Puerto Rico Where Cruising Resumes First??

[bobroo]

Criticized at first for their draconian quarantine, Puerto Rico has kept low infection and death rates. Today they are not entirely in-the-clear but they certainly look as though they have faired quite well compared to other US states. Notable comparison to states where Royal likes to port.

Not to create a rumor, but as another poster on another thread suggested, modified itineraries of only Labadee and Coco Cay??? Small ships; Empress and Majesty??? Hummm.....this maybe begins to make a lot of sense.

Jonesing to get back on the boat? I'd look to book out of San Juan. 

 

 

 

[princevaliantus]

16 minutes ago, bobroo said:

Criticized at first for their draconian quarantine, Puerto Rico has kept low infection and death rates. Today they are not entirely in-the-clear but they certainly look as though they have faired quite well compared to other US states. Notable comparison to states where Royal likes to port.

Not to create a rumor, but as another poster on another thread suggested, modified itineraries of only Labadee and Coco Cay??? Small ships; Empress and Majesty??? Hummm.....this maybe begins to make a lot of sense.

Jonesing to get back on the boat? I'd look to book out of San Juan. 

 

 

 

Puerto Rico is not a state, so comparing a country (Puerto Rico) to a mere state is not an accurate comparison.  Also, what is "Jonesing"?

[SpeedNoodles]

2 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

  Also, what is "Jonesing"?

Ah, to be so young

[princevaliantus]

6 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Ah, to be so young

Never heard it before but a friend just educated me. Glad I'm not a junkie.   Also, thanks for the compliment. I just dont look my age. Chuck it up to Mom's great genes. 

[mathbees]

8 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

Puerto Rico is not a state

Since Puerto Rico is a US Territory, and the people there are US Citizens who can freely move back and forth to the mainland, they do act like a state, in most ways (except voting).  I think their response should be taken into comparisons.  They were more easily able to accomplish what many other states attempted to accomplish - total isolation, but with a more natural border (like Hawaii) they were more successful.  Look at the battle going on between Kentucky and Tennessee, another place where some useful data comes from in understanding whether isolating movements is a good response or not.  I think there will be a lot to learn from this pandemic outbreak that will drive future responses.

9 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

Also, what is "Jonesing"?

Jonesing is slang for a drug addict deeply wanting their next "fix" of whatever drug they use.  In this case, the "drug" of choice is cruising... and I think a lot of us are "jonesing" right now...

[princevaliantus]

53 minutes ago, mathbees said:

Since Puerto Rico is a US Territory, and the people there are US Citizens who can freely move back and forth to the mainland, they do act like a state, in most ways (except voting).  I think their response should be taken into comparisons.  They were more easily able to accomplish what many other states attempted to accomplish - total isolation, but with a more natural border (like Hawaii) they were more successful.  Look at the battle going on between Kentucky and Tennessee, another place where some useful data comes from in understanding whether isolating movements is a good response or not.  I think there will be a lot to learn from this pandemic outbreak that will drive future responses.

Since Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory and not a U.S. state, the United States Constitution does not fully enfranchise US citizens residing in Puerto Rico.

As a result of Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. territory, the citizens of Puerto Rico do not have any voting representation in the U.S. Federal government. Instead of outright representation through Senators and House Representatives, Puerto Rico has one non-voting Resident Commissioner in the House of Representatives.

[jticarruthers]

Would be interesting to see if the CDC would allow cruise ships to "sail" from US waters to Puerto Rico to start with ... 

[mathbees]

26 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

Since Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory and not a U.S. state, the United States Constitution does not fully enfranchise US citizens residing in Puerto Rico.

As a result of Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. territory, the citizens of Puerto Rico do not have any voting representation in the U.S. Federal government. Instead of outright representation through Senators and House Representatives, Puerto Rico has one non-voting Resident Commissioner in the House of Representatives.

Thank you for explaining all of that.  I'm glad that you understood my point that all US Citizens could freely move between the US and Puerto Rico without the need for a passport (since it is not a foreign country), just like they could between mainland States, Alaska and Hawaii (and some other territories).  Thus the borders between Puerto Rico and the rest of the US were completely open prior to being shut and does appear to have been a successful method of minimizing the outbreak there.

