NCL to the rescue!

[VermeulT]

Just wonderful!!

[Cruise_More_Often]

Not all are paying passengers:)

 

I posted a link here a couple days ago (at least I think I did) to a news story about 2 Carnival ships. Both ships upon returning to Miami 2 days early, gave B2B passengers the option of disembarking or staying onboard for a "Cruise to No Where". Approximately 2,000 passengers from both ships decided to ride the storm out on board. One of the ships transferred all of their passengers to the other ship, whichn left 1 ship for Carnival to use for all of its Shoreside employees and their families to ride out the storm on the ship.

 

I say Kudos to any and all Cruise Lines thinking of passengers and employees:)

 

Joanie

NCL did that. They unloaded all the cruisers from the NCL Sky and put those who didn't have a place to go onto the NCL Escape. That left the NCL Sky empty, which is why she was available for the St. Thomas run.

[Assateague Island Princes]

OP here. A bit of an update on my brother and SIL's story. Received a text from them at 2:04PM (Eastern Standard Time) as follows:

 

"Evacuation day today to Puerto Rico by boat! Will take hours. Will call you and Mom hopefully later today. Phone service is so limited, can't believe we have service now. Love to all."

 

So I don't know if the NCL ship got there earlier than anticipated (was supposed to be Monday night before they arrived).....or if they were picked up by another cruise ship..... or just an inter-island ferry from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico - they didn't specify in their text what 'boat' they were going on. I will post the specifics when and if I get that phone call later today.

 

Agree w/Joanie - any and all cruise lines who have stepped up to the plate on this rescue mission - in whatever form it may take - has my undying gratitude.

 

To our CC friends in Florida, stay safe, batten down the hatches and ride this one out - we are all thinking about you and sending prayers your way.

[VennDiagram]

At least you know they have started towards "home" even if it ends up being a circuitous route. Yay!

[chengkp75]

Just a casual observation but, Cafrnival, Princess, and HAL are noticeably absent form list of cruise lines helpingg out in these times of emergency. I would guess they will make monetary donations and that is fine but right, now, there are people who need help they (might ?) have the ability to provide , Cash later, sure but rescue NOW.

IMO

 

As I've noted on another thread about NCL and RCI ships aiding, the decision to send ships is not something that the cruise lines thought up on their own. It only means that these two cruise lines had assets (ships) available (no passengers), and positioned such that they could arrive in a timely fashion, and these assets were accepted by the governments involved. No ship would just turn up saying "I'm here to help" without being in contact with the government involved and getting clearance that the ship would in fact be an aid and not a hinderance to efforts. In fact, Carnival has released a statement that their only two empty ships are positioned well north and east of the storm, in the Atlantic, and could not reach the islands in a timely fashion. They have also arranged for one of their ships based in San Juan to load relief supplies in San Juan when the ship returns there and discharges the passengers. This, by its very nature, of determining what supplies are needed, and staging them, indicates that this is not some last minute "catch up" gesture on their part. They are also studying how their Florida home ports are being affected, and whether they could send the empty ships there to load supplies.

 

I am not sure about the location and availability of HAL or Princess ships at this time, but its way too early, without further knowledge of what has gone on between the corporations and the island governments to cast shame on cruise lines for not having assets available when other lines fortuitously had theirs positioned and available.

[sail7seas]

As I've noted on another thread about NCL and RCI ships aiding, the decision to send ships is not something that the cruise lines thought up on their own. It only means that these two cruise lines had assets (ships) available (no passengers), and positioned such that they could arrive in a timely fashion, and these assets were accepted by the governments involved. No ship would just turn up saying "I'm here to help" without being in contact with the government involved and getting clearance that the ship would in fact be an aid and not a hinderance to efforts. In fact, Carnival has released a statement that their only two empty ships are positioned well north and east of the storm, in the Atlantic, and could not reach the islands in a timely fashion. They have also arranged for one of their ships based in San Juan to load relief supplies in San Juan when the ship returns there and discharges the passengers. This, by its very nature, of determining what supplies are needed, and staging them, indicates that this is not some last minute "catch up" gesture on their part. They are also studying how their Florida home ports are being affected, and whether they could send the empty ships there to load supplies.

 

I am not sure about the location and availability of HAL or Princess ships at this time, but its way too early, without further knowledge of what has gone on between the corporations and the island governments to cast shame on cruise lines for not having assets available when other lines fortuitously had theirs positioned and available.

 

Thank you for a most helpful post full of great information.. :)

[Assateague Island Princes]

Update: My brother and his wife called my Mom from Puerto Rico, where they arrived late this afternoon. They are now in the process of trying to get a flight back to Newark - not sure how long it might take to book an available flight. But at least they are making their way home - slowly but surely. BTW - they took a chartered ferry from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico, which was arranged thru their hotel and included many other stranded travelers. The NCL Sky is still expected to reach St. Thomas late tomorrow to pick up as many travelers as they can, as originally planned.

 

Appreciate all the good wishes for my loved ones, and all the great information people have been providing on this thread.

[pcur]

Royal Caribbean is also matching up to $1Million in donations for Huricane/Irma relief. I can't find one word on the HAL or Princess web sites. Shame on them.

[Copper10-8]

..............................................

I am not sure about the location and availability of HAL or Princess ships at this time, but its way too early, without further knowledge of what has gone on between the corporations and the island governments to cast shame on cruise lines for not having assets available when other lines fortuitously had theirs positioned and available.

 

The only HAL ship currently heading in that general direction is Maasdam, having been in Boston yesterday, and scheduled to call at Ft. Lauderdale this Wednesday (if Port Everglades is open in three days). HAL has three other ships currently doing Canada-New England cruises: Veendam, Rotterdam and Zuiderdam

[rafinmd]

Is there a possibility of the Oosterdam providing some aid to Mexico in the wake of the earthquake or will it be too late?

 

Roy

[Copper10-8]

Is there a possibility of the Oosterdam providing some aid to Mexico in the wake of the earthquake or will it be too late?

 

Roy

 

Oostie is not scheduled to arrive in Huatulco until 26 OCT 17, Roy - Prior to that, Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco is as far south as she gets