Princess Cays Fire

[qqwer123]

I’m sad about this. It’s such a peaceful and beautiful stop that we enjoy very much and the locals that work there depend on it. We are there on March 11 I think. 

[Potstech]

54 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Whatever they must do they do  .No one here is a expert .  Surely the size of Carnival corp  ,insurance people are there already assessing the damage for rebuilding . These are all man made things & my guess a month from now they be up & running if the corporate people decide it is important enough  for the generation of sales & profits 

 

How many passengers do you think sign up just because the ship is going to Princess Cays?  Probably not many but I agree Princess will do all it can to get it back up and operating as it is a stop. I think more than a month easily as all the euipment will most likely have to be shipped in.

[Dan M.]

This really is sad news.  We are doing a B2B East/West cruise soon and will probably miss it on BOTH halves of the trip.  I'd be curious to learn if they have an alternative other than another sea day.

 

dlm

[chrysalis]

5 minutes ago, Dan M. said:

This really is sad news.  We are doing a B2B East/West cruise soon and will probably miss it on BOTH halves of the trip.  I'd be curious to learn if they have an alternative other than another sea day.

 

dlm

If they can't accommodate at Grand Turk, or Nassau, then I suspect another sea day

 

[KenP]

4 minutes ago, Potstech said:

 

How many passengers do you think sign up just because the ship is going to Princess Cays?  Probably not many but I agree Princess will do all it can to get it back up and operating as it is a stop. I think more than a month easily as all the euipment will most likely have to be shipped in.

I have chosen itineraries that include a private island, such as Princess Cays, rather than Nassau many times.  I agree about the delay in rebuilding.  

[pilot]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

 

Was it a sea day or did you go to a port?

It turned into a sea day. They have already applied the port tax credit. 

[voljeep]

Grand Turk would be a most excellent alternate port day...

 

Nassau, not so much ...

[BarbinMich]

This is certainly a loss for Princess pax doing the Caribbean itinerary.  Fortunately, the fire did not spread to locals' homes.  From what I understand, the DeVos family (of Amway fame) actually owns the property and leases it to Princess or its parent Carnival Corp.  I assume the property was insured by Carnival or the DeVos family as they're savvy business folks.

[pilot]

7 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Grand Turk would be a most excellent alternate port day...

 

Nassau, not so much ...

Half Moon Cay would also work if Holland America isn’t there. 

[Earthworm Jim]

49 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

If they can't accommodate at Grand Turk, or Nassau, then I suspect another sea day

 

 

I'm no expert, but Grand Turk seems too far to be a viable replacement. Typically Princess Cays is a port of call either the day after leaving a south Florida home port or the day before returning. It's about 250 miles away, so ships traveling at 23 mph (which I Googled and found as a typical cruise ship speed) can make it overnight. Grand Turk is 650 miles from south Florida, so that would be a whole different ballgame.

 

Still, it might be doable if Day 2 was originally scheduled to be a sea day.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Earthworm Jim

[kimmiann99]

We're scheduled to be there on February 27 on our Pride cruise

[shutterbug12]

The first ship scheduled to arrive at Princess Cays has been re-routed. 

Carnival Pride was supposed to arrive tomorrow, but it being reported that it will go to Half Moon Cay instead.

 

I'm sure that other ships will be re-routed as well.

[CineGraphic]

My guess is that they won’t reopen until the fall. Summer is the off season anyway.

[Alabaster Cruiser]

1 hour ago, pilot said:

Half Moon Cay would also work if Holland America isn’t there. 

I would be happy with Half Moon or Grand Turk.  Hopefully not another sea day.  Our cruise next week is a seven day with 3 ports.  Would hate for it to turn into a 7 day with 2 ports.

 

[nbsjcruiser]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

Grand Turk would be a most excellent alternate port day...

 

Nassau, not so much ...

We're on the Caribbean Princess doing an Eastern on February 23. Was supposed to be Princess Cays, St Thomas, St Maarten. I've got my fingers crossed for San Juan instead of Princess Cays not sure if they can pull that off or not.

[chrysalis]

1 hour ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

I'm no expert, but Grand Turk seems too far to be a viable replacement. Typically Princess Cays is a port of call either the day after leaving a south Florida home port or the day before returning. It's about 250 miles away, so ships traveling at 23 mph (which I Googled and found as a typical cruise ship speed) can make it overnight. Grand Turk is 650 miles from south Florida, so that would be a whole different ballgame.

 

Still, it might be doable if Day 2 was originally scheduled to be a sea day.

it is often used instead of Princess Cays.....

[Loonbeam]

From a practical standpoint:

 

Assuming the generator and water system are total losses (likely, based on reports), the following will need to happen before the venue reopens:

 

1>  The area will need to be cleared, made safe and possibly a fire/arson inspection performed.

2>  An insurance appraisal will need to be made

3>  The damaged equipment will need to be disassembled and removed

4>  New equipment will need to be brought in, most likely from the US via Nassau and likely via ship (the alternative would be very expensive cargo flights) - this is not equipment a cruise ship could bring easily as there is no dock for offloading, so would be a cargo ship to North part of island then truck

5>  New enclosures need to be built for the equipment, the equipment installed (specialized labor) and then the entire grid tested

6>  Local authorities will need to approve inspection.