However, like so much of the current data, we are still in the middle of the situation and there is a lot of analysis that needs to be done before we can come to any definitive conclusions. Since it appears that their first case on the island was from a cruise passenger, I wonder how quickly they will want to open the port to cruise lines.  Further, since the current CDC recommendation is no cruising in US Waters, that would include Puerto Rico, if I'm not mistaken.  https://www.vox.com/2020/4/9/21213212/puerto-rico-coronavirus-covid-19

[princevaliantus]

25 minutes ago, mathbees said:

Thank you for explaining all of that.  I'm glad that you understood my point that all US Citizens could freely move between the US and Puerto Rico without the need for a passport (since it is not a foreign country), just like they could between mainland States, Alaska and Hawaii (and some other territories).  Thus the borders between Puerto Rico and the rest of the US were completely open prior to being shut and does appear to have been a successful method of minimizing the outbreak there.

However, like so much of the current data, we are still in the middle of the situation and there is a lot of analysis that needs to be done before we can come to any definitive conclusions. Since it appears that their first case on the island was from a cruise passenger, I wonder how quickly they will want to open the port to cruise lines.  Further, since the current CDC recommendation is no cruising in US Waters, that would include Puerto Rico, if I'm not mistaken.  https://www.vox.com/2020/4/9/21213212/puerto-rico-coronavirus-covid-19

Correct:  The United States claims territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles, or about 13.8 common miles, from shore. The limits will also apply to the waters around American territories including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and the North Mariana Islands in the central Pacific.

[Allen2]

Added thought: for most folks, one would need to fly to Puerto Rico, with the close quarters and contact issues with airplanes.

[bobroo]

1 hour ago, jticarruthers said:

Would be interesting to see if the CDC would allow cruise ships to "sail" from US waters to Puerto Rico to start with ... 

Why? Ships are freely sailing to/from the Bahamas today. 

[jticarruthers]

My understanding is the latest CDC order specifically put the cruise ships on a "no sail" order, maybe i dont know what means (quite possible) but i assumed it meant they cant leave us waters without permission.

[bobroo]

34 minutes ago, Allen2 said:

Added thought: for most folks, one would need to fly to Puerto Rico, with the close quarters and contact issues with airplanes.

FYI. The quinceanera orientated companies do a damn good job of putting 1,000 passengers in cabins every week.

[twangster]

The ships that Puerto Rico banned had thousands of Puerto Rico residents on board since the home port for the ships was Puerto Rico and they had sailed from PR.

At the time they offered at least one ship access to a pier but stated they would keep everyone on the ship and quarantine them for at least 5 days before making a decision about next steps.  Instead the ships sailed to Florida where Puerto Rico residents were allowed to debark and fly home to Puerto Rico.

In so doing Puerto Rico bypassed their own 5 day quarantine, allowing planes to land without any quarantine for the very same residents that had been on the ships.  In fact that subjected PR residents to another vector to get infected by requiring they go through airports and sit on a plane after getting off the ships.  That potentially also contaminated Florida airports and caused additional spread of the virus.

The only other state to ban their own residents from debarking was Florida which was eventually overturned by the federal government.  

I'd hardly call what Puerto Rico did to its own residents a smart thing and when you view them associated with the state of Florida for incompetent handling of ships you can see the response is quite anything but smart.

[twangster]

I'd also add that cruising from Puerto Rico during the time when cruising first resumes would be risky. 

The risk you face is Puerto Rico once again deciding to close its ports to ships that departed from Puerto Rico and preventing them from returning.   If one passenger has the sniffles, closed again.

I love OSJ and it was once one of my top ports so it pains me to say it is a draconia territory that I'll be avoid for a long while given their propensity to make ill informed and rash decisions that could end up costing me thousands of dollars in lost vacation dollars.

I'll return to PR when the virus is long in the rear view mirror.  Think 5 years from now, hopefully.  Until then sailing from an actual US state is the wise choice. 

[TXcruzer]

24 minutes ago, bobroo said:

FYI. The quinceanera orientated companies do a damn good job of putting 1,000 passengers in cabins every week.

Using pre-Covid business processes has zero bearing on post-Covid operations

[RCVoyager]

On 4/14/2020 at 7:40 AM, mathbees said:

Since Puerto Rico is a US Territory, and the people there are US Citizens who can freely move back and forth to the mainland, they do act like a state, in most ways (except voting).  I think their response should be taken into comparisons.  They were more easily able to accomplish what many other states attempted to accomplish - total isolation, but with a more natural border (like Hawaii) they were more successful.  Look at the battle going on between Kentucky and Tennessee, another place where some useful data comes from in understanding whether isolating movements is a good response or not.  I think there will be a lot to learn from this pandemic outbreak that will drive future responses.

Jonesing is slang for a drug addict deeply wanting their next "fix" of whatever drug they use.  In this case, the "drug" of choice is cruising... and I think a lot of us are "jonesing" right now...

What's a "fix"?  just kidding.