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Where is Liberty and How are Things On board?

SelectSys

By SelectSys,
in Royal Caribbean International

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BEENSAILING

BEENSAILING

Posted
Posted

I am booked on Allure in October with Puerto Rico in place of St. Thomas. For me the change in port is nothing by comparison to the insanity of Royal's thinking and announcements of bringing the Liberty into Galveston in the midst of floods and hurricanes and tornadoes. The port is closed. Streets are flooded. Power is out. Even if the port opens on Sunday (doubtful) port workers cannot get to the port to work, food trucks cannot get thru...arriving passengers have no where to go with flooded streets and closed airports. NOLA is not an option for Royal as they aren't going back there until the end of next year unless they can make a deal with another cruise line to at least port there and refuel and bring more food on board for the passengers. Given the weather forecasts...why did Royal even have Liberty leave Mexico?

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tparker0220

tparker0220

Posted
Posted
I am booked on Allure in October with Puerto Rico in place of St. Thomas. For me the change in port is nothing by comparison to the insanity of Royal's thinking and announcements of bringing the Liberty into Galveston in the midst of floods and hurricanes and tornadoes. The port is closed. Streets are flooded. Power is out. Even if the port opens on Sunday (doubtful) port workers cannot get to the port to work, food trucks cannot get thru...arriving passengers have no where to go with flooded streets and closed airports. NOLA is not an option for Royal as they aren't going back there until the end of next year unless they can make a deal with another cruise line to at least port there and refuel and bring more food on board for the passengers. Given the weather forecasts...why did Royal even have Liberty leave Mexico?

 

I mean, it may be insanity, but that's no reason to speak definitively about things you're just wrong on. I'm on Galveston right now about 10 blocks from the port. We have power just fine, and most roads here are totally clear.

 

Hell, as we speak we have some winds but not even much rain is coming down where I am (though I understand some is coming down to the west).

 

As of a few hours ago, all roads were passable. Houston is getting absolutely hammered, but it's not actually that bad here (yet).

 

Of course, none of that means that the ship will be a-ok to dock, though.

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BEENSAILING

BEENSAILING

Posted
Posted
I mean, it may be insanity, but that's no reason to speak definitively about things you're just wrong on. I'm on Galveston right now about 10 blocks from the port. We have power just fine, and most roads here are totally clear.

 

Hell, as we speak we have some winds but not even much rain is coming down where I am (though I understand some is coming down to the west).

 

As of a few hours ago, all roads were passable. Houston is getting absolutely hammered, but it's not actually that bad here (yet).

 

Of course, none of that means that the ship will be a-ok to dock, though.

 

And when the ship comes in where are non-locals supposed to go if roads are closed / Houston airports closed...

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stewpapa

stewpapa

Posted
Posted
I am booked on Allure in October with Puerto Rico in place of St. Thomas. For me the change in port is nothing by comparison to the insanity of Royal's thinking and announcements of bringing the Liberty into Galveston in the midst of floods and hurricanes and tornadoes. The port is closed. Streets are flooded. Power is out. Even if the port opens on Sunday (doubtful) port workers cannot get to the port to work, food trucks cannot get thru...arriving passengers have no where to go with flooded streets and closed airports. NOLA is not an option for Royal as they aren't going back there until the end of next year unless they can make a deal with another cruise line to at least port there and refuel and bring more food on board for the passengers. Given the weather forecasts...why did Royal even have Liberty leave Mexico?

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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stewpapa

stewpapa

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So the people who are supposed to be on the next cruise and can't get to Galveston by Monday because of the hurricane are SOL then? Can't imagine too many hotels

 

in Galveston are taking reservations right now.

 

 

 

We were cruising on Disney during Hurricane Matthew last year and had travel insurance. I spent quite a bit of time of the phone with them. And bottom line is, the insurance won't necessarily cover the cost of the cruise if it isn't canceled. Perhaps trip interruption coverage will apply?

 

 

 

Thankfully for us it didn't come into play because we were able to change our flights with no penalty since the airline waived its fees, but basically we didn't know when we were going to dock or if we would make our original flight, it would have been cutting it very close if everything went according to plan. The trip insurance company told me if the flight was not canceled (it wasn't) and if they decided that there was a "reasonable amount of time" (but wouldn't give me a number, 3 hours? 4 hours?) for us to make it after the ship docked they wouldn't cover the cost of changing the flights. It was very stressful and not what I was expecting, I thought the insurance was there for peace of mind but it was not.

