Carnival Liberty Evacuation

With the combination of 757-200, 737-800, and MD-83, I have to guess they're AA planes. They have a decent sized hub in SJU, so it makes sense.

SJU is no longer considered an AA hub. Also they don't fly the MDs down to SJU so they would have to come from another hub to get there. More likely to be Delta.

SJU is no longer considered an AA hub. Also they don't fly the MDs down to SJU so they would have to come from another hub to get there. More likely to be Delta.

I did forget about SJU being de-hubbed. That said MIA is also closer than any other major airline hub.

Delta doesn't fly MD-83's, just MD-88's and MD-90's.

Now I'm curious. My money's still on AA. :D

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.

With the combination of 757-200, 737-800, and MD-83, I have to guess they're AA planes. They have a decent sized hub in SJU, so it makes sense.

 

They're likely not seating anybody in First Class, which would account for the fewer number of seats than expected. If they use the F cabin they'd need an extra flight attendant.

It's not American - as an employee, I can confirm that.

Zones 5, 6 and 7 have been called.

So its a lottery on who is getting alled to leave, everyone is just sitting in cabins not knowing when they have to leave or where they will be sleeping if they end up in San Juan? Seems there has to be a better way

Quick question, I'm sure I missed something reading past answers but why they are flying to San Juan and not back to Florida?

Thanks.

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.

Thanks so much! Have fun!

So 770 people are looking for hotel rooms in SJU tonight:eek: Will be interesting to see what if any assistance Carnival can offer in that regard.

Quick question, I'm sure I missed something reading past answers but why they are flying to San Juan and not back to Florida?

Thanks.

I don't think anyone here can answer that with any certainty. So far we only know that the people leaving today are being flown to San Juan. Perhaps these are the people that live there (there usually is a sizable bunch of PR locals on these cruises) and the people that indicated that they have onward plans in San Juan after the cruise was scheduled to debark.

There's no indication yet of where they will fly people tomorrow and Friday.

Sadly no charters have been added to flightaware yet. Determining the airline has really piqued my curiosity. :D

So 770 people are looking for hotel rooms in SJU tonight:eek: Will be interesting to see what if any assistance Carnival can offer in that regard.

On some site, I read that those that live in PR are among the ones being sent home today so perhaps they won't need quite as much hotel capacity.

On some site, I read that those that live in PR are among the ones being sent home today so perhaps they won't need quite as much hotel capacity.

That would make sense, and give them more time to make hotel arrangements for the next wave tomorrow.

Quick question, I'm sure I missed something reading past answers but why they are flying to San Juan and not back to Florida?

Thanks.

Because the cruise started in San Juan not Florida.

I stand corrected. There's an Eastern Airlines (not THAT Eastern Airlines, but a new Miami-based charter airline founded this year) 737-800 flight scheduled to depart STT for SJU at 5:40 PM. I wonder if that's one of our birds?

I also see a charter on National Cargo to depart STT for SJU at 6:25 PM, on a 757-200. I wonder if that's really a cargo flight or if that's one of our birds too?

EDIT: National Cargo also operates passenger charters.

Funny that I'm on this cruise right now and not as mad as people who aren't.

We are trying to make the most of a bad situation and are still on vacation at a caribbean island. Not that bad.

The cruise ships are getting bigger with an increasing number of passengers. Much higher passenger density. In addition, the number of crew/passenger ratio is getting smaller. Increasingly, the ships are relying more on automation. This may work well when everything is functioning as planned, but when a system breaks down, there seems to be an absence of the human factor (enough well trained crew) to handle this. Whether it is Norovirus contamination, generators breaking down, or fires, are the cruise lines relaxing their safety standards.

I do remember that once, when on Carnival, during the life-boat drill, the crew at times appeared to be puzzled as to which passengers or section would go to which life-boat. I would have hated to see that happen during a real emergency.

Was on the Liberty the end of July-August on a Chartered Cruise. It would have been a mess if this happened. I am sorry the cruise was interrupted. Good job in reporting Pauleydm. Hope you get home safely.

I'm as big a fan of Carnival as anybody, and I think gone_cruisin is right regarding communication. This time, Carnival's offered compensation is generous right from the start, but they're still having issues with getting official and correct info to the passengers in a timely manner.

Constructive criticism is not a bad thing.

I didn't mean they were forcing people to drink and gamble. My concern is they were forcing people to stay on board hoping that those people would then want to drink and gamble.

Is forcing people to go ashore and spend their money to drink and shop a better preference in your mind?

Funny that I'm on this cruise right now and not as mad as people who aren't.

We are trying to make the most of a bad situation and are still on vacation at a caribbean island. Not that bad.

Great Attitude!!! Good for you, enjoy the Caribbean Sun!!

funny that i'm on this cruise right now and not as mad as people who aren't.

We are trying to make the most of a bad situation and are still on vacation at a caribbean island. Not that bad.

Great attitude!!! Enjoy that view ... it's so much better than the one I have right now :)

Unfortunately, a couple of years ago, I was scheduled to sail on Carnival's Pride out of Baltimore (which I had to fly to). It happened to be the week that Hurricane Sandy was charging up the east coast. For days prior, I watched the website and called Carnival to see if it would be cancelled and was told it would sail. So, the morning of the cruise, we flew to Baltimore and got to the terminal. We boarded the ship, got our luggage, unpacked and at 2:15 pm, the trip was cancelled. (I personally did not want to sail in the hurricane). Carnival had brought the cruise before us in a day early due to the weather. This ended up in mayhem since now we had to all get off the ship and make other arrangements on the fly. Could not get a flight since airlines were cancelling flights in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. We ended up having to rent a car and drive 8 hours to get home. It was very stressful and could have been avoided if they cancelled a day or two before knowing the weather situation. I hope for passengers on the 9/13 cruise that they cancel before so many people fly to San Juan.

My daughter was working on the Pride during this time. You left out a few things. The Coast Guard closed the entrance to the Chesapeake. This was not done until after noon on that day. What control would Carnival have over this? None. Out of their hands and they cancelled as soon as they heard. They also took good care of you with an open bar and plenty of food.

The safest place for a ship in weather such as that, is not at a pier. They had to move the ship into open water, yet, couldn't leave the bay. And they also took very good care of you for a future sailing, didn't they? (I'll also point out that you were also aware of the situation and chose not to cancel "a day or two before".)

Regardless of the above points, what has happened to the Liberty is a completely different beast. What is true right now may not be two hours from now. There is only so much Carnival can do at the moment. Their first concern is taking care of the passengers currently on board and attempting to get the ship repaired. Unfortunately there is a great deal of unknown for Carnival at this point. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Fires happen to, well, basically everything. Even equipment that is perfectly maintained has the potential to catch fire.

While I certainly understand the frustration of those cruising in the coming weeks, we must understand that Carnival is dealing with a great deal of frustration internally as well. They are at the mercy of so many different "governing" boards (i.e. the Coast Guard, the parts manufacturer, the airlines, etc). St Thomas doesn't have a large bustling airport as is found in the States. They can only handle so many flights/passengers in a day. The logistics of just trying to get enough planes and crew down there to handle 3000 passengers has got to be a massive undertaking in and of itself. It is easy for us to sit at home and try to armchair quarterback the whole thing. Just sayin'.

Is forcing people to go ashore and spend their money to drink and shop a better preference in your mind?

Allowing them to go to shore if they wanted would be a better preference.

Funny that I'm on this cruise right now and not as mad as people who aren't.

We are trying to make the most of a bad situation and are still on vacation at a caribbean island. Not that bad.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation.

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.

Enjoy your vacation.