Princess Cays Fire

[windsurferfirst]

14 hours ago, cruisintoddler said:

 

Hi neighbour! We are in Oakville.   

Princess Cays is skipped fairly often due to weather as it is a tender port. 

 

It becomes a sea day. 

Hey ex neighbour! We used to live in Burlington up until a year ago. We are on the Regal on Feb 10th so hopefully we will get some communication from Princess in the next few days.  quiet like sea days.

 

[adonisr]

Both Carnival Pride and Elation are at Half Moon Cay this morning.

[Earthworm Jim]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

That's 5300 passengers on those two ships.

 

This is mere speculation, but perhaps due to the demographics of HAL cruisers (reportedly older than other cruise lines), a lower percentage of the passengers will want to hop on a tender to the beach than other lines. So maybe 5400 HAL cruisers might generate a similar number of beach goers to a smaller ship from another line.

[calmpets]

I have family currently on the Royal Princess. If the Regal skipped Princess Cay on Monday, then their stop this past Sunday would have been the last visit to the island before the fire. I texted them to see if they have heard anything, but so far have no reply. If they have any other info, I will post it here.

[adonisr]

3 minutes ago, calmpets said:

I have family currently on the Royal Princess. If the Regal skipped Princess Cay on Monday, then their stop this past Sunday would have been the last visit to the island before the fire. I texted them to see if they have heard anything, but so far have no reply. If they have any other info, I will post it here.

 

Bridge cam on the Royal shows them at Amber Cove.

[calmpets]

1 minute ago, adonisr said:

 

Bridge cam on the Royal shows them at Amber Cove.

Yes, I am hoping they will turn their phones back on and text me while in port. We all have T-Mobile, so international texting is mostly free.

[TriumphGuy]

We were looking forward to this port, scheduled to be there 2/14 on the Crown. Guess that's not going to happen. Glad no one was hurt though.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Here is another article with some more information.

 

https://ewnews.com/fire-rips-through-princess-cay

 

[hllwdcruiser]

12 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Here is another article with some more information.

 

https://ewnews.com/fire-rips-through-princess-cay

 

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting that at the end of the article he is estimating only three weeks.

[Host CJSKIDS]

1 minute ago, hllwdcruiser said:

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting that at the end of the article he is estimating only three weeks.

Yes, not quite sure how he can post it.  Nothing works quickly in the Bahamas!  That's why it's called Bahamas time! 

[shutterbug12]

11 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Yes, not quite sure how he can post it.  Nothing works quickly in the Bahamas!  That's why it's called Bahamas time! 

The person that stated an estimate of 3 weeks is a Bahamian Member of Parliament, not a Princess spokesperson.

[Host CJSKIDS]

1 hour ago, shutterbug12 said:

The person that stated an estimate of 3 weeks is a Bahamian Member of Parliament, not a Princess spokesperson.

 

I saw that, that's why I wasn't quite sure how he could say anything. 

 

Hopefully the investigation gets finished quickly and they determine why it started and the insurance adjuster gets there quickly so they can start rebuilding the area and ships can head back quickly.

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, hllwdcruiser said:

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting that at the end of the article he is estimating only three weeks.

Not surprising.  After thinking about it, they could bring in a trailer mounted desalination plant, and trailer mounted generator and be up and running, even while working on the buildings. All they would need to do is to connect them up to the existing water system and power distribution system.  That would just require cleanup, and some plumbing and electrical work to get up and running, while work is taking place on the permanent replacement buildings.

[RDC1]

9 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

I saw that, that's why I wasn't quite sure how he could say anything. 

 

Hopefully the investigation gets finished quickly and they determine why it started and the insurance adjuster gets there quickly so they can start rebuilding the area and ships can head back quickly.

For a corporate event like this I would expect that it will fall under self insurance level, below where co insurance kicks in.  Even if not an adjuster does usually not get involved, (not like a home or small business policy), usually the claim with the co-insurance company is not even made until all of the costs are in and it is determined that the damages have reached sufficient level.  There are rules concerning the documentation that the company needs to support the claim but not a matter of the company sending out an adjuster.

 

  Any delay would more likely be a matter of cause investigation.

