Any update on cruises scheduled to leave from Puerto Rico?

[ONECRUISER]

call royal and tell them how you feel. real cruisers need to tell the company they are local to how they feel. Call 305-539-6455 tell 2soon

Will do. Calling Royal and tell them how I feel. Going to thank them for returning so we call spend our tourist dollars that most these Islands count on and need. Thank you...

[tikigal]

Well said. Agree 100%

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

[tikigal]

I think I read somewhere that RCI is still delivering supplies.......so multi tasking?

Yes, we might be stuck on a supply ship, which is why they are "still going", but the infrastructure is not there to support tourism. Raw sewage, restaurants closed, no food, obviously, andf chorea outbreaks. Why would they even subject their guests to that, it's all about money.

[skiiergirl]

"Most people" who are on these cruises do not post here on cruise critic.

Maybe you want to spend your vacation dollars on damaged islands that are not fully visitor-ready and which other cruise lines are not yet visiting, but that's YOUR money. Don't presume to tell others how to spend THEIR vacation money.

 

So I will repeat what the poster has said:

 

Call Royal Caribbean and tell them it is too soon to be visiting these ports. 305-539-6455

 

 

Are they interchangeable in osj? Carnival can just pull in wherever, etc? And even Royal hasn't done day stops yet, so I would bet that they are still working on the whole pier area there.

 

 

 

 

You have it so backwards. You guys are the ones telling us how to spend our money and vacation time. The majority here don't have an issue. If we had an issue we would be calling. Like you guys. But we don't. Y'all are trying to impose your will upon us. It's not the other way around.

 

Go ahead and cancel. Please. I personally am tying to convince the family to take an extra cruise so we can go there and help them directly by taking taxis and eating in open restaurants and helping the people in osj and any other island a cruise goes to.

 

My psyche can deal with seeing a town that's not picture perfect. And I won't be "partying" or "playing". I will be respectfully visiting as I always do. While paying money.

 

Very well said. I was just about to type a similar reply but you worded yours reply perfectly!

[skiiergirl]

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

 

Yes, we might be stuck on a supply ship, which is why they are "still going", but the infrastructure is not there to support tourism. Raw sewage, restaurants closed, no food, obviously, andf chorea outbreaks. Why would they even subject their guests to that, it's all about money.

 

Reading many lists here on CC as well as having personally contacted several individuals in SJU and St M, I understand it is not "perfect conditions" but there are enough places (restaurants, shops, taxis, etc) open/available and ASKING for tourists to come back.

[rukkian]

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

Where are you getting this info? I understand most of what you post exists in PR, but not in San Juan from my understanding. You might not want to go wandering out in the country.

 

Sent from my Pixel XL using Forums mobile app

[kjkrmk]

Visit status.pr to see the current conditions of many key infrastructure elements in PR.

 

We were on the Oct 7 sailing form San Juan. We had concerns about going there and being a burden. As it turns out, we were NOT added pain as some of you speculate. In fact, we spoke to a young lady who's family restaurant in San Juan has been open since 2 days after the storm. We asked how they were able to do so and she said Sams Club has been open since the day after and they were able to get food and sell to customers. Our bus driver in SJU told stories of having to cut and clear the way out of they home areas 1 hours from San Juan but how happy he was to be back to work and happy to see us.

We had 5 stops and at ALL 5 plus San Juan, every person we spoke to from SJU airport workers, to people in shops on the islands, ALL were very thankful for the return on cruise ships. We were the first ship since week 1 of Sept to stop at St Kitts. Long gone are the days of Sugar, salt, oil refining as the industries for the caribbean. Tourism is the majority business for locals to gain income. If you have flights to get to the departure port, go and enjoy the trip.

[put me on a ship]

Wondering why Carnival is waiting longer to return than RCCL? RCL is stating they will be returning to all ports by 1 Dec sailings, by this article Carnival is being more cautious and waiting longer. Why the big gap in return schedules? I'm scheduled on 25NOV Freedom to all of those ports, and have vested interest in this topic. Thoughts?