 

The odds of this happening within less than 3 months are astronomical, even 6 months will be a reach to get back to operation (They could probably operate on bottled water but without power...)

 

Now, if the damage is less, this all changes. 

 

If I am Princess, I would look at A> upgrading while rebuilding (longer but more efficient) or just shifting to one of the other Carnival affiliated locations and closing PC.     I suspect we will know in a month or two.

 

 

[Loonbeam]

Side note - why was the generator in a wooden building???

[Georgie562]

How terrible.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Georgie562

[Ep010835]

Guess we’ll all have to be content with our photos and memories for the time being. 😞

[Krazy Kruizers]

Very sorry to hear this.

 

Thank you people for the links.

 

The generator building and osmosis building are important.

[RDC1]

1 hour ago, Loonbeam said:

From a practical standpoint:

 

Assuming the generator and water system are total losses (likely, based on reports), the following will need to happen before the venue reopens:

 

1>  The area will need to be cleared, made safe and possibly a fire/arson inspection performed.

2>  An insurance appraisal will need to be made

3>  The damaged equipment will need to be disassembled and removed

4>  New equipment will need to be brought in, most likely from the US via Nassau and likely via ship (the alternative would be very expensive cargo flights) - this is not equipment a cruise ship could bring easily as there is no dock for offloading, so would be a cargo ship to North part of island then truck

5>  New enclosures need to be built for the equipment, the equipment installed (specialized labor) and then the entire grid tested

6>  Local authorities will need to approve inspection.

 

The odds of this happening within less than 3 months are astronomical, even 6 months will be a reach to get back to operation (They could probably operate on bottled water but without power...)

 

Now, if the damage is less, this all changes. 

 

If I am Princess, I would look at A> upgrading while rebuilding (longer but more efficient) or just shifting to one of the other Carnival affiliated locations and closing PC.     I suspect we will know in a month or two.

 

 

Time = Money

 

Have seen far larger and more complex facilities restored and operating in much smaller amounts of time.  Everything in those facilities (Generators, Waster desalination plants, etc.) are  easily available.  The biggest delay would be any red tape on the part of local government and red tape.  I would suspect that CCL corp would be self insured below a specific dollar value and the replacement cost is probably below that value. Once they have the OK for cleanup the only thing limiting the speed is how much money they want to spend. Bring in enough workers and they could have it up and running in 30 days, largely depend on what they are willing to spend and local government (in Bahamas I would not expect much local government delay the country gets too much money from cruise lines). Cleanup, pour new foundations, replace some pipes and power distribution near the burned buildings. drop in the new equipment while the buildings are being constructed (which could be prefab).

 

I would expect that the company has a disaster recovery/business interruption plan that normal would include the vendors and contractors necessary to do such work and supply replacements.

Edited January 29, 2019 by RDC1

[Loonbeam]

1 minute ago, RDC1 said:

Time = Money

 

Have seen far larger and more complex facilities restored and operating in much smaller amounts of time.  Everything in those facilities (Generators, Waster desalination plants, etc.) are  easily available.  The biggest delay would be any red tape on the part of local government and red tape.  I would suspect that CCL corp would be self insured below a specific dollar value and the replacement cost is probably below that value. Once they have the OK for cleanup the only thing limiting the speed is how much money they want to spend. Bring in enough workers and they could have it up and running in 30 days, largely depend on what they are willing to spend and local government (in Bahamas I would not expect much local government delay the country gets too much money from cruise lines). Cleanup, pour new foundations, replace some pipes and power distribution near the burned buildings. drop in the new equipment while the buildings are being constructed (which could be prefab).

I think you strongly understimate the logistics of getting replacements, easily available yes, but easily available on that island, including skilled labor (which also means housing), not so much.   Not to mention the procurement process, etc. 

 

Lets take one minor logistical challenge, pouring concrete.  There is likely no power nor potable water at the site, so all concrete will have to be trucked in.   How many concrete trucks do you think there are on Elutherea that are available on short notice?

 

To do the cleanup and rebuild itself, temporary power generation and structures need to be brought in just to stage that, which may incur approvals, etc.

 

Sure, anything can be speeded up to a point by throwing money at it, but there's a certain amount of logistics that can't be compressed.  I stand by my assessment that 3 months would be next to impossible unless there is less damage than feared, and 6 months even a stretch and throwing a lot of money at it.  And I don't see Carnival paying accelerated rates, there's no real reason for them to, they have other options.

 

 

[GloriaF]

It is a severe setback for Princess Cays and for cruisers wishing to visit Princess Cays -- but as part of the CCL family perhaps the private island day will be at HAL, Carnival, or any of the other CCL brands private islands.

[voljeep]

Pros and Cons of Princess Cay

 

Pros - the PBP is accepted

 

Cons - everything else ...

 

with that being stated - I hope it is back up and running the next time we are scheduled to port there ... it will be a nice quieter day staying on the ship ...

 

hope everyone is safe, and the workers can be utilized in cleaning up , fixing and repairing the property...