[RDC1]

3 hours ago, adonisr said:

Both Carnival Pride and Elation are at Half Moon Cay this morning.

The schedule was only for the Elation today, the Pride was supposed to be a Princess Cay tomorrow.  However the Nieuw Statendam is scheduled for Half Moon Cay tomorrow so they must have shifted the Pride schedule to avoid conflict with that ship.

[BarbinMich]

I was curious how far it was from mainland USA to Eleuthera (bringing in building materials, etc.):  it's about 250 mi from Miami. Also, enough locals to do the work or would Princess/CCL need to import workers:  pop. is 11,000+, but don't know how many skilled workers.  There are a number of resorts, condos, etc. throughout Eleuthera but don't know if local folks built them or workers needed to be imported from Nassau or US mainland.  Anyway, let's hope the rebuilding begins soon and moves quickly.

[Loonbeam]

2 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

I was curious how far it was from mainland USA to Eleuthera (bringing in building materials, etc.):  it's about 250 mi from Miami. Also, enough locals to do the work or would Princess/CCL need to import workers:  pop. is 11,000+, but don't know how many skilled workers.  There are a number of resorts, condos, etc. throughout Eleuthera but don't know if local folks built them or workers needed to be imported from Nassau or US mainland.  Anyway, let's hope the rebuilding begins soon and moves quickly.

This is the issue..  All the ideas of truck mounted systems etc are great except none of these are probably sitting around on a small island, they need to be procured, packed and shipped (smaller cargo vessels are typically booked months in advance) 

 

I spoke to a contact at Princess.  Right now they have no clue how long its going to take, evaluation has not been done.  Their estimate is 2 weeks to a month before they even have a plan in place to come back on line, unless things are much better than expected.  Right now the focus is on adjusting itineraries through end of March.

 

 

[jagsfan]

5 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Yes, not quite sure how he can post it.  Nothing works quickly in the Bahamas!  That's why it's called Bahamas time! 

How many years did it take to build the Green Shutters in Nassau after it burned?

that was a perfect example of Bahamas time. 

Edited January 30, 2019 by jagsfan

[fishin' musician]

Island time seems to rule the schedule no matter where you are in the Caribbean/Bahamas.  What may be a quick fix in more "motivated" regions of the world can drag on to eternity in others.   6 weeks?  6 months?  Likely somewhere between? One thing is for sure, CCL would much prefer Princess Cay or HMC to Nassau because they get every $$$ spent.

[phabric]

I wonder if Princess will inform us before getting on the ship where we will be going?

[CruisinFinsUp]

http://www.travelweek.ca/news/assessment-of-fire-damage-at-princess-cays-now-underway/

 

Here is an article posted today.  

[4everOrcruiser]

We are leaving on Feb. 9 on CB for a back to back cruise. Princess Cays was our first stop. Wondering if they will substitute Nassau for it instead. 

[Loonbeam]

I agree, we have no idea what resources Princess/Carnival is willing to throw at this, nor do we know how bad the damage does (Princess corporate is probably getting boots on ground just about now). 

 

  However, based on past experience, they don't seem to consider it a priority when a location or port goes down (let's be honest, if it was that important for revenue they would put in a dock, given the number of times its missed due to weather).  My assessment is based on how they have handled similar situations in the past, plus the fact there are enough options in the area to avoid a sense or urgency.  I don't see them paying for disaster relief levels of operations, I certainly could be wrong.

 

Private Islands are less about revenue and more about control  (especially in the days of beverage packages where per-drink revenue is much less) in the sense that they control the entire experience without sharing monies with or having to deal with local tour providers, etc.    They make some money sure, but when you consider food and facilities are generally included, not that much as one might think.

 

My expectation would be, if you are schedule for Princess Cay between now and say, June at least, likely August, expect an itinerary change and have ideas for what you could do at other alternative ports to snap up excursions when avail.

 

 

 

 

[floridalover5623]

On 1/29/2019 at 4:40 PM, 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.

About a dozen. 

[floridalover5623]

On 1/29/2019 at 11:58 PM, wrongwaywatson said:

I also like the stop at PC, because the ship is nice and quiet!  

Just like most other port days.