What Will Happen to Cruises to the Caribbean After the 2017 Hurricanes

It's been a tough few weeks for cruise lines operating in the Caribbean. The ane-two punch of hurricanes Irma and Maria already has forced Royal Caribbean, Carnival and several other big players in the region to re-route dozens of sailings, and more itinerary changes are in the works. The storms knocked two of the region's busiest cruise ports — Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas and Philipsburg, St. Maarten — off cruise schedules for weeks and maybe months. Several other popular cruise destinations including Tortola in the British Virgin Islands also are closed to ships for now.

Still, as big as they were, Irma and Maria only affected a small slice of the vast Caribbean Sea. While they left a trail of destruction across a string of Eastern Caribbean islands, the storms didn't touch the Western Caribbean — home to more than a dozen prowl ports including Cozumel, Mexico; Falmouth, Jamaica; and Harvest Caye, Belize. Nor did they affect Southern Caribbean cruise destinations such as Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Lucia and Barbados.

Also relatively unaffected were the big ports of The Bahamas, which are among the biggest destinations for cruise ships sailing from Florida.

Which destinations in the Caribbean area and The Bahamas are closed to ships for the coming weeks and months? Which remain open? Here, a port-by-port wait at the status of meaning stops in the region in the wake of Irma and Maria:

► Amber Cove, Dominican Democracy. Open up .
The Carnival Corp.-operated port forth the north coast of the Dominican Democracy was relatively unaffected by Irma and Maria. The latter storm on Sept. 21 passed just to the north of Hispaniola — the isle the Dominican Commonwealth shares with Republic of haiti. Funfair re-routed several ships that had been scheduled to visit Amber Cove this week to the Western Caribbean. Simply the re-routings aren't likely to continue for long. On Friday the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Tourism issued a communique that said the port and all others around the country were back open up and operating ordinarily.

► Basseterre, St. Kitts. Open .
St. Kitts received a glancing accident from both Irma and Maria but escaped major impairment, according to an official communique released Fri that declared the isle open for tourism. The statement, sent to media outlets, said an evaluation found no damage from the tempest at the Port Zante prowl pier, and St. Kitts welcomed two vessels on Saturday — Funfair Fascination and Royal Caribbean area's Adventure of the Seas. Flights to St. Kitts resumed on Sept. 21.

► Belize Metropolis, Belize. Open .
Belize City was unaffected by the storms.

► Bridgetown, Barbados. Open .
Barbados was relatively unaffected by the storms and has been receiving cruise ships since presently after Irma passed to the north.

► Castries, St. Lucia. Open up .
St. Lucia was unaffected past the storms.

► Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Closed .
St. Thomas was devastated by Irma and is closed to cruise ships for now. But officials on Tuesday said they were hoping a massive recovery try currently underway would have the destination ready for vessels to return by belatedly October. Royal Caribbean already has canceled all of its visits to St. Thomas through tardily October and replaced them with calls at such islands as St. Kitts and Bonaire, and at Labadee, the line's individual beach getaway in Haiti. Two other lines, Norwegian and Glory, take canceled St. Thomas stops even farther out, into November and beyond. Norwegian is replacing St. Thomas visits by its iv,248-passenger Norwegian Escape through the end of the year with calls in the Western Caribbean; Glory is shifting its ships to places like St. Kitts.

► Colon, Panama. Open .
Colon was unaffected by the storms.

► Costa Maya, Mexico. Open up .
Costa Maya was unaffected by the storms.

► Cozumel, Mexico. Open up .
Cozumel was unaffected by the storms.

► Falmouth, Jamaica. Open .
Falmouth was unaffected by the storms.

► Fort-de-France, Martinique. Open up .
Martinique experienced some flooding and power outages terminal week in the wake of Maria, but its port has reopened. Tours and tourist sites are expected to be up and running this week. No cruise ships are scheduled to call in Martinique until the middle of October.

► Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.Due south. Virgin Islands. Closed .
St. Croix was relatively unaffected by Irma but early on reports are that the island suffered significant damage from Maria, which passed by on Sept. 19. Damage assessments are underway. St. Croix isn't normally visited by prowl ships at this time of year. Before Irma, the side by side scheduled cruise call for the island wasn't set to take identify until Nov. 5, when a Celebrity Cruises ship was due to get in. But in the wake of Irma, several lines had been planning on using St. Croix as a substitute port for nearby St. Thomas and St. Maarten, which were heavily damaged past the storm.

► Freeport, The Bahamas. Open .
Freeport was relatively unaffected past Irma, which passed far to the due west, and has been receiving cruise ships for the past three weeks.

► Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Open .
G Cayman was unaffected past the storms.

► Grand Turk Isle, Turks & Caicos. Airtight .
Visited more often than not by Carnival prowl ships, G Turk suffered damage from Irma and has been closed to prowl vessels the past two weeks. It had been expected to reopen soon just suffered another blow on Friday every bit Maria passed nearby. Carnival replaced its calls in Chiliad Turk concluding calendar week with visits to Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic and Freeport in The Bahamas, and it has dropped more than calls at Thou Turk planned for this week with a diversity of ports.

► St. Georges, Grenada. Open .
Grenada was unaffected by the storms.

► Gustavia, St. Barts. Closed .
St. Barts took a significant hit from Irma on Sept. 6, just a recovery effort is well underway. On Monday, a communique from the island said all neighborhood power lines and water lines had been restored, roadways were articulate and the commercial harbor was fully functional. At the time Irma hit, there were no prowl ships scheduled to call at St. Barts until late October. While a few visits that had been on the books for later in the year already accept been canceled, officials expect the island to be ready for the first cruise vessel currently scheduled to visit, Crystal Serenity. It's due in on Oct. 30.

► Harvest Caye, Belize. Open .
Harvest Caye was unaffected by the storms.

► Havana, Republic of cuba. Open .
Havana suffered damage from Hurricane Irma, but the Cuban capital's port is back open and prowl lines already have begun returning. Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Heaven, which sails to Havana weekly from Miami, resumed calls at the urban center on Sept. 19, and Regal Caribbean area'due south Empress of the Seas pulled in on Sept. twenty. In a mail-visit update on Facebook, Majestic Caribbean area said Havana's concluding, port and transportation were set for Empress, and all tours ran as scheduled.

► Primal West, Fla. Open up .
The Florida Keys all the same is recovering from Irma, and the archipelago officially remains airtight to tourists arriving by motorcar. But cruise ships began returning to Central West on Sunday with the arrival of Royal Caribbean'south one,840-passenger Empress of the Seas. Key Westward was less affected by Irma than areas of the Keys to the east, where the center of the storm came ashore, and it has opened to ships more quickly than expected. Imperial Caribbean originally had canceled all of its visits to Key West through mid-Oct, but late terminal calendar week the line put many of the calls dorsum on its schedule. Funfair on Monday also put Key Westward back on its schedule starting with a Tuesday call past the ii,758-rider Funfair Victory.

► Kralendijk, Bonaire. Open .
Bonaire was unaffected by the storms.

► La Romana, Dominican Republic. Open .
Located on the Dominican Republic'southward southern declension, La Romana was relatively unaffected by Irma and Maria. On Fri, the Dominican Democracy's Ministry of Tourism issued a communique that said the port and all others around the country were dorsum open and operating normally, and one of Funfair'southward ships, Carnival Vista, called at La Romana on Tuesday.

► Montego Bay, Jamaica. Open .
Montego Bay was unaffected by the storms.

► Nassau, The Bahamas. Open
Nassau was relatively unaffected by Irma, which passed far to the west and has been receiving cruise ships for the by three weeks.

► Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Open .
Ocho Rios was unaffected by the storms.

► Orenjestad, Aruba. Open .
Aruba was unaffected past the storms.

