FEMA will not be using SJ hotels for TSA applicants

In an article in "The San Juan Daily Star" published November 1st 2017, FEMA have indicated that they will not be using San Juan hotels for TSA applicants.

The organisation is quoted as saying instead that "FEMA will be providing transportation to select locations in the Continental United States, where you will be connected with support services and lodging."

This policy is confirmed when using the link given in the article www.femaevachotels.com/index.php. where no hotels in San Juan have been included as "participating" in the program.

I welcome this news that those in such desperate need are to be helped with temporary accommodation without "displacing" the visitors that are also so vital to the island's ongoing economy.

However, FEMA is using SJ hotels for emergency workers and the like. The lists posted earlier are the ones approved for government and FEMA travel. There is FEMA, military members, contractors and the like staying in hotels. I know of a few down there.

This is probably why I have had my reservations cancelled at 5 different hotels for Dec 27-28th.

I welcome this news that those in such desperate need are to be helped with temporary accommodation without "displacing" the visitors that are also so vital to the island's ongoing economy.

Someone is occupying hotel rooms other than visitors. It may not be local residents, but tourists have not had much luck securing hotel rooms.

When FEMA and other relief workers occupying those rooms no longer need them I hope that those local residents in need are given those rooms before they are given to tourists. Sad to think anyone would think local residents in need should be transported off of their island to make rooms available to tourists.

Sad to think anyone would think local residents in need should be transported off of their island to make rooms available to tourists.

I agree with what you’re saying. But also it’s sad to think that Royal Caribbean has started cruising out of San Juan before the island can support it.

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I agree with what you’re saying. But also it’s sad to think that Royal Caribbean has started cruising out of San Juan before the island can support it.

 

 

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San Juan can support ships home porting there. The airport is open and there is transportation to the port. It isn’t a tourist destination now and probably won’t be back to being one for months. I advise people going on cruises to plan on flying in the sailing day and out on debarkation day for the next six months if they can. That is what I am doing. Not much choice with my hotel reservations being canceled. If I were before final payment I would cancel the cruise and book a sailing not out of San Juan.

That's not possible when the airlines wont allow you to change your reservation or you can't risk the threat of winter weather delays causing you to miss the ship. There shouldn't be cruises out of Puerto Rico if the infrastructure is not prepared for it. And of course NCL will not change the embarkation port either. If I could get my money back I would gladly give up my room but i can't get a refunded.

That's not possible when the airlines wont allow you to change your reservation or you can't risk the threat of winter weather delays causing you to miss the ship. There shouldn't be cruises out of Puerto Rico if the infrastructure is not prepared for it. And of course NCL will not change the embarkation port either. If I could get my money back I would gladly give up my room but i can't get a refunded.

The airlines have been allowing changes of flight reservations. I sort of lucked out because United canceled my flights so I rebooked on other airlines but we have a group going and everyone that still had flights were able to rebook to the day of without change fees.

I would have preferred to have had the opportunity to rebook the cruise but cruise lines unfortunately won’t allow it. If I canceled the cruise they will pocket my money and resell the cabin cheap to local residents who don’t have to fly in. I can’t understand people who post they are loyal to Royal or NCL or other cruise lines. Cruise lines are among the least loyal or fair businesses to their customers. Apple, Costco, Amazon, Whole Foods, to name a few are businesses I will be loyal to as they have always put me first as a customer. Cruise lines meh. With cruise lines it’s usually take it or leave it.

The airlines have been allowing changes of flight reservations. I sort of lucked out because United canceled my flights so I rebooked on other airlines but we have a group going and everyone that still had flights were able to rebook to the day of without change fees.

 

I would have preferred to have had the opportunity to rebook the cruise but cruise lines unfortunately won’t allow it. If I canceled the cruise they will pocket my money and resell the cabin cheap to local residents who don’t have to fly in. I can’t understand people who post they are loyal to Royal or NCL or other cruise lines. Cruise lines are among the least loyal or fair businesses to their customers. Apple, Costco, Amazon, Whole Foods, to name a few are businesses I will be loyal to as they have always put me first as a customer. Cruise lines meh. With cruise lines it’s usually take it or leave it.

What date did United cancel your flight and where were you flying from yikes that's who were are flying with

The airlines have been allowing changes of flight reservations. I sort of lucked out because United canceled my flights so I rebooked on other airlines but we have a group going and everyone that still had flights were able to rebook to the day of without change fees.

