

for anyone on this forum who are from Key West we are thinking of you. Key West "is" one of our favorite ports. If I wasn't afraid to fly I would have flown there every year to take a week long land vacation but I have to be satisfied with a few hours visiting K.W. while on a cruise.

And living in hurricane country, South Louisiana, I do know what you are going through. Prays and hugs that all of you get back to your normal lives soon.

unknown at this time.

We are on the Breeze sailing on Sunday, its now a 7 day cruise to Freeport and Nassau. We are sorry that we will miss Key West but our best wishes go out to all who call it home. May your lives return to normal soon

Of major concern for the Keys is the fact that the water pipeline and power lines from the mainland that ran under Rte 1 and under the numerous bridges have been destroyed. and need to be replaced.

Any old cistern systems (if any still exist) will not provide enough water. As the water line is replaced, the area will be under a" boil water" order for a period of time.

There is a long road to recovery for the Keys.

Of major concern for the Keys is the fact that the water pipeline and power lines from the mainland that ran under Rte 1 and under the numerous bridges have been destroyed. and need to be replaced.

 

Any old cistern systems (if any still exist) will not provide enough water. As the water line is replaced, the area will be under a" boil water" order for a period of time.

 

There is a long road to recovery for the Keys.

So what you're saying is, our T'giving cruise will (likely) be a 7 day/2 port cruise, or is there a possibility that an alternative port will be provided?

**Please note -- I do feel for those affected by the tragedy that was Hurricane Irma, but this is, first and foremost, a cruise-oriented forum to discuss cruises and cruising, which is what I'm doing**

I have no idea what cruise ports you may have.

We are on the Breeze sailing on Sunday, its now a 7 day cruise to Freeport and Nassau. We are sorry that we will miss Key West but our best wishes go out to all who call it home. May your lives return to normal soon

I'm on this cruise as well... I was thinking they might replace it with another port in the Bahamas, but no luck on that I guess. When they drop a port, do they usually refund any money or is it just an extra sea day and tough luck?

Our son's honeymoon has been canceled at the southern most hotel for the beginning of Oct. The hotel/resort is not there anymore.

We are scheduled to port there on our Thanksgiving cruise.........ain't happening. No one told me this, I just have a brain. We will get port fees refunded and probably have an extra sea day as we are already visiting 3 other ports.

I read on another thread that St Maartin has canceled all cruise stops through next May.:loudcry:

"Cruise giant Carnival has begun to announce changes to upcoming sailings that were scheduled to visit destinations damaged by Hurricane Irma.

The Miami-based line on Thursday said its 2,974-passenger Carnival Glory would skip a call in hard-hit St. Thomas scheduled for next week during a seven-night voyage from Miami. Carnival has added an extra day at sea to the trip, which begins on Saturday.

Also skipping St. Thomas next week will be the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fascination, which is sailing Sunday from San Juan, Puerto Rico on a seven-night Caribbean cruise. Fascination also will drop a call in St. Maarten — the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin. In place of the two calls, the ship will visit the islands of Dominica and Antigua.

St. Maarten also is off the schedule next week for the 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic, which sails Saturday to the Caribbean out of Port Canaveral, Fla. The vessel will visit Antigua instead.

Carnival also has altered three sailings that were scheduled to visit Key West, Fla. next week. The Galveston, Texas-based Carnival Breeze and Miami-based Carnival Victory will substitute an extra day at sea for Key West calls. The Tampa-based Carnival Paradise will substitute a day at Grand Cayman Island. "

Scheduled on the Dream for T'giving week to KW, Freeport, and Nassau. How long with KW be out of the lineup? Will Carnival substitute a different port, or just add a sea day?

A long time.

Interesting! I commented on this thread, quoting someone else, and both of those posts are gone!?!

Hard to say at this point. KW wasn't hit as hard as the middle keys, but they are still without power and not much information as to actual extent of damages. Carnival issued a letter stating next weeks sailing is not going to KW but have not said anything past that. Over the next few days as more work and clean up crews get into KW we will have a better understanding. I am anticipating my cruise next month will skip KW.

Our daughter goes to college in Key West. The college is standing and being used for FEMA but as of this morning no date for return or reopening. Residents before tourists so it'll be awhile.

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Here's a high resolution picture of the damage from Irma in Florida (and Key West).

https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/irma/index.html

Zoom in on the Keys.

Judging from the looks of it, (aside from water and power) the damage doesn't look too bad.