 

 

 

Thankfully Southwest let us change our flight without penalty, Alamo let us do the same with the car and Disney allowed guests to stay an extra night on the ship since no one was really sure what situation we were going to be getting into once we got off the boat. And no, Disney did not charge gratuities for those extra days on the ship. We tipped extra anyways, not the crew's fault.

 

 

 

In the end all the trip ins ended up covering was two meals on our departure day (which if the hurricane hadn't happened we'd have paid for those ourselves) and a couple of extra days of airport parking. I would absolutely buy trip insurance again for a cruise, but it's not always going to solve every problem and even if we didn't have it, we would have been just fine.

 

 

 

Good info. Thanks

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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gaylemh

gaylemh

Posted
Posted

 

 

 

And no, Disney did not charge gratuities for those extra days on the ship. We tipped extra anyways, not the crew's fault.

 

When we had a extra surprise day on Anthem last year, we were not charged for the extra day gratuities and were given free internet. We were also allowed to make free calls to change flights. I also left extra for the crew.

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CRUISEFAN0001

CRUISEFAN0001

Posted
Posted
Thankfully Southwest let us change our flight without penalty, Alamo let us do the same with the car and Disney allowed guests to stay an extra night on the ship since no one was really sure what situation we were going to be getting into once we got off the boat. And no, Disney did not charge gratuities for those extra days on the ship. We tipped extra anyways, not the crew's fault.

 

In the end all the trip ins ended up covering was two meals on our departure day (which if the hurricane hadn't happened we'd have paid for those ourselves) and a couple of extra days of airport parking. I would absolutely buy trip insurance again for a cruise, but it's not always going to solve every problem and even if we didn't have it, we would have been just fine.

Thank you for your update - it's good to hear there are still some reasonable people out there who can adapt to unfortunate conditions. Obviously you underscored the value of getting trip insurance and how it only takes one such unfortunate change in events to demonstrate the value in getting it. Kudos.

Live from Liberty of the Seas:

 

The greatest last nite of a cruise ever-it was a party

Lemonade from lemons. Bravo.

 

To both posters (and fellow passengers) - please be aware that many of us on land are praying for your safe and reasonable return. That's what matters most.

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Aggiebuttercup

Aggiebuttercup

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And when the ship comes in where are non-locals supposed to go if roads are closed / Houston airports closed...

 

Heck, even locals can't get home (unless they actually live on the island). Pretty much all of the Houston metro area is under a shelter in place order due to street and highway flooding. The news showed a little while ago that I-45 was under water on the mainland side of the bridge.

 

This is catastrophic.

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brooklynphil

brooklynphil

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Posted

They shouldn't dock for a few more days. People will be stranded in Texas if they dock. Plus hardly anyone will get on board the next cruise. Just skip a week and stop worrying about money all the time. Peoples lives are more important. Money, money, money. It's sickening.

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lj77346

lj77346

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Posted

The port of Galveston remains closed. Portions of the Houston area have had about 2 feet of rain and the rain continues. There are tornado warnings in the western suburbs of Houston. Currently Hobby airport is closed and Bush (IAH) has delays and cancellations. Many roads are flooded - creeks and bayous have overflowed their banks - emergency services are reporting 100's of high water rescues. Harris County government is telling everyone to stay off the streets. Just reporting on current conditions - stay safe.

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Trainman-2

Trainman-2

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The ship will run out of food for the passengers and crew On the last scheduled day of the cruise.

 

 

Whenever we cruise we park out car, full of gas and ready to head home, at the port.

 

If I were on the Liberty, I would want to be unloaded where my car is parked.

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lbjen

lbjen

Posted
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If you're on Liberty and need to drive east on I-10 to get home, it's under water at Uvalde.

 

To be fair, the weather in Galveston proper isn't that bad, but the second you leave the island, you're heading for trouble.

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Petroplex "Live from...." Rare

Petroplex

Posted
Posted
Maybe some things, but ships are typically provisioned for more than the length of the cruise.

I took the All Access Tour on the Liberty on the 25 June 2017 sailing. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen and the ships stores, and they explained how they handle a situation just like this one. The routinely overstock for two days, which means than on most cruises what you eat through Tuesday is stuff which was put on a week before anyway. So a ship which is scheduled to come in on Monday might see some menu repetition, but everyone eats just fine.

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