 

I would have preferred to have had the opportunity to rebook the cruise but cruise lines unfortunately won’t allow it. If I canceled the cruise they will pocket my money and resell the cabin cheap to local residents who don’t have to fly in. I can’t understand people who post they are loyal to Royal or NCL or other cruise lines. Cruise lines are among the least loyal or fair businesses to their customers. Apple, Costco, Amazon, Whole Foods, to name a few are businesses I will be loyal to as they have always put me first as a customer. Cruise lines meh. With cruise lines it’s usually take it or leave it.

You were just defending royal Caribbean two posts ago by saying San Juan is ready. Just because a airport and port is in operation. Now you say you would cancel if you could.

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You were just defending royal Caribbean two posts ago by saying San Juan is ready. Just because a airport and port is in operation. Now you say you would cancel if you could.

 

 

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It is ready if you fly in and go straight to the ship. It is not ready beyond that. While many seasoned cruisers fly in a day or more in advance it is not unusual for passengers to fly in the day of a cruise. I have done that twice out of San Juan. The first time was my first cruise in 1996 when I didn’t know any better. The other time I flew to San Juan the day of a cruise I couldn’t fly in a day in advance for work reasons. I don’t like to fly in the day of a cruise, particularly in December because of possible weather delayed flights. I cruise out of San Juan not for San Juan, it is one of my least favorite ports. I have been there a bunch of times and I don’t care much for it. I cruise out of San Juan for the other ports. This time I am sailing with a group. I would have canceled if I could because flying in the day of in December is stressful, and because the first evening will be pretty much a waste for me after a four hour flight. From Royal Caribbean’s standpoint they don’t care if you want to visit San Juan or not ahead of or after a cruise or if you want to fly into San Juan a day in advance because you are worried about weather delays or if flying in the day of a cruise is tiring. As far as they are concerned they are selling you a seven day cruise. The airport and port are in operation. They will provide transportation between the airport and port. Tough for you if you had pre cruise or post cruise plans.

What date did United cancel your flight and where were you flying from yikes that's who were are flying with

United canceled my flights about a month ago. Without notification. I found out from checking online. They were from Washington Dulles. Same with my hotel. They canceled my reservation without notification. A Hilton property. I booked the hotel directly. I found out from checking the Hilton Honors website. I found alternative flights on other airlines so I booked those to fly in the day of because the hotel situation is problematic. Hotels are not available and San Juan even if it were not affected by a hurricane is not a place you want to book any old hotel. I have been checking my new flights every day. I am now flying down on Jet Blue and back on Southwest. Both are better airlines than United. So far so good.

Thanks for sharing the information.

Keith

That's not possible when the airlines wont allow you to change your reservation ....

We had reservations on Delta from PDX to SJU Jan 12 2018. Also had reservations at a few hotels in San Juan and have had one hotel cancel on us (Verdanza). It was getting too stressful reading all the last minute hotel cancellations so I called Delta and asked their policy for flight changes. They told me I could change flights at no charge (but if you cancelled there was no refund). I rebooked with an overnight stay in Atlanta and will fly into San Juan from Atlanta the day of the cruise (Jan 13). And I cancelled all the San Juan hotel reservations I had previously made. One less thing to stress about ...

Someone is occupying hotel rooms other than visitors. It may not be local residents, but tourists have not had much luck securing hotel rooms.

 

When FEMA and other relief workers occupying those rooms no longer need them I hope that those local residents in need are given those rooms before they are given to tourists. Sad to think anyone would think local residents in need should be transported off of their island to make rooms available to tourists.

I doubt anything like that will ever happen. Hotels, just like any other business, need paying customers in order to stay in business. They are not charity organizations. Now, if the government or charity organizations donate to the hotels to at least cover the hotel's expenses, then I can see some hotels taking in locals. You can't blame the hotel owners for not wanting residents who cannot pay anything. A few weeks of that and many hotels go broke. There are billions of dollars pouring into Puerto Rico from the US government and other entities. Some of that money could possibly be used to subsidize hotels that take in locals. But to demand that hotels open their doors to non paying locals would be a nightmare and it is probably illegal.

I doubt anything like that will ever happen. Hotels, just like any other business, need paying customers in order to stay in business. They are not charity organizations. Now, if the government or charity organizations donate to the hotels to at least cover the hotel's expenses, then I can see some hotels taking in locals. You can't blame the hotel owners for not wanting residents who cannot pay anything. A few weeks of that and many hotels go broke. There are billions of dollars pouring into Puerto Rico from the US government and other entities. Some of that money could possibly be used to subsidize hotels that take in locals. But to demand that hotels open their doors to non paying locals would be a nightmare and it is probably illegal.

