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ok let's go to the video right now Hi everybody Bruce here with Travelling
with Bruce today I'm gonna give you an update on some of the Cruise Ports in the
Caribbean area since the hurricanes passed through this September and
October namely hurricane Irma and hurricane Maria there have been a lot of
adjustments to cruise ship itineraries cancellations re-routings you name it
and here we are now in the middle of November 2017 and going
forward to the next couple of months a few more updates have just come out from
a number of the ports in the Caribbean and a couple of other logistical concerns that
if you're a cruiser out there and you're thinking of getting on a cruise to see the
Caribbean you have to know a certain number of things before you book your
cruise. This week it has come to light especially up here in Canada a number of
travellers have had a rude awakening with regard to their travel plans that has
nothing to do with the cruise line itself but let me give you an idea right now in
Puerto Rico the port is open for business
cruise ships can come and go not a problem the issue is that the airport in
Puerto Rico is still not up to 100% there was significant damage caused not
only to the terminal building where the passengers come and go but also damage
to the hangar facilities maintenance facilities and equipment that the
airport uses to accommodate jets in and out of the island and so airlines like
for example West Jet and Air Canada out of Canada they have
effectively cancelled all flights in and out of Puerto Rico
and this is all in the last few days that these cancellations have been made
official. A lot of people thought a lot of travelers thought that if they were
to book a cruise out of Puerto Rico say with Carnival that they would fly into
Puerto Rico by air go on their cruise and then fly back out. They booked the
cruise then they went ahead and booked their airfare all done months ago and
now in the last week both airlines have announced that they're not going to do
their regular scheduled services into Puerto Rico for most of this winter and
that means all flights are dead so in effect some tourists were on
cruise ships when they got back to Puerto Rico they found out when they got
off the boat off their ship, that their flight home had been canceled they were
stranded on Puerto Rico here we are on the 10th of November
like a week ago or so and all of a sudden they had to make other
alternative plans on the spot to get out well the problem is you know airlines
like Jet Blue and American and United they're flying a much smaller and restricted
schedule of flights in and out of Puerto Rico right now and if you want to book a
flight out of Puerto Rico that leaves today or tomorrow or the day after
tomorrow you will pay dearly for a ticket to get out and of course if
you're from Canada you've got to fly all the way home to Canada there is no
direct flight out of Puerto Rico to Canada so you're gonna do a two or a
three step connection to get out and we have heard horror stories in the media
of these poor travelers who are stuck with an instant bill of anywhere from
$1,200 to $2,000 each one way to get back to Canada and there's no choice in
the matter they have got to get out I mean it's just terrible to find a hotel in
Puerto Rico right now that works with all the services not very many of those
up and running as we've heard nothing but problems
with regard to the electricity issues the unreliability of it
how many Puerto Ricans are trying to get out themselves FEMA's trying to evacuate
people now through the airports this is an ongoing problem unfortunately so if
you're visiting Puerto Rico on a cruise ship that started in Miami and happens
to have Puerto Rico along the route you're fine you're gonna be a day
visitor only you're probably gonna hang out in the old town of Puerto Rico maybe
go with to a couple of tours but you know it'll be all orchestrated by the cruise line you'll be fine you're leaving by 4:00 or 5:00 in the
afternoon but if you're trying to book a cruise that starts and ends in Puerto
Rico no matter how cheap the price of the cruise is being offered to you
your going to have to keep in mind that you may not be able to get there or get out of
there reliably you've got to really
investigate this even if you're an American and you're just flying to Miami
or you're just flying to Tampa if a you know a nasty storm comes through
just a good old thunder shower with 30 40 mile an hour winds nothing
crazy that might delay things again because the airport is in such a fragile
state it's being put together patchwork wise and probably duct tape to keep it running they are nowhere near back to normal in the regular
number of flights per day coming in and out of that Airport so if you're relying
on that Airport you may want to think again before booking a cruise that
starts and ends in Puerto Rico you may want to wait until either late next year
like I would say you know March April May at the earliest next spring or give
it a year completely and really just book cruises that are leaving Florida
like Fort Lauderdale or Miami or Tampa Cape Canaveral and avoid the entire
hassle of this fragile system in Puerto Rico they're in really tough
shape over there I hate to be such a negative guy about it but it is a
reality and there's problems there now. Other ports to tell
about St Thomas is now heavily promoting the fact that they're open
their port is back up and running again but very few cruise ships are coming to
St Thomas right now because the problem with going to St Thomas
and other Eastern Caribbean ports that were heavily damaged with the
hurricanes is that once you get off the ship there are very few activities
you're going to be able to actually do on the island. You know in St Thomas
you've got that cable car ride that goes up to the top of the hill I don't even
know if that cable car is running don't know how badly damaged it was I have not
been able find anything out about it if anyone knows send me a comment and let
me know I'd love to find out so I can pass the word on to
followers but you know if you get off the ship say St Thomas you may only be
on the island for four or five hours looking around a little bit
and then you're gonna have to head out But of course if the cruise
ship is leaving at 5:00 in the afternoon anyway then good for you.
Other ports however that have not even opened yet St Croiz has not reopened
and is not looking to reopen until at least December if not January of next
year St John in the US Virgin Islands same situation and then St Maarten very
popular cruise ship stop St Maarten was so badly hit it's the same
thing not until at least the middle of
December or January and even then folks if you happen to catch a cruise
that stops there in January just after the new year you may
not have a lot to see and do on the island keep in mind that the beaches
were the popular thing one of the popular things to do is go to the downtown
area there and hang out at the beach. But there was so much debris put into the water as
well and they had to fish all that stuff out first. It may look
pretty on the beach now but a hundred yards behind you it doesn't look
good at all. I don't know if it's too early to say, but I wish all the folks of St
Maartin nothing but the best I hope for a speedy recovery for all those folks they
are I'm sure working as hard as they can to rebuild the key tourist areas to
make the experience for a cruise ship visitor as pleasant as possible as soon
as possible andmI know they'll get it done but you know being one of the
first passengers in December or January there you may not get to
experience what St Maarten is famous for. The other port that still closed is
Tortola in the British Virgin Islands it's still closed. Cruise ship
lines will know where to send you where to take you I've done videos already
talking about how cruise companies have rerouted cruises to the Western
Caribbean locations rather than Eastern Caribbean locations I think that'll be
the norm through most of this sailing season and then starting next fall
you know the Eastern Caribbean will hopefully be back to normal but cross
our fingers that another round of hurricanes doesn't hit next fall as well
because that would be just you know devastating yet again anyway there's a
quick update for you on some of the news of the day as to what's going on. Things
are back to normal in the Florida Keys. They are up
and running Cuba's up and running the Bahamas are up and running all the
private islands are back up and running so a lot of normalcy has returned to the
cruise business but there are a few outliers and one of those I had to tell
you about was Puerto Rico you have to know about the fragile state of the
airport there. Anyway thanks for watching today if you liked the video please give
me a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel let me know you love what I'm
doing we'll keep the videos coming and this is
Bruce saying goodbye with Travelling with Bruce talk to you soon