Upcoming Cruises: Has Your Itinerary Been Changed Due to Hurricane Damage?

It seems itineraries for upcoming cruises for purchase (from those just a few weeks away to several months away) are still listing ports damaged badly by Hurricane Maria.

Has your itinerary/ports changed and if so, what were the changes (old port & new port)? It's tough to plan something when it's obvious that the ports showing on the booking sites are still showing places like Puerto Rico, St.Thomas, etc.

Thanks for any info!

Eastern itineraries changed to western

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You will be hard pressed to find anyone with an Eastern Caribbean cruise booked for the next few months--or through the end of winter/spring 2018--who can answer "no" to the title question.

In spite of what has or hasn't been updated online, to summarize:

St. Maarten will not be open until sometime after the New Year. No more precise ETA is known.

Some cruise lines are assuming St Thomas will reopen sometime between late November and Christmas. Likely that is unreasonably optimistic.

Any listed calls for the British Virgin Islands (Tortola et al) should likewise be assumed a no-go.

Though believe it or not, cruises that embark/disembark in San Juan will actually be resuming fairly soon (at least that is what RCI and X are claiming) once it is reasonably certain enough flights are operating. I imagine that those with plans for pre-/post-cruise stays at now-destroyed hotels will have to make other arrangements. And of course intermediate calls at San Juan have to still be out of the question: what kind of shore excursions could be running?

As for replacement ports: seen lots of added calls at St Kitts, though as we get further into the peak season it is likely already at capacity with pre-scheduled ships. St. Croix is a popular sub for St Thomas, but only one mega-ship plus one medium-sized (Panamax/Vista Class) can dock there each day. Less frequent alternate ports I have seen included Martinique (if the ship was already headed that far south) and even Punta Cana, DR. But as for what the cruiselines are planning if any major ports are still out of service during the February thru April peak (when St Thomas and St Maarten see as many as six ships a day), you guess is as good as mine. Of course some Eastern sailings will be changed to Western as mentioned above--detours to Jamaica are very likely.

Eastern changed to Southern

More immediate ones are changing but I think cruise lines are trying to wait it out before changing ones that are a month or more out.

Keith

our Southern Itinerary has been changed for our November 6th Cruise

we were due to go

Puerto Rico

St Thomas

Domica

Barbados

St Lucia

St Maarten

Our New Itinerary is

Grand Cayman

Falmouth,Jamaica

Bonaire

Curacao

Aruba

we gained an extra sea day and now only have 5 ports instead of 6 which am not happy about, Cruise company said no refund of any port fees/taxes as the new Itinerary is more expensive ..........

RCCL hasn't announced the changes to our November 18 cruise on Grandeur but the next October cruise replaces St.Thomas and St.Maarten wth Martinique and Barbados. I'm assuming our cruise will be the same.

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Mine that isn't until Feb 11 VHS he'd :(. From southern to western. On RC Oasis

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believe it or not, cruises that embark/disembark in San Juan will actually be resuming fairly soon (at least that is what RCI and X are claiming) once it is reasonably certain enough flights are operating. I imagine that those with plans for pre-/post-cruise stays at now-destroyed hotels will have to make other arrangements.

Royal's Adventure of the Seas successfully departed from San Juan on Saturday. I suspect that all ships from now on that are scheduled to depart from SJ will do so - even though the hotel situation is far from ideal.

To answer the original question, I have two cruises to the Eastern Caribbean - one next month, and one in January. The one next month has already swapped three ports. I haven't heard about any changes for the one in January yet; I wouldn't expect to hear anything conclusive for at least another two months.

UPDATE: Carnival released their latest update regarding the Fascination, their cruise ship that home ports in San Juan. You can read it in its entirety at https://www.carnival.com/travel-alerts.aspx . To summarize, as I expected, they will start sailing from San Juan again starting October 15. St. Maarten and St. Thomas have been dropped through November.

We just booked Royal Caribbean Jan. 20 from Baltimore - still showing Eastern Caribbean/Leeward Islands ports: St. Maarten, St. Thomas, etc. Booking agent advised that itinerary is still open - but likely to include Windward Islands: Barbados, St. Lucia, etc. - which is where there current sailings are headed.

Since the point of the exercise is to get out of New England in January for a while (now that our scheduled stay on St. Maarten is out) we are not overly concerned about which islands are involved - although we will miss St. Maarten this year.

