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Harvey impact


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I'm glad Kansas Cruiser and everyone else on the ship are safe.  It sounds as if the attitude is somewhat tense on board.  Hopefully the passengers can adjust their attitudes for the good of all.  I also hope they remember that even though RCCL is going the extra mile for comfort and saftey, the workers on board work for tips.  I hope most remember that.

It appears RCCL has done all they can do, and I for one, applaud them for it.

I heard a couple of people say over the weekend that RCCL should have cancelled last week's cruise because of Harvey.  One week ago, it was a minimal tropical storm heading for the coast of Mexico.  If they cancelled cruises for every small tropical impulse that cropped up this time of year, they wouldn't be able to conduct business in the region.

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The big mistake was heading to Galveston.  There was no hope of being able to dock.  Nobody was predicting that storm would peter out or move on.  If they had headed to Miami from Cozumel, they'd be there now and those with work and family commitments could be on their way (and off of Royal's food).

I'm curious about the food situation.  They were not able to restock in Galveston because the port was closed.  If I were on board I'd be ok if the buffet remained good.  Just lay by the pool and chill - no other option.  But if food and booze runs out it could get ugly.

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Thank you for the updates! It's been really interesting following this story and it sounds like the best is being made of the situation, and also that RCCL has had safety in mind for passengers. 

I kind of want to stalk some Carnival boards to see how things are going on that line...

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1 hour ago, KLAconQueso said:

Thank you for the updates! It's been really interesting following this story and it sounds like the best is being made of the situation, and also that RCCL has had safety in mind for passengers. 

I kind of want to stalk some Carnival boards to see how things are going on that line...

The Carnival Breeze is in New Orleans today to take on supplies.  The Valor and Dream were there over the weekend.  The report is that all three plan to hang outside of Galveston so they can port ASAP to drop off and pick-up.  I can't find either of them on marinetraffic.com.  I'm sure they'll both show up later. 

Initially I applauded Carnival for its response to the situation.  Now I question it.  This almost stationary storm is predicted to begin to slowly moving back out over water and then the center to skirt Galveston Wednesday or Thursday.  As suspected, assets that are normally used at the port have been redistributed to rescue which will slow the reopening of the port. There is no reason to be anywhere near that area while there are people being rescued.  It would be better to do as RCCL has done.  Cancel this week's trips and keep those on board the ships safe and as happy as possible.  Find a port to safely travel to.  Help those who can find flights home from that city do so.  Take the rest back to Galveston after the storm.  

As a side note, I believe there is a higher percentage of cruisers who drive to Galveston than most of the Florida ