Orient beach

Has anyone heard anything about the damage to orient beach and the beach clubs ?

Here's a video of the Orient Bay area after Irma.

Here's a video of the Orient Bay area after Irma.

Truly heartbreaking to view the aftermath. :loudcry:

It’s going to take a very long time to recover from that. Incredible video

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Thanks for the Video ! Its tells it all !

Thanks for the video - that is heartbreaking. Cannot see how they will be ready to receive visitors any time soon.

Thanks for the video - that is heartbreaking. Cannot see how they will be ready to receive visitors any time soon.

Are you speaking of beach visitors for the day?

Coolers and BBQ' s don't take that long to set up and neither does a port-o-potty and chairs and umbrellas.

I really think that people are underestimating just how important it is for both the island and the cruise lines that ports such as St. Maarten, St. Thomas and PR are back in business.

Norwegian has already changed the itinerary for the Escape's Eastern Caribbean cruises for the remainder of 2017. Unfortunately, I doubt St. Martin will stay as a port of call for many ships during the remainder of 2017. I'm sure other islands will also be on the list. This is from NCL's website:

.....In the interim, due to the destruction caused by the storm, we have altered the itineraries for Norwegian Escape’s Eastern Caribbean cruises for the remainder of 2017. Travel Partners and guests booked on these sailings will be receiving updated itinerary information shortly.

Here's another video during and after Irma. Very sad.

Here's a before and after pic of Orient Beach.

Heart wrenching videos like that make you cross your fingers that they have the strength to pick up the pieces and rebuild. They need help. Jobs help, and tourists mean jobs. Let's hope that the ships starts gradually and soon. I think safety and security and not concrete buildings is what the cruiselines will be looking for before they start coming back to these islands.

Norwegian has already changed the itinerary for the Escape's Eastern Caribbean cruises for the remainder of 2017. Unfortunately, I doubt St. Martin will stay as a port of call for many ships during the remainder of 2017. I'm sure other islands will also be on the list. This is from NCL's website:

 

.....In the interim, due to the destruction caused by the storm, we have altered the itineraries for Norwegian Escape’s Eastern Caribbean cruises for the remainder of 2017. Travel Partners and guests booked on these sailings will be receiving updated itinerary information shortly.

My husband thought November but I have Jan 2018 as the timeframe of ships returning if the clean up continues as it has and no other storms cause significant disruption to those efforts. It was a category 5 storm on a very small island so 4 months seems like a reasonable amount of time to give them to get the island ready to receive large amounts of tourists. More than that though I think will cause too much economic hardship and despair.

Club Orient has announced that they are getting ready to offer chairs, beer and food on the beach.:cool:

gary

Lets wait for the protest from residents seeing that there is boatloads of beer and boxfull of T-shirt available while they can't get proper tools and material to rebuilt their home.

Lets wait for the protest from residents seeing that there is boatloads of beer and boxfull of T-shirt available while they can't get proper tools and material to rebuilt their home.

Hurricane Irma occurred on September 6th. That was 3 weeks ago today. The first cruise ship with passengers is scheduled on November 11th. That's about 6 weeks away.

That's a lot of time to bring in ships with building supplies and workers.

The islanders need safe homes but they need jobs as well. Tourists mean jobs. Cruisers don't need hotel rooms which makes them good first tourists.

The island suffered from Mother Nature's wrath and needs help from the governments associated with the island and from aid groups supported by individuals who want to help the island. The cruiselines and their passengers are other ways that bring money to the island.

You never please everyone. Some may not want the ships back in November and may even protest but for those that work in the stores at the port and in Philipsburg, the taxi drivers and tour operators and those that own or work at the restaurants that are up and running November 11th probably seems like a long time without the income from tourists.

Hurricane Irma occurred on September 6th. That was 3 weeks ago today. The first cruise ship with passengers is scheduled on November 11th. That's about 6 weeks away.

 

That's a lot of time to bring in ships with building supplies and workers.

 

The islanders need safe homes but they need jobs as well. Tourists mean jobs. Cruisers don't need hotel rooms which makes them good first tourists.

 

The island suffered from Mother Nature's wrath and needs help from the governments associated with the island and from aid groups supported by individuals who want to help the island. The cruiselines and their passengers are other ways that bring money to the island.

 

You never please everyone. Some may not want the ships back in November and may even protest but for those that work in the stores at the port and in Philipsburg, the taxi drivers and tour operators and those that own or work at the restaurants that are up and running November 11th probably seems like a long time without the income from tourists.

Agree!!!!

Here's another video, showing the beach from the Village up to Esmeralda and where Coco used to be.