Is San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua closed to cruise ships until 2024?

[Saraphine]

Hello all,

 

I am on the upcoming April sailing of the NCL Sun from Miami to Seattle, and San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua is listed as a port.  NCL currently has nine shore excursions listed for this port.

 

I prefer to arrange my own tours, and so reached out to a well-reviewed guide on Tours by Locals.  He has replied to me this morning stating that the Nicaraguan government will not opened their ports to cruise ships until 2024.

 

I called the NCL ShoreEx desk, and the woman said that they do in fact stop in Nicaragua, there are no plans to cancel this port, and they in fact land there "every week."  I took this answer with a grain of salt because I know the NCL phone staff do not always have the most accurate information.

 

My attempts at searching out an answer here on CC have been less than adequate.  I see several posts discussing how their Nicaragua port has been cancelled, but I cannot find any posts that actually confirm they WERE able to stop at the port and take a tour.  My attempts to find an answer on Google were also less than stellar.

 

Is anyone able to shed some light on this situation?  To your knowledge is the San Juan del Sur port actually closed to cruise traffic?  Or do things appear to be business as usual here?

 

Thank you!

 

S

[weltek]

Thanks for asking this. I've been curious given a few posts I've read and I'm considering whether to book a PC cruise or something else. Ports are a factor for me, and while I know things can change at any time, I might decide this cruise is best shelved until another year.  The PC itineraries for 2024 seem to still be in flux. Joy has disappeared recently from the search results? I haven't looked into it too much, as we aren't ready to book quite yet.

Edited January 30, 2023 by weltek

[Saraphine]

7 hours ago, weltek said:

Thanks for asking this. I've been curious given a few posts I've read and I'm considering whether to book a PC cruise or something else. Ports are a factor for me, and while I know things can change at any time, I might decide this cruise is best shelved until another year.  The PC itineraries for 2024 seem to still be in flux. Joy has disappeared recently from the search results? I haven't looked into it too much, as we aren't ready to book quite yet.

 I agree, ports are important!  I chose the 2023 sailing over the 2024 because I liked the lineup better.  I did not choose it specifically for Nicaragua, so I will not be heartbroken if we cannot make land there, but would love to know ahead of time for planning purposes!

[Sitting here]

We are just recently off the Jewel which was scheduled to stop in Nicaragua last week. The port was cancelled. The General Manager, Rumi was specifically asked about this during a Q&A. His response was that there are "certain things that a port has to have" to make it feasible for a cruise ship to call there. Nicaragua keeps telling NCL that they will have those things ready in time for scheduled ships, but when it comes time for the Captain to actually make the yes/no decision as to whether the ship can stop, Nicaragua says "maybe next week we can meet your requirements."

 

I have no idea who is stringing whom along in this situation. Does NCL know the port will be cancelled well in advance of when they are informing the passengers? Does NIcaragua know they have no intent to open the port until 2024 but they keep telling NCL "next week"? Is the country officially "closed" to cruise ships, or is the port just not adequate at this point to provide what's needed as a port of call for a cruise ship? Seems like no one wants to say what is really going on.

 

I personally would not count on stopping at this port unless/until you start to see reports of other ships being able to stop there before your cruise. Let it be a happy surprise if you do stop, versus a disappointment if you don't.

 

Teresa

[odie1024]

I was on the Sun in October for the Panama Canal and Nicaragua was removed from our list of ports then.

 

The United States issued a Level 3 advisory on December 5, 2022, for traveling to Nicaragua. This is mainly due to the country's political situation and limited healthcare availability.

[Saraphine]

On 1/30/2023 at 7:08 PM, Sitting here said:

We are just recently off the Jewel which was scheduled to stop in Nicaragua last week. The port was cancelled. The General Manager, Rumi was specifically asked about this during a Q&A. His response was that there are "certain things that a port has to have" to make it feasible for a cruise ship to call there. Nicaragua keeps telling NCL that they will have those things ready in time for scheduled ships, but when it comes time for the Captain to actually make the yes/no decision as to whether the ship can stop, Nicaragua says "maybe next week we can meet your requirements."

