Recovery begins in earnest in the Caribbean
The Caribbean is still open for business. That’s the message the islands and cruise lines want to get across, particularly as recovery efforts from one of the most destructive Atlantic hurricane seasons on record get underway.
Tourism is vitally important to many Caribbean islands and cruise lines have been scrambling recently — not just to redeploy ships, but to lend a hand.
Royal Caribbean cancelled an entire sailing aboard its 3,807-guest Adventure of the Seas to provide humanitarian effort to Puerto Rico. Carnival Corporation chairman Micky Arison donated a combined US$10 million from his Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation, Miami Heat Charitable Fund and the Carnival Foundation. Carnival Cruise Line pulled ships off their normal routes to help out, as did Norwegian Cruise Line and numerous others.
While the cruise lines are having to replace calls to some of the eastern Caribbean’s most popular ports, including San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Philipsburg, St. Maarten, they are by no means leaving for good. Nearly every cruise line I’ve spoken to has reaffirmed its commitment to coming back to these heavily damaged ports the second they are able to do so and as soon as the islands are ready to welcome back paying passengers.
The eastern Caribbean took a beating, but itineraries to the southern and western Caribbean are proceeding as planned. In most cases, cruise lines have temporarily shifted their eastern runs over to western itineraries. Located smack in the middle of it all, cruises to Cuba are still proceeding according to plan.
For booked travellers who have Caribbean cruises slated for this winter, the best advice I can offer up is this: Sit tight. Wait for your cruise line to announce changes to any itineraries and to assess the situation on the ground. This all takes time and any changes will always be passed along by cruise lines online and, in many cases, via email or in a letter to your travel agent.
For those who are still thinking about cruising to the Caribbean this winter and wondering if it is still a possibility: It is. There will be many itinerary modifications and some ports of call (or even embark/debark ports) may change, but many Caribbean islands are still open for business.
Those that aren’t, like Philipsburg — one of my favourite places in the eastern Caribbean — will take some time to recover. But they will. And one way to help these places out is to return once they’re ready and contribute to an economy that depends heavily on tourism.
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