Enchantment and Hurricane Irma

Semper Fi!

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So glad RCL is doing this. While I know this will not be your typical cruise vacation- the ship is a haven! Stay safe and happy 50th anniversary!

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Just finished a wonderful dinner with friends met on the cruise. There are still hundreds of people without rooms. Lines still long. Some have newborns and many children. It's 10pm. Ouch! Water has smoothed out snd ride less bumpy.

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at least they are safe and Happy 50th anniversary

Just finished a wonderful dinner with friends met on the cruise. There are still hundreds of people without rooms. Lines still long. Some have newborns and many children. It's 10pm. Ouch! Water has smoothed out snd ride less bumpy.

 

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Makes it real that this is not a vacation - this is an evacuation - a matter of life and death. Stay safe. Irma was just upgraded back to a Cat 5.

Thanks for the reports and photos.....

Latest sitrep is everyone is clear of the common areas as of 07:00. Appears all finally got rooms. We are near Cabo De San Antonio, Cuba where we will weather the storm. Look at http://www.cruisemapper.com for ship positions. We have a lot of chop but no serious seas. Sun shining through large cloud layer. James Van Fleet, RCCL Meteorologist on board and giving updates.

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This information is very helpful. My 21 year old daughter is on board having not long started work for RCCL/Celebrity from overseas as a production cast member - so had only been in Miami for a short time prior to the evacuation. I am extremely thankful to RCCL/Celebrity for putting employee safety as paramount and organising this evacuation - from a very grateful UK Mum!

Life on board has stabilized and following a regular routine. Crew has been bending over backwards to accommodate the many passengers. We are below Cuba waiting for the storm to head northwest. Captain gave another day of free Internet yesterday.

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Is that Laura Bernard?? If so...she was by far the most exceptional Concierge we have met.

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Yes indeed!

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Fortunately, I have my computer with me so I designed a button/T-shirt for this cruise. Too bad I don't have my button machine with me. I did make a lot of "I Won At Trivia" buttons for our B2B and gave them to the Activities Staff to give out to the kids. They just had a cartoon trivia and these tots got 18 out of 20 correct. Awesome! Ironically, I titled it "Caribbean Escape". Escape indeed! I'm going to make a big box of IRMA buttons and send them to Laura to give out to the crew.

The Activities Staff are re-gearing their programs to keep the oodles of kids occupied. The kids are weathering this as an adventure and having a blast. Karaoke was good last night with the kids stealing the show. We do have CNN so we are watching the flood waters claim downtown Miami - waist high now. We think we will get back either Tuesday or Wednesday but nothing is for sure, depending upon the port damage. The Captain is keeping us informed. Yesterday, we saw the RCCL HQ staff doing work on their computers in groups so it is not a vacation and they are actually taking care of customers while escaping the hurricane. Dedication! Glad I'm a stockholder. On the RCCL site it states that Empress and Enchantment will assist Key West and Tampa once the impact of the storm is known. Reminds me of a humanitarian mission when I was active duty in the USMC.

So, it’s just 14:09 on Sunday, 10 Sep. We just lost satellite access on the ship for Internet because of a heavy rain storm (zero visibility). We were just saying it was sunny but the weather changed quickly.

Now it’s trying to clear again. This is the first real dismal weather we’ve had.

At least the top windows of the Solarium get washed (hah).

Just got Internet back again. Sun is back out.

Just looking at Miami - 5 feet of water and rising - wow!

Looking at http://www.cruisemapper.com - what a parking lot between Cuba and Cozumel!

We even see the Grand Celebration out of Palm Beach near us. Looks like all ships hi-diddle-dittled out of Dodge to safety.

OP, thank you for your thread! I think it's fabulous Royal provided this ship to you all and its employees. Happy 50th Anniversary, and stay safe!

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Laura is awesome!!

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I sent Laura the link and showed her the pictures.

