pauleydm

This will probably be my last post for tonight. All guests that were scheduled to disembark today are off the ship. Guests that will depart on Thursday and Friday are still waiting for confirmation of their travel days and times.

So are you flying out tonight or Friday? Have you heard about your flight? Is there two seatings in the MDR still or has that changed. Any thoughts on your discounted cruise?

 

Thanks so much for such concise accurate info. You are da bomb.

Passengers flying to San Juan tomorrow and Friday have not been informed of their flights yet. As I said before, it is Carnival"s intention to inform all remaining guests this evening. All hotel, restaurant and entertainment options are functioning as normal. The only exception is that the Fun Shops have been closed since we arrived in St Thomas. As far as my 50% off cruise, I will most likely book the Carnival Vista once it reaches its home port of Miami. The 50% off cruise is valid for any 2 to 7 day cruise within the next 2 years. There are some exclusions.

Pauleydm, I was wondering if you or anyone has seen the CCL president yet? JH said she was coming and wanted to talk to people and such...

 

I responded to his message saying that she needed to find you and thank you for all you've done for us by keeping us informed. I told him you need to get a ship on a stick and a bottle of champagne too! :)

 

I hope she finds you or you find her and tell her who you are. You are the stand out rock star of this whole thing... and they should acknowledge that!!!

 

Thanks again for all you've done!

That is very nice of you. I am in cabin 1207...lol

Update: The planes carrying the first batch of guests are on their way to San Juan. Once those planes return, the next set of guests will fly tonight. Zones 23 and 24 were just called.

Ok, I just spoke to "Classy" Cassie, who called guest services on my behalf. If a guest wants to stay in San Juan and then take their pre booked flight home, Carnival will pay for the hotel. In other news, not all guests who are disembarking today have actually left the ship. I am not certain how many zones have disembarked since I left to explore St Thomas, but I can confirm that zone 27 is still on the ship.

I am back from the port $400.00 lighter...lol. I spoke to a Carnival Care Specialist. The guests who disembarked today were primarily guests from San Juan, international guests and guests who expressed the desire to leave as soon as possible. I was not able to confirm if those who do not live in San Juan are being provided hotel accommodations in San Juan and then returning home on their previously scheduled flights.

Zones 8 and 9 are being called. I am going to actually get off the ship and explore St Thomas. We did not do anything the day of the fire and yesterday we stayed on the ship to find out if we were going to continue the cruise as scheduled. As I leave the ship, I am going to try to speak to passengers leaving today to find out if they are being flown to San Juan and being put in hotels until their normally scheduled flight happens, or if Carnival is scheduling flights to their home towns from San Juan today.

Zones 5, 6 and 7 have been called.

I misunderstood. I thought that passengers had indicated to Carnival which day they wanted to leave. I didn't realize there were people on board who didn't know whether or not they were scheduled to leave today. I understand them not letting passengers off then. That uncertainty of not knowing when you were expected to leave would make it difficult to fully enjoy the day.

Even though we had the option to request modified travel plans on the form we were asked to fill out last night, there is no guarantee those requests will be accommodated. All guests were asked to go to their cabin after the last set of letters were delivered to see if that cabin would disembark today. I do hope that moving forward, all guests will know which day they will disembark before the end of the day as stated in the letter we received last night.

Hang in there. I know it's a drag waiting around to see what's going to happen today. We were on the dream when it was stuck in St. Maarten and the worst part was everyday waiting to see when we were getting on a plane. If we knew right away it would have been better as we could have enjoyed ourselves and gone to the pool or beach. Hopefully Carnival gets it together so you can at least enjoy a few hours in St. Thomas today. I sure hope they let you know your travel arrangements asap so you can relax and enjoy whatever time you have left in St. Thomas.

 

Great memories and stories!

Based on conversations I have had with other passengers, the unknown is a source of frustration. Hopefully all guests will know today when they will depart St Thomas as stated in the letter we recieved last night.

Zones 2, 3 and 4 are being called. Guests who have a positive balance on their Sail and Sign card are being advised that they do not need to go to guest relations. Carnival will send a check within the next 7 days.

The cruise director is now reading a list of cabins that still have not placed their luggage outside their cabin for pickup. The cabins are from all areas of the ship and not concentrated to one particular deck.

Is there any word yet on how guests are being routed home? Are they flying people to one location and then putting them on commercial flights from there? Or are the chartered flights making different stops to help people get to their home city?