 

Carnival's ship that sails out of San Juan is being used to house relief workers. Carnival cancelled all cruises out of San Juan because of this. Carnival did the right thing.

[rukkian]

Carnival's ship that sails out of San Juan is being used to house relief workers. Carnival cancelled all cruises out of San Juan because of this. Carnival did the right thing.

 

So did the wrong thing means taking boatloads of money from the federal government instead of from paying customers and greatly reduced rates for PR residents wanting to get away? I am sure if the US government had wanted to charter another cruise, RCI could have.

[let's go cruising]

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

 

Where is there a cholera outbreak?

[skiiergirl]

Mr Ski told me just this morning that he received a call yesterday from our favorite jewelry salesman in St M. The salesman said they are open and ready for tourists. He knew which ship was coming in first (Grandeur) and said they are excited to have the tourists back. He wanted to make sure we knew they were open and most definitely ready for the return of the tourists!

[Cigar King]

I found this refreshing, and it has some good information about hotels in SJU.

 

http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/why-visit-san-juan-puerto-rico/index.html

[davekathy]

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

 

Speaking from personal experience?

[davekathy]

Will do. Calling Royal and tell them how I feel. Going to thank them for returning so we call spend our tourist dollars that most these Islands count on and need. Thank you...

 

Great idea. I'll do the same.

[readytolose]

I found this refreshing, and it has some good information about hotels in SJU.

 

http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/why-visit-san-juan-puerto-rico/index.html

 

Great article, thanks!

[readytolose]

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

 

You might need to find another source for your information.

 

There are lots of restaurants open and taxis are running.

 

We will have plenty of places to spend our tourist dollars.

[steveru621]

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

 

There is no cholera outbreak. That was an outright lie by a Paul Krugman. (look it up)

 

 

Taxis are running, and many restaurants are open. Hotels are filled with government workers; a problem.

 

Their biggest problem is the government run electric company can't get out of their own way.

[mollyeilis]

How are you going to take taxi'

 

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

 

 

What island are you talking about???

 

In SJ taxis have been there to take people places since at least 10/6 when people started coming in for the 10/7 cruise. Then 10/14. Then 10/21.

 

There is gas. People waiting in line to get gas is not "no gas".

 

There are restaurants open.

 

Where is there a cholera outbreak??? Where is there raw sewage???

 

What island are you talking about? And is it an area that cruisers will get to?

 

 

 

Carnival's ship that sails out of San Juan is being used to house relief workers. Carnival cancelled all cruises out of San Juan because of this. Carnival did the right thing.

 

 

One ship. And they just announced they will be going back 11/30 I believe. Not sure if that's homeport or day stop.

 

And I'm not sure the ship they are chartering is one that went to SJ. There was someone on another board I'm on whose BIL had very early waning of this (to the point that we all said the bil had been given terrible info bc there was nothing about this), and I'm not sure his saiking was even a southern cruise.

 

Mr Ski told me just this morning that he received a call yesterday from our favorite jewelry salesman in St M. The salesman said they are open and ready for tourists. He knew which ship was coming in first (Grandeur) and said they are excited to have the tourists back. He wanted to make sure we knew they were open and most definitely ready for the return of the tourists!

 

 

Terrific.

[alb456]

I do have a quick question, how were the security lines at the airport in San Juan?

[dan-mish]

Regarding the Carnival pier in San Juan, I'm not totally sure which pier Carnival uses, or what Royal uses for day stops. But, I took these pictures of this pier in Old San Juan. You will find it labeled as "San Juan Cruise Port" in Google maps. It is just East of the Sheraton Old San Juan. I am pretty sure Carnival uses this one. The pictures were taken on 10/15/17, as we stayed in Old San Juan for a few nights after our 10/7/17 Adventure cruise. I went down to take the pictures that morning because I thought Carnival was returning that day. There were a few workers, and some cars, so it looked like the ship was coming soon. It wasn't there, but I took the pics. (Later found out that Carnival was not returning). The terminal looked fine. I went back towards our hotel, stopping in at the Walgreens that is located next to the Sheraton. I wanted to check on news reports that bottled water wasn't available in stores. This Walgreens was full of everything, including stacks of bottle water.

