Aviator of the Seas

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recently issued Global Airline Testing Order DOES NOT apply to return flights from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Specifically, in its definitions, the order states: Foreign Country means anywhere that is not a state, territory, or possession of the United States

As of January 15, 2021, Puerto Rico has the 8th LOWEST death rate per million inhabitants in the United States.

Do note that Puerto Rico requires a negative Covid test to avoid a self-quarantine. You may take your test within 72 hours of travel to the islands, or procure an on-island test once you arrive.  But you don't need to bother with getting retested to fly back home. This state of affairs cannot change on a whim, so you don't have to worry about getting stuck on the islands if anyone changes their minds. They can't since Puerto Rico travel is treated as interstate travel:

The Jones Act of 1917: Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship by the Jones–Shafroth Act in 1917; subsequently, the U.S. Congress passed a law (signed by President Truman in 1947) which expressly extended this constitutional clause (U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1: “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States”) to the U.S. citizens in the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico:

The rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens of the United States shall be respected in Puerto Rico to the same extent as though Puerto Rico were a State of the Union and subject to the provisions of paragraph 1 of section 2 of article IV of the Constitution of the United States.

You can find the full extent of the order here:

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/pdf/global-airline-testing-order_2021-01-2_R3-signed-encrypted-p.pdf

The new Governor of Puerto Rico has relaxed some of the Covid-mitigation rules effective January 8, 2021:

• Beaches are now open for lounging, in addition to exercising, swimming, watersports, etc. No alcohol consumption allowed on the beach, though. Unrelated groups must keep distance between each other.
• Marinas can reopen for private boating. Nautical tourism, sports and commercial fishing have been open for a while now.
• Golf, tennis and other outdoor sports are open.
• All sightseeing tour options are open except for the interior of the San Juan National Historic Site forts.
• Restaurants and retail are open at 30% capacity indoors, and 100% capacity outdoors.
• Curfew shortened, now from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM. 
• Can't wait for cruising to restart to go to the Caribbean? The weather is great, the prices are low and Puerto Rico is safe. Come on down!

The new Governor of Puerto Rico has relaxed some of the Covid-mitigation rules effective January 8, 2021:

• Beaches are now open for lounging, in addition to exercising, swimming, watersports, etc. No alcohol consumption allowed on the beach, though. Unrelated groups must keep distance between each other.
• Marinas can reopen for private boating. Nautical tourism, sports and commercial fishing have been open for a while now.
• Golf, tennis and other outdoor sports are open.
• All sightseeing tour options are open except for the interior of the San Juan National Historic Site forts.
• Restaurants and retail are open at 30% capacity indoors, and 100% capacity outdoors.
• Curfew shortened, now from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM. 
• Can't wait for cruising to restart to go to the Caribbean? The weather is great, the prices are low and Puerto Rico is safe. Come on down!

https://travelsafe.pr.gov/

These include arriving with a negative Sars-CoV-2 molecular test, sample taken within 72 hours of arrival. Failing that, you must undergo a serological test at the airport, and then quarantine yourself until you can procure an on-island negative molecular test, which in at least one lab network can take as little as 48 hours for the results.

4 hours ago, lovestx said:

Just saw this this morning. I’m guessing most ships will skip PR now to avoid the paperwork hassle. 
 

https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-09-20-intl-hnk/h_6d1bcaf7b584dba2e9726076b7acf625

Cruise ships are being turned away all over the world.  Puerto Rico is welcoming them. All they are asking is that the local government receives the same notification about sick on board that the USCG already receives.  

Within that window your choices are, from west (closest to the cruise ship piers) to east:

La Ocho - 5 minutes from piers. Reef break, right usually. As crewsweeper mentioned, La Ocho Surf Shop is the only surf shop nearby.

La Punta - 10 minutes from piers. Behind the Ashford Community Hospital in Condado.  No facilities or surf shops in this area.  