None is demanding they open their doors for free to non paying locals. FEMA has a program that pays for hotel rooms for displaced people. There are hotels who have agrred to be in that program. That is what was being discussed. It is easy to get confused by the discussion on this thread because it began on another thread and then a participant decided to start a new stand alone thread.

None is demanding they open their doors for free to non paying locals. FEMA has a program that pays for hotel rooms for displaced people. There are hotels who have agrred to be in that program. That is what was being discussed. It is easy to get confused by the discussion on this thread because it began on another thread and then a participant decided to start a new stand alone thread.

I do easily get confused. But, enough about me. I am of the opinion that FEMA should lease a couple or more cruise ships and dock them in San Juan for the duration. Think it would be less expensive and expedient. Then, the hotels would not have to refuse tourist customers. I worked for government contractors in contracts most of my working days. Under federal law FEMA bids out their contracts. Subcontractors (ie Hotels) would have to come in with the lowest bid unless there were mitigating circumstances. That lowest bid would be quite a bit lower than what the hotel can charge to tourists. Also, the FEMA residents, having not lived in nice hotels, may not treat the properties with respect. Then the hotels would incur expensive maintenance and repair bills.

That lowest bid would be quite a bit lower than what the hotel can charge to tourists. Also, the FEMA residents, having not lived in nice hotels, may not treat the properties with respect. Then the hotels would incur expensive maintenance and repair bills.

Nevertheless there are some nice hotels on the FEMA list.

You should not make assumptions or stereotypes about FEMA residents.

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Nevertheless there are some nice hotels on the FEMA list.

 

You should not make assumptions or stereotypes about FEMA residents.

 

 

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Charles,

Truly did not mean to play with your sensibilities. If I offended my apologies.

Believe that I was just telling it the way it is. Hotels are not in the charity business. When they have to turn away or cancel paying customers they lose business in many different ways. Yes, with FEMA, they do get paid the contract price which believe me is lower than they can get from tourists. Also, some people, not all, who have never stayed in a hotel or a nice hotel, and are not paying for the room, tend not to care about the property. The hotels then have to absorb the costs of repair and maintenance within their agreed upon contract with FEMA. That's all I'm saying. That's not to say that I don't feel bad about the Puerto Rican people who were greatly affected by the storm. I certainly do. :)

I pondered a bit about chiming in on this topic but being at "ground zero" on some of the angles discussed, I feel like I should. I work in the hospitality/gaming business in PR and I can say for a fact that most (not all) hotels are being used to house workers from a wide range of federal agencies, workers contracted by federal agencies and by other companies contracted by either federal or local government to provide services in the recuperation of PR. That said... the treatment of displaced families by the responsible agencies has been horrible. There are ZERO displaced persons staying where I work and "officially" the are 834 persons still living in shelters all over the Island as of today (according to the status.pr website). This is 77 days after Maria hit.

There are hotels accepting reservations but you just got to have some luck since demand is much higher than what they can offer right now. Trust me, operating hotels are not making as much money as with a tourist-packed house. But they are not loosing money either. Also, I'm not quite sure hospitality companies have much of a choice when the federal government decides to "invade" the property. I'm thinking it's more like (we need X amount of rooms and you have X amount of rooms...we'll take them". For example: Carnival Cruise Line decided shortly after the storm to return the Fascination to its home port of San Juan, only to be "rented out" as a floating hotel for workers on the Island of St. Croix mid way into its "come home" trip. It arrived in San Juan, disembarked everyone and sailed for St Croix, where it will be at least until mid-Feb, according to Carnival. I am willing to bet that Carnival is also not making the same amount of money than sailing with a ship-full of cruisers. There are some smaller places and guest houses open and services like Air BnB are also up and running. but there's a lot of demand right now,

Charles4515 wrote: "If I canceled the cruise they will pocket my money and resell the cabin cheap to local residents who don’t have to fly in."

You would be surprised how false this is. We PR locals don't have benefits like, for example, Florida residents, who get discounts of cruise fares on most lines. We also don't really get "cheap tickets". We pay what John Doe pays and sometimes we pay more. I can scour the internet for specials, fire sales,48-hour sales, etc. I would venture to say that over 70-75% of local cruisers have no idea how to book online and do so with travel agents who might be able to get good cabins blocked for them to sell but not necessarily have the best prices. Also, having gone through Irma and Maria, with the hike in cost-of-living expenses and what not, I can confidently say that the average Puerto Rican living in PR is not really looking into spending on cruises or any big vacations right now.