Empress Skipping San Juan - July 16, 2019

[twangster]

Looks like Empress is skipping San Juan today and is slowly moving off,  along the North coast of Puerto Rico.  

 

Saw on another site it may be related to the protests occurring in San Juan these days.

 

Any news or updates?

 

@John&LaLa - any news from on board?

[sunonfire]

I found this story.

https://cruiseradio.net/cruise-ship-rerouted-by-rioting-in-san-juan/

 

[not-enough-cruising]

It will be curious to see if Harmony docks tomorrow, these protests could quickly become very costly to Puerto Rico

[FLACRUISER99]

I just saw the clip on my local news Ch 25 WPBF, it did not look bad.

[twangster]

Perhaps with a 3pm to midnight stop they didn't feel the streets would be safe at night.  

[NJ&Ozzie]

http://www.sanjuanweeklypr.com/pdf/ediciones-pasadas/Jul-15-19.pdf

 

Sounds like quite a mess in San Juan...

NJ 

[Beachammo]

Hope we skip San Juan for Tortola when I'm on Empress next month.....

[karena1]

7 minutes ago, Beachammo said:

Hope we skip San Juan for Tortola when I'm on Empress next month.....

We love San Juan, but got to say, Tortola is one of my favorite places and I miss that the bigger ships for Royal do not go there anymore.  We have been there on Serenade and Celebrity Summit among others, and loved it there.

[twangster]

Yeah, I love San Juan, but Tortola is a pretty awesome port to divert to.  

 

However I thought they already were going there on day 5.   

[John&LaLa]

13 minutes ago, twangster said:

Yeah, I love San Juan, but Tortola is a pretty awesome port to divert to.  

 

However I thought they already were going there on day 5.   

 

Yep

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Looks like Empress is skipping San Juan today and is slowly moving off,  along the North coast of Puerto Rico.  

 

Saw on another site it may be related to the protests occurring in San Juan these days.

 

Any news or updates?

 

@John&LaLa - any news from on board?

 

First off, internet is awful. I was planning on doing a live, but no way with all the pictures I like to include

 

Note in cabin tonight.

 

 

Here is my opinion. This has been ongoing for several days. We left Coco Cay at 2:00 the day before yesterday to get here by 3:30. We arrived around noon, even stopped to pick up the pilot.  I'm not sure why we didn't just stay longer in Coco Cay and cancel this stop on Sunday. 

 

[Anton]

3 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

It will be curious to see if Harmony docks tomorrow, these protests could quickly become very costly to Puerto Rico

A friend is currently aboard Harmony.  He told me the Captain announced earlier today that San Juan might not happen and the final decision would be announced by 10am Wednesday morning.

[emeraldcity]

It sounds like Royal Caribbean is making the best possible decision. The protests are taking place a few scant blocks from the port. Given the nature of the protests today, if I was on a ship docking there tomorrow I wouldn't get off.

 

[Ourusualbeach]

Has anyone heard if other cruise lines cancelled their port stops or if it was just Royal?

[cruiseluv]

Hello, I'm currently visiting my family in PR and curious as to what was happening with cruises. Not surprised they cancelled today's stop , yesterday demonstrations were pretty rowdy. Tomorrow there's a big protest  planned in the area, starting at 5 pm. It's anybody's guess if it'll be peaceful. I'm staying away from the area , which it's a shame as I love to go and walk around there when I visit. 

[twangster]

11 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Has anyone heard if other cruise lines cancelled their port stops or if it was just Royal?

 

marinetraffic.com showed no ships in port yesterday afternoon when Empress diverted.  

 

Harmony is inbound as I write this doing ~18 knots around 80 nm from San Juan.  AIS still lists her destination as San Juan.  Can't see any other cruise ships heading that way so far.

Edited July 17, 2019 by twangster

[dhoskins]

On Harmony now, we will not be stopping. 

[orville99]

From the news footage, it looked like the protests were taking place right where the cruise ships dock, so not a really welcoming sight if you were getting off the ship for any reason.

[nalatrixie74]

6 minutes ago, dhoskins said:

On Harmony now, we will not be stopping. 

that is too bad, but probably for the best. i would rather be there than at my desk working right now! have fun! 

[pezgirlroy]

We are leaving from San Juan on the 28th so a bit nervous but I do know that the pier is different so I do not think it will be an issue. 

[DancerMama25]

Well, since this is the scene on Fortaleza St in Old San Juan, a very popular tourist site, it isn’t surprising to me at all that Royal decided skipping the Port was a good idea.

 

 

[pezgirlroy]

3 minutes ago, DancerMama25 said:

Well, since this is the scene on Fortaleza St in Old San Juan, a very popular tourist site, it isn’t surprising to me at all that Royal decided skipping the Port was a good idea.

 

 

I am assuming this was two night ago as they have now removed the umbrellas. I cannot seem to find what the status was last night with the protests. 

[John&LaLa]

Not my circus, not my monkey, but we just dropped a ton of money in the BVI. 😉👸

 

[DancerMama25]

9 minutes ago, pezgirlroy said:

I am assuming this was two night ago as they have now removed the umbrellas. I cannot seem to find what the status was last night with the protests. 

 

Not sure where your info about the umbrellas down is coming from; I can’t find that anywhere.

[PlanetX]

1 hour ago, dhoskins said:

On Harmony now, we will not be stopping. 

Onboard as well.  When did this get announced? Last word @ 10 am from Captain Gus was that they would be conferencing with RCI headquarters and would make an announcement by 12:30 if not sooner.  Plan was to continue to San Juan unless otherwise announced.