Aviones - 20 - 25 minutes from piers, just east of the SJU airport. Shore break. Scant facilities here, mainly drink and food kiosks. Be careful - scant cell phone signal in this area so it might be impossible to hail an Uber from here. Have your return prearranged.

La Pared - 40 minutes from San Juan in the town of Luquillo. Shore break. This might be your best bet if you're not coming down with your own boards.  There's an outfit here with a van that gives surf lessons and rents boards.  Since it is the only one there, I'll take a chance of being scolded by the mods as a local and mention the name, which is pretty obvious. Surfing Puerto Rico. 

Hope this helps. 

Letter is self explanatory.  The Puerto Rico Government has not responded to this as of today.  Very interesting development.

I don't go to the beach much anymore, but it used to be that there was always some Joe walking around with a cooler selling Medalla beer for a $1.00.  Maybe $3 - 5 these days.  But as Stinger says, it's perfectly fine to take your own.  Just be aware that there might not be any facilities to dump your garbage so you might have to take it with you.

Two recent incidents that are making the news prompted me to write this. 

On the first incident, an  airline pilot, outside a strip club having a smoke, was caught in a crossfire between a drunk customer and the strip club's bouncers, the result of an altercation over an unpaid check.  The pilot was hit and did not survive. (Neither did the drunk customer, btw).

On the second incident, a backpacker either fell or was thrown from a moving vehicle, and then run over when the same vehicle backed up into him. There are several versions of what happened.  One says he was thrown and then run over intentionally.  The latest version says all the vehicle occupants were extremely drunk or intoxicated, and that this was an unfortunate accident.

I, along with most reasonable people, maintain that Puerto Rico is a safe place to visit, but need to explain something so that everyone is clear.  Puerto Rico IS a safe place except:

• If you are involved in or lured into the illegal narcotics scene.  Some establishments, like certain strip clubs and bars, serve as money laundering fronts for drug traffickers, and they attract many seedy characters.  I can't tell you how to identify which is which, but be aware of the place's vibe and characters.  If the patrons are mostly military-age men, you should probably stay away from it. So, don't go looking for pot, or worse, and stay away from establishments of ill repute.
• If you are intoxicated or on drugs. Puerto Rico has a very loose drinking and drug scene, especially among young people.  It is easy to be attracted to a place with tons of pretty girls or boys stoned out of their inhibitions, but if you are out of your wits yourself you will get hurt. Either by a jealous boyfriend or even just an also-intoxicated passerby, outraged that a local girl is being chased by an outsider.  Particularly dangerous are the times after midnight and early morning, when there are roaming bunches of intoxicated revelers who just won't quit.  My advice is that you stay away from these people and places at those very late (or very early?) hours.

Most people here on CC are mature adults so this advice might be moot.  But just in case, no place is perfect and there is such thing as too much partying.  

Word to the wise.

Also, I am happy to report that most of the San Juan Metropolitan area has power back.  For sure, the grid will remain unstable until the power plant that was damaged, and which supplied 20% of our power, can be repaired.  In its place they are using back up power plants full time and FEMA will be bringing in some massive but portable generators to shore up the grid.

Thank you all for your concern and support.  As I said after the hurricanes of 2017, the best way you can help our island is to come visit and enjoy your vacation here.  It is perfectly safe and we won't charge you extra for the "earthquake experience". 🙂

So people have a visual idea of where most of the damage took place and the danger was.  For reference, Puerto Rico is about the size of Connecticut:

9 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

Power is out because apparently there are automatic shutoffs triggered by the quake (CNN). I don't think it is due to damage to the power facilities.

Exactly.  The power company is estimating that power should start coming back by noon.

Official letter from the boss himself:

2020 and through April 2021 sailings; NO CHANGE, NO CANCELLATIONS, per RCI.

I've said mu peace (piece?) on the above mentioned Royal Caribbean board thread.

37 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

You probably hit the nail on the head.

My whole issue with these "news" and the uproar it has created, especially in San Juan, is that Royal Caribbean has always been a great partner for Puerto Rico, especially after the hurricanes of 2017, and using them as cannon fodder for mostly local politics is unfair. 