 

 

Water at the Walgreens

 

Dan

[mollyeilis]

Thanks Dan!!

 

Have you seen the hotel thread in the SJ ports of call forum? If not, they want to hear from people who have actually stayed in SJ since the hurricane.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[dan-mish]

mollyeilis,

I will post on that board too.

 

alb456,

The security lines at the airport were fine when we went through. There were about 5 people in front of us and it took maybe 5 minutes. Of course, just like any airport, that can change throughout the day. There were several security gates, one for our gates A1-A3, and one for the other gates. If one looks long, you can go through either and walk around to your gate on the backside of security.

Don't forget to go through USDA inspection at this airport too. It is located just as you enter the doors. They put a sticker on you bags that your airline is supposed to check for. Also, only about 5 minutes for us.

Before our 10/7 arrival, we had heard hideous reports of long security lines and how it would take hours to get through the airport. None of which happened on both our 10/7 arrival and our 10/16 departure. Like so many other experiences we had on the cruise, we were surprised, because we expected worse.

 

SW had advised us to be there 3 hours in advance. After going through USDA, bag drop and checking at SW, security, my Rum purchase;p, and walking to the gate, we had too much time (on our hands) at the gate. I'm not recommending that you cut it close, though. I'm pretty sure the AC was on at gate A3, because I asked my dw, and she said yes. She hates humidity! (welcome to the Caribbean, man)

 

I've read reports that say there was no seating at the gate. Hasn't that happened before? I've been to many airports, including our own huge Sky Harbor (Phoenix) where you can't find seating at your gate. The other thing that worried us was the reports of "people sitting on the floor". Now, again, maybe that comes and goes throughout the day? When we left on 10/16, I made a point to observe this. The only people sitting on the floor were those who had their devices plugged into the wall outlets. You see, SJU doesn't have the nice charging stations near the seats, at least in the A1-A3 area. Another thing the airport is missing is dedicated line-up areas for SW flights. Our gate A3, was shared with JetBlue, so maybe things with be better when SW gets back to having their own gates? SW seems to be improvising on this problem and made announcements saying to "stay in your seat until we call your group". The problem with people lining up beforehand is that it restricts the passengers from the offloading flight. Our taxi driver told us that the airport was under construction, with only 2 terminals operating, BEFORE Maria. He said it is back to that state now.

 

For a complete story of our 10/7/17 cruise see my thread:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2553861

Dan

[ONECRUISER]

How are you going to take taxi'

s and eat at the restaurants. There is no gas and all the restaurants are closed the place is a mess, and there is a chorea outbreak, raw sewage everywhere. A nice risk for your family to take. You need to know the full picture of the island in real time.

I cruise/travel alone. Almost never take Taxis, never use elevator on ship. Walk everywhere. Experience in cruising 30 yrs. Did many cruises to Islands that were hit by Hurricanes. Even St Martin was struck yrs ago, pier was gone for while so all cruise ships had to Tender for quite a while. Did career in ARMY, which was away from home 10.5-12 months a yr. Was a Trained Combat Lifesaver, EMT and worked for Dept of Defense as troubleshooter/evaluator. So in past have experienced this situation and lot worse. Have 150+ days on cruises planned including few to these Islands B4 end of yr. I'll be fine and Islanders will be happy when I get there. But thank you anyway...

Edited October 24, 2017 by ONECRUISER

[mollyeilis]

Thanks Dan!

 

SW asks people to stay seated until it's just about time to board at any airport I've used them from.

 

And my last flight from San Jose California I was sitting on the ground because there was an outlet on the wall and no seats! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Cruisin KLS]

Thanks Dan!!

 

Have you seen the hotel thread in the SJ ports of call forum? If not, they want to hear from people who have actually stayed in SJ since the hurricane.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Dan -

 

I took the liberty of posting the information you had reported back about Casablanca on this threat. We are staying there 12/06 through 12/10 and were happy to read about your stay r the things that were open in OSJ.

 

-Kristi

 

Sent from my VS988 using Forums mobile app