► Philipsburg, St. Maarten. Closed .
St. Maarten — the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin — was devastated by Irma and is non expected to reopen to cruise ships for many weeks if not months. Royal Caribbean already has canceled all of its visits to St. Maarten through late October, replacing them with calls at the islands of St. Kitts and St. Croix, and at Labadee, the line's private beach getaway in Republic of haiti. But the cancellations could extend beyond Oct. Already ane small line, Windstar Cruises, has removed St. Maarten from its schedule through March 2018. St. Maarten is one of the near visited cruise ports in the Caribbean, cartoon over 1.vi million cruisers a year. Notably, it's a key call for all three of the world's biggest prowl ships — Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas, Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas.

► Progreso, Mexico. Open up .
Progreso was unaffected by the storms.

► Puerto Limon, Costa rica. Open .
Puerto Limon was unaffected past the storms.

► Road Bay, Anguilla. Open .
The port at Road Bay has reopened since Irma passed nearby, but no cruise calls are scheduled at the island until late November.

► Roatan Island, Honduras. Open .
Roatan was unaffected by the storms.

► Roseau, Dominica. Closed .
Dominica was hitting difficult by Maria late on Sept. 18 through the morning of Sept. 19, with the island's prime minister proverb there was "mind-boggling" damage, and information technology'due south not expected to reopen to cruise ships for some time. The good news for cruise operators: No ships are scheduled to call at the isle until late Oct.

► Samana, Dominican Republic. Open .
Samana was relatively unaffected by Irma and Maria. On Friday, the Dominican Republic'southward Ministry of Tourism issued a communique that said the port and all others effectually the state were back open and operating normally. Even if the port area had suffered damage from the tempest, it would take had petty impact on cruise schedules as there are no ships fix to visit Samana until November.

► San Juan, Puerto Rico. Closed .
The port of San Juan bounced back quickly subsequently Irma passed nearby, only it may take longer to resume its place as a major cruise destination in the wake of Maria. The storm fabricated landfall on Puerto Rico on Sept. xx as a powerful Category 4 hurricane — the first hurricane of that force or higher to directly hit the island in 85 years — and reports are of significant damage in many locations. Both of the major lines that operate cruises out of San Juan, Regal Caribbean and Carnival, accept canceled this calendar week's sailings out of the city. Carnival as well has canceled trips out of San Juan scheduled to start on Oct. ane and Oct. 8. In addition, three Florida-based ships that were scheduled to visit San Juan this calendar week accept been re-routed to other ports.

Carnival said late Fri that its terminal in San Juan sustained extensive harm from Maria that will takes weeks to repair.

► Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Open .
Santo Domingo was relatively unaffected past Irma and Maria. On Fri, the Dominican Commonwealth's Ministry of Tourism issued a communique that said the port and all others around the country were back open and operating normally.

► St. John's, Antigua. Open .
Antigua suffered a glancing blow from Hurricane Irma, which passed to the north along a path that devastated sister island Barbuda. Antigua still is on cruise schedules for the autumn, with the adjacent scheduled send visit gear up for Oct. three — a call by Glory Cruises' Glory Equinox. The Equinox telephone call originally was prepare for Sept. thirty but was pushed dorsum as function of a larger shuffling of the ship'due south schedule due to the closures of St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Tortola.

► Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Airtight .
The British Virgin Islands were hard hit by Irma and could be closed to cruise ships for many weeks if not months. Norwegian Prowl Line already has canceled all of its stops at Tortola scheduled for its 4,248-passenger Norwegian Escape through the stop of the twelvemonth, replacing them with calls in the Western Caribbean area.

► Willemstad, Curacao. Open up .
Curacao was unaffected by the storms.

The fleet and dwelling ports of Funfair Cruise Line, by the numbers

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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2017/09/21/your-caribbean-cruise-destination-still-open-port-by-port-look-after-irma-maria/685467001/

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