The letter we received last night stated that Carnival is using chartered flights because of the lack of space on commercial flights. I do not know if the chartered flights are from St Thomas to San Juan and then Carnival is arranging commercial flights out of San Juan. No one in our group is flying out today and I have not been able to speak to anyone who did receive the letter today. I do not want to speculate the procedure. As soon as we get our letter, I will let everyone know. We were told last night that all guests will know what day they will be leaving St Thomas. The cruise director is announcing the disembarkation procedure as I type this. It is being done by zones, and zone 1 was just called to proceed to deck 0.

Paul - What reason are they giving for preventing those passengers who are not flying out today from leaving the ship? I would be getting annoyed if they had stranded me next to a beautiful island, but wouldn't let me get off to enjoy it. Are there any activities taking place? I guess that would be pointless if the Funtimes hasn't been distributed to let people know about the activities. I hope they aren't trying to recoup some of their losses by forcing people to stay on board to drink and gamble.

 

Thanks for your factual and level headed reporting.

The reason guests were not being allowed to go ashore is because those flying home today were not informed until this past half hour. Carnival did not want someone to go ashore if the are scheduled to leave today. As far as activities, in lieu of the printed Fun Times, the cruise director has been making periodic announcements stating where activities are taking place and the times of the activities. We were told that the Fun Times are completed, but we personally cannot locate one.

Guests that received the letters stating they are flying out today are asked to pack their luggage, place it outside their cabin and then follow the instructions for disembarkment. Guests who did not receive the letter will be able to go ashore in St Thomas now. All guests must be back on board by 7:00 pm.

Letters stating which passengers are leaving today are currently being delivered. Originally we were told last night that we would be flown home based on "zones", but I spoke to a a Carnival Care Specialist, and was told that they are disembarking those guests that have indicated that they want to leave as soon as possible. The Fun Times for the rest of the day is being distributed as I type this. We are still waiting for clearance to go ashore.

New update. The 12:00 letter that informs those who will depart today has been delayed. Because of this, we are still not able to disembark in St Thomas.

At this point, we are not able to disembark in St Thomas. As far as activities and services, with the exception of the Fun Shops, everything else is open. Guests who are flying out today will be informed by 12:00 pm. Carnival will fly approximately 800 passengers today. All other guests will not fly out today and will be able to go ashore as soon as clearance is received. Those going ashore today must be back on board by 7:00 pm.

You are correct! I reread Pauley's post and it sounds like they are disembarking everyone today.

No, guests will disembark based on when their flight is scheduled by Carmival.

Thanks for the updates

 

You may or may not know the answers to any of these random thoughts

 

Have you talked to anyone that was doing a Back to Back cruise?

 

If passengers had plans to stay in San Juan post cruise are they allowing guests to fly to SJ?

 

Do you already know what day you are flying out?

Those doing back to back cruises have not been informed yet if the ship will sail on 9/13/15. The reason we are not going to sail back to San Juan is because the US Coast Guard has not cleared the ship.

Guests who have travel plans to stay in San Juan after the cruise notated those plans on the form we filled out tonight.

We do not know when we will depart St Thomas. Our group has requested to depart on Friday and only be flown to San Juan since we have secured a hotel until 9/13/15. We will then take our previously scheduled flights home.

This is part of the letter we received in our cabin.

*Guests who are scheduled to return home on our first wave of flights on Wednesday will receive flight detail information in their stateroom at 10:00am. You should expect to depart the vessel no later than 1:00 pm.

*All other guests scheduled to depart on later flights Wednesday afternoon will receive flight details in their stateroom no later than 1:00pm. You will be scheduled to disembark no earlier than 5:00 pm.

*Remaining guests who are scheduled to depart on Thursday or Friday will receive their flight details no later than Wednesday evening.

Thank you everyone for your kind words. They really mean a lot to me

We will not be traveling to San Juan. Guests will be sent home via St Thomas airport.

We are still in St Thomas. There has been no updates.

I understand that there are people on the Carnival page and John Heald's page that may be dismissing my posts. No worries, since that does not bother me. I have posted the facts that I have either witnessed myself or have been provided by staff members and crew members. I have tried diligently to only post factual information without bias or emotion. If I posted anything that was incorrect, I have posted updated information. I appreciate all of the nice things that have been said about my posts. To answer a question from yesterday, I am not a journalist, nor do I work in public relations. I am a professional singer and music teacher. In my younger years I performed for several cruise lines as a production singer and dancer. I will post when we get final clearance from the coast guard.