We’re on the October 18 HAL Koningsdam sailing next week. The ports of St. Maarten and St. Thomas have been switched to Antigua and St. Lucia. To accommodate those changes, our all day stop in St. Kitts has been shortened to a half day. Not bad all things considered. We are still stopping in Guadaloupe which surprised me. Will be a fun trip no matter what and I’m glad to be giving some tourist dollars to the islands!

Julie

UPDATE #2: Last night Carnival released the news that FEMA would be chartering the Fascination, making it unavailable for any cruises from October 15 through January 28, 2018. You can read the details here: https://www.carnival.com/travel-alerts.aspx . So that's one less ship sailing from San Juan for the time being.

It seems itineraries for upcoming cruises for purchase (from those just a few weeks away to several months away) are still listing ports damaged badly by Hurricane Maria.

Has your itinerary/ports changed and if so, what were the changes (old port & new port)? It's tough to plan something when it's obvious that the ports showing on the booking sites are still showing places like Puerto Rico, St.Thomas, etc.

 

Thanks for any info!

Ours isn't till December 3 and we're still waiting. They posted it as changing to Cozumel and Costa Maya then changed it back to original Eastern. Hope we don't get Cozumel again.

Yes -- itineraries are being changed.

Cruise lines are in constant contact with all the damaged ports and are adjusting itineraries for the next few weeks.

Expect changes to keep happening for a while.

Eastern changed to Southern

Same here. We have a 10 nighter and they dropped St Martin, St, Thomas and Dominica for St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Antigua. Still kept Barbados and Martinique.

 

...

 

St. Maarten will not be open until sometime after the New Year.

 

...

 

And of course intermediate calls at San Juan have to still be out of the question...

 

November 5 - when Grandeur of the Seas is now due to call at St. Maarten is well to this side of the New Year.

And just what is the "question" outside of which calls at. San Juan still have to be?

What armchair cruise planners do not understand is the vital contribution port calls make to the economies of Caribbean islands. If they wait until EVERYTHING is repaired, it will be years. They will get beaches ready to accept beach-goers, get roads cleared, and get enough busses and taxis running to get people to them, and hang out the "open for business sign" --- because doing it is the way to get it done.

Severa have been changed and from what I see with each passing day there are more revisions.

Keith

It seems itineraries for upcoming cruises for purchase (from those just a few weeks away to several months away) are still listing ports damaged badly by Hurricane Maria.

Has your itinerary/ports changed and if so, what were the changes (old port & new port)? It's tough to plan something when it's obvious that the ports showing on the booking sites are still showing places like Puerto Rico, St.Thomas, etc.

 

Thanks for any info!

Initially many ports were changed from Eastern to Western, but I'm starting to see some announcements of ships returning to Eastern in November..

We're sailing on "Caribbean Princess" early Jan to the Canal, So American ports and western Caribbean. We've

rcvd an e-mail from Princess that the itinerary will remain as initially planned. We're sailing on the MSC "Divina" the end of Jan and have been advised that San Juan will replace St Martin. I guess they think San Juan will be up and running by then but St Martin won't. However, I wouldn't' be all that surprised if that changes again prior to that cruise.

The people of Puerto Rico and St. Thomas desperately need more help than they are getting. I fear that if the focus of recovery aid remains on getting the resorts up and running the DC folks will walk away claiming to have made it all better. The average US citizen in PR is really hurting.

November 5 - when Grandeur of the Seas is now due to call at St. Maarten is well to this side of the New Year.

 

And just what is the "question" outside of which calls at. San Juan still have to be?

 

What armchair cruise planners do not understand is the vital contribution port calls make to the economies of Caribbean islands. If they wait until EVERYTHING is repaired, it will be years. They will get beaches ready to accept beach-goers, get roads cleared, and get enough busses and taxis running to get people to them, and hang out the "open for business sign" --- because doing it is the way to get it done.

I totally understand why it would be good for cruise ships to go so the money can help the people but I really don't want to do that I want a vacation of my dreams because I have a life threatening illness and I don't know how long I have. I know this sound selfish but I will never have the money to do it again but more then likely I don't have enough time. My body is attacking my liver now so slowly falling apart it stink more then likely will not have any hair from it and in pain but this trip will be a reprieve from all that is on my mind. I can not wait to go and see beautiful beaches.