I just got back from doing errands, and while in the car heard an interview with a PR official. I didn’t catch his name or position, but he said there are MANY provisions sitting on at the docks, enough for hundreds of thousands of people. But there have been no truck drivers there to distribute the supplies, for what he would only say were “many different reasons.”
The roads are blocked for one thing with downed trees and power lines.
^ Exactly, Nrdsb4. The bigger issue here is not Jones Act delays but rather transporting supplies around the island. In fact a big reason as to why they waited to waive the Jones Act was because Homeland Security assessed that additional foreign supply shipments would clog up the ports, and that there were already more than enough supply containers awaiting ground transportation.
Not sure if discussed elsewhere but one big issue in PR is the level of corruption that exists. Not saying it is not in many other places but worse in PR.
“Not sure if discussed elsewhere but one big issue in PR is the level of corruption that exists. Not saying it is not in many other places but worse in PR.”
How is this relevant to the immediate humanitarian relief efforts in the wake of a catastrophic natural disaster? :-??
Because the trucking union is one of the corrupt organizations
So, you are saying that the trucking union is preventing the distribution of humanitarian aid? Is there a source you can point to that confirms this?
I don’t know about the unions, but one concern I’ve heard is for the safety of the truckers. It will get worse if things get more desperate and hence more lawless.
More information from Tom Bossert on PR situation:
From today’s press conference:
Reporter: “Why has it taken 8 days to get a 3-star general” to Puerto Rico?
Tom Bossert: "It didn’t require a 3-star general 8 days ago.”
^facepalm
I heard the part where he was babbling about their business model. I’m sure the people of Puerto Rico appreciate the finer points of having a great business model right now.
I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to imply that the trucking union was impeding delivery of aid in any way.
However, I would not be surprised (solely from experience living there and no other reason) that there are issues trying to get trucks organized and deployed.
Kudos to Royal Caribbean!
The following sailing is being cancelled:
Adventure of the Seas: September 30
Given the impact of Hurricane Maria, we are cancelling this cruise to utilize the ship for evacuation and humanitarian efforts. The ship will arrive on Wednesday, September 27 and will operate humanitarian calls in San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Croix to aid in the evacuation and donate critical supplies to each destination. The ship will bring evacuees to Fort Lauderdale before returning to San Juan on October 6 to prepare for the October 7th cruise.
We are very sorry for the impact this storm has had on your vacation. The cruise fare and fees will be 100% refunded to the original form of payment, and we are also offering a 25% future cruise credit, based on the cruise fare, if a new cruise is booked in the next 30 days. Pre-booked shore excursions will also be refunded to your original form of payment.
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates
@doschicos, unless the folks over at Cruiscritic have changed, there are going to be some really unhappy people about that. It won’t matter that it’s for a good cause or that they are getting a big refund, a number of them will be hopping mad.
Good for RC, though.
I think the cruisers will be graceful about putting off a vacation to a disaster zone in order to help an area in crisis. Booking a vacation during hurricane season is always a bit of a gamble. RC is also giving a significant discount to the rebookings.
The cruise industry makes a lot of money off the islands. I am glad they are helping out.
This is not a good time to be cruising to Puerto Rico (the normal destination of the Adventure of the Seas) anyway. I would imagine that even if the cruise line hadn’t decided to use the ship for humanitarian purposes running the normal cruise at this time would have been nearly impossible. Good for Royal Caribbean for taking positive action. They could simply have cancelled the cruise and left the ship in port but instead they’re doing something major to help.
It looks like that Royal Caribbean cruise had been scheduled to go to several islands now devastated by Irma and Maria. Royal Carribbean was going to have to cancel the cruises anyway, or reroute them almost completely which would have been difficult.
Actually, RC is diverting its cruises to unaffected ports so they could have chosen the $$. Instead, they chose to do the right thing and help those islanders whose home has built the business. If you read the link, you’ll see that the cruises have already been rerouted. I’m sure other ports are happy for the business.
Future itineraries:
Given Hurricane Irma’s impact to St. Maarten and St. Thomas, as well as Hurricane Maria’s impact to San Juan, we are altering the following ports for future sailings until these islands have fully recovered.
As the recovery effort remains fluid and each island is working diligently to get back to normal operations, we will continue to communicate any port changes approximately four weeks prior to departure.
Adventure of the Seas:
10/7 – St. Croix to Martinique
10/14 – St. Croix to Antigua
Allure of the Seas:
10/1 – St. Thomas & San Juan to Cozumel & Costa Maya
10/15 – St. Maarten & San Juan to Cozumel & Costa Maya
Enchantment of the Seas:
10/2 & 10/9 – Freeport back to Key West
Harmony of the Seas:
10/7 – St. Maarten, San Juan & Labadee to Nassau, Cozumel & Costa Maya
10/21 – St. Thomas, San Juan & Labadee to Nassau, Cozumel & Costa Maya
Serenade of the Seas:
10/20 – St. Thomas & St. Maarten to St. Kitts & Antigua
Oasis of the Seas:
10/8 – St. Maarten, San Juan & Labadee to Nassau, Cozumel & Costa Maya
10/22 – St. Maarten & San Juan to Nassau & Falmouth
I am so angry. This was heartbreaking to watch.
“I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying and you are killing us with the inefficiency”- Mayor of San Juan, PR 9/29
Jose Andres - making thousands of meals a day in Puerto Rico. If you can view it, look at the second video with the giant pans of paella!
And it looks like the Comfort has finally left, but it’s still close to shore in Virginia.