I'll admit that when they took the Adventure out of San Juan in favor of Europe I was equally vociferous against it, but that was before I understood many things about the industry which I now do, and prior to witnessing their humanitarian sea lifts after Irma and María.  

1 hour ago, Tony O said:

I asked the question in ankthersicial media platform and this was Royal Caribbean's  reply

" We have no plans at this time to cancel any sailings out of Puerto Rico. Sorry for any confusion. -Paula"

Where is this comment from, again?

8 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Nice take on the reality of summer cruising on Freedom out of SJ. When I make those comments,  I get shot down.

 

On another point, isn't the Captain of Freedom the son of the current port manager?

Captain Busto was the Captain of the Adventure.  When I was on the Freedom we had a different Captain, but now that you mention it, yes, I think he is also heading up the Freedom as well.  And yes, he is the son of a long established Port Agent in San Juan.  It is a very well respected local mariner family. But they don't manage the ports per se.  They are port agents and they deal with logistics for cruise, cargo and military vessels, not port management. 

Disclaimer - I also work in the industry, although on CC I am here as a cruiser.

3 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

With locals and the cruise industry against the plan, I imagine there must be big payoffs--oh, wait, let's call them "fees"-- indicating the government may not have learned any lessons from the demonstrations last summer.

You are a sage.

One additional comment for now.  The same uproar in San Juan happened when they moved the Adventure to Europe during the summers some years ago.  "It was OUR ship!!" Local travel agencies are the most affected.

Personally - and I am a local from San Juan so I think I can comment on this - I never thought that the Freedom in San Juan would ever be profitable in the summers.  Packing it 4 to a stateroom, most of whom just consume the basics and don't buy into drink packages or shore excursions, wasn't very sustainable.  Been there, seen it.  Not judging, but that's the reality. I personally decided to stop cruising on the Freedom because of the crowding issue, not being able to predict which sailings didn't have kids sail free, or BOGO sales.

A better fit for San Juan has always been a Voyager-class ship year round, and adding a Radiance class in the winter.

JMHO, again, as a local.

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

It won't be long  before Coco Cay is the only stop- okay maybe Labadee as well.  😇

Bingo!

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

I want to make sure the thread title is correct.  Are we pretty sure this refers to 2021-2022, or is there still a chance it could refer to 2020?

I briefly checked RCI's itineraries and it seems like San Juan 2020 is intact. 2021 is when the changes take effect.

Other issues apparently are that the rerouting of the big ships - Oasis, Allure and I believe Harmony, will leave San Juan with less port calls.

Anita Latte is on to something, and there is a big perception here in the industry that the company that supposedly is winning the San Juan port management contract, Global Ports Holdings, is detested by many cruise lines which will result in cancellations.  The locals are in an uproar over this because GPH allegedly takes over the ports and all of its related services, including port agency, sightseeing tours, shopping, dining, etc., displacing the locals.  That's the allegation.

Not sure how true is that but many people here in San Juan are against the contract.  The argument is that several cruise lines wanted to invest in the port upgrades: Royal Caribbean at the Pan American pier, Carnival at Pier 4, NCL at the Navy Frontier Pier, and Viking at Pier 1, for example.  These offers are being displaced, apparently, in favor of a single port operator, which will disrupt current relationships between cruise lines and local suppliers.

I checked and they are moving the Freedom to Cape Liberty for the summer of 2021 and 2022.  Not sure if theis adds up to the supposed "90 cancelled stops", but locally, the travel/cruise industry in San Juan is being whipped into a frenzy over this.  More in my next post.

The Navy Frontier Pier lease to NCL failed, and the facility was sold to the PR Convention Center District.  So it should be the Pan American pier.  Now, be careful and include the name of the ship in your directions as berth assignments can change at the last minute.  Even the Pan Am pier can accommodate two large ships at the same time, and it is not unheard of that stuff gets delivered - and accepted by - the wrong ship.  We've had bags clearly tagged for NCL make it on board the Freedom of the Seas.