Captain’s Q&A with Captain Tony, Michael Bayley and James Van Fleet

Many, many people thanking them for the evacuation cruise. Employees, families, and guests alike.

They told us they had literally 3 hours to board 2900 people at Miami – just get them on and register later.

There were only 5 terminals on the ship so it took a long time to get everyone settled.

Today, there is a 12:30 lunch for the staff that participated in the evacuation.

At St. Maarten, the pilot saw the Adventure and got a ride out on a Dutch Navy ship and escorted the Adventure in.

RCCL is evacuating from the Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico and Spirit Airlines is providing planes to get them back home.

Captain Tony stated all ships maintain weeks supply in case they get stuck at sea.

Bayley stated all RCCL ships were bunkered to the max prior to the hurricane.

James Van Fleet is his real name although everyone at RCCL makes fun of it.

The Empress will go to Key West to assist and bringing 50k bottles of water. Majesty was going to the Virgin Islands.

After thanking them for allowing us to remain onboard, I did ask Bayley to please bring back the reduced deposits as it kills the retirees – since we book suites it goes from $4k to $18k for 20 cruises. He said he will look for ways to accommodate the loyalty cruisers and he would be on the President’s Cruise to get feedback. Please bring up the subject!

I did give a shout out to Laura (Concierge) and Melissa (Guest Services) for getting us off and back on quickly.

Of course I met with Bayley later and gave him a set of pins and buttons. Ironically the button for this cruise was titled "Caribbean Escape". Now he has a few trinkets for his desk.

We will dock tomorrow tentatively at noonish but may get in earlier.

We have been following the FAA posts for the airports on the other thread - Hurricane Irma.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=54030628#post54030628

Here is a link to FAA Flight Delay:

http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp

If you click on an airport dot, it will bring up the current status page, one of which I posted earlier. As I am typing this, they updated the open time for Miami. It had said it would open at noon today, it has just been updated to 4pm.

We are going to arrive in Miami early tomorrow morning. RCCL is providing complimentary transfers to MIA. They also are giving a superb discount for the next cruise, departing tomorrow night and returning Friday. Destination is unknown and you had to sign a paper acknowledging it. We are staying on as our area still has no electricity. Price was $199 each. RCCL is handling this situation in a very professional manner and going out of their way to take care of their employees and guests. We've seen Michael Bayley around the ship so he is on top of things. We are very impressed on the entire operation. We still have gratis Internet, which is a huge bonus with everyone trying to get flights and touch base with relatives. Speed is still great. They have all sorts of things for the kids to do. Today we encountered some medium sea swells and bouncing the ship around. Saw a great matinee with a comedian and Lou Gazarra (American Idol contestant). Awesome range for voice.

So great they are letting you stay on during their continued aide runs! It's good for everyone involved!

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So were sitting off Miami awaiting a sonar inspection of the port before we can dock. A lot of people changing flights, hotels, and car rentals due to ETA of 4pm.

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I posted it in the main Irma thread, but I just got a text and e-mail from Royal that the 9/25 cruise will miss Key West and will instead call at Freeport on 9/28.

My friends and I were on the original September 4th sailing. We decided to disembark on the 7th as we live 45 min from the port and go through Irma at home with our families. We got extremely lucky as the only damage we had was to our trees. We never lost power and my satellite tv never went out. We were very concerned about those that had their hotels and flights cancelled. I am so happy Royal did the right thing and allowed those that didn't have a place to safely go through the hurricane to stay on board. Continue to stay safe everyone and safe travels to wherever home may be.

Just curious how did they decide which passengers could stay on and which were forced to debark?

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Hey guys what are they telling you? Port still closed due to now finding sunken sailboats in the channel. They are STILL scanning the bottom. Now announcement says closed until further notice, not from 4pm anymore. Port Everglades is open. They cancelled tomorrow's trip on the ship. I'm wondering and hoping they make arrangements to sail to and from Port Everglades until this salvage operation and whatever else is wrong is fixed which could be days (or more!).

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