 

I have no idea who is stringing whom along in this situation. Does NCL know the port will be cancelled well in advance of when they are informing the passengers? Does NIcaragua know they have no intent to open the port until 2024 but they keep telling NCL "next week"? Is the country officially "closed" to cruise ships, or is the port just not adequate at this point to provide what's needed as a port of call for a cruise ship? Seems like no one wants to say what is really going on.

 

I personally would not count on stopping at this port unless/until you start to see reports of other ships being able to stop there before your cruise. Let it be a happy surprise if you do stop, versus a disappointment if you don't.

 

Teresa

 

Thank you!  This is the clearest explanation I have received yet!  Alas, it appears Nicaragua will not be scratched off my list this trip!

[Sea2011]

I am in the same "boat" different cruise though.  I have read several posts and news article that reported that no cruise ships have stopped at San Juan Del Sur thus far.  So I am hesitant in booking any shore excursion.  Not meant to alarm anyone but its good to be at least mentally prepared rather than a last minute rude shock.

My March cruise still has it listed as a port but my SIL's April cruise has that cancelled as well as the Punta Arenas port cancelled.  Searching through the cruises in the next few months and beyond, Punta Arenas seems to have disappeared too.

Sad but we will still be going and making the most of it.

[Christina231955]

Thanks for this info, I kept reading reviews where Nicuragua had been removed from the itinerary but couldn’t understand why it was still in our itinerary for March. I now know it’s not going to happen.

I’ve also just seen a post on TripAdvisor that says they’ve  been told that also Guatamala is removed from the itinerary, looks like we’re gonna be spending a lot of time at sea which we don’t like.

[Livesteamer]

I am booked on another cruise line for an April Panama Canal cruise and we were just informed at 4PM CT today that our San Juan del Sur port call is cancelled and we will be heading to Huatulco instead.  As others have posted, gleaning any information as to why the change has been "next to near" impossible.  I am guess the US State Department Warning Level 3 might be a factor.

[v3cruiser]

This is interesting. When we went to Nicaragua we stopped in Puerto Corinto on the Star in 2019.. The people there were quite welcoming. Prior to our arrival there was some political unrest in the months prior I think further south around the capital Managua but we still went ported as this port was further north. Its odd the cruise line is booking excursions and cancelling last minute. Who knows these days. 

 

I know we had a great guide for the excursion we took. it lasted all day. I think we were last group back on the ship. He had a lot of interesting things to say about where things were going. One thing he talked about was how the railroads we being sold and how the trains didnt work in nicaragua but started working again in the country they were sold to. 

 

 

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Livesteamer said:

I am guess the US State Department Warning Level 3 might be a factor.

No...cruise lines  stop at ports with Level 4 warnings such as Acapulco.

I've been on multiple cruises that have stopped at Corinto, Nicaragua.

[Sea2011]

I don't know how true this is but I read somewhere that its because Nicaragua is only open to people who are vaccinated but cruise ships are allowing non-vaccinated passengers so they are not opening to cruise ship passengers in general.

[lhauser330]

We sail on the NCL Jewel on 3/21/2023 and received notification from NCL today that we will not be stopping in Nicaragua as planned.  No explanation was given.

[SeniorGetaways]

Princess has notified passengers today that this port is cancelled for the 2024 Panama Canal voyages due to local government restrictions.  Based on Google searches, the port was closed at the height of the pandemic and has not reopened.  There were reports that it would reopen "in 2024" but apparently it won't be early in 2024.

[bmasella]

From Princess for Jan 30, 2024 -  We will not be stopping in Nicaragua...  This is our 3rd canal transit... not a port we would have got off of the ship at anyway.

 

ITINERARY CHANGE

Please be advised that due to temporary government restrictions on cruise ships, Emerald Princess will no longer call to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, and will instead spend the day at sea.

Edited September 28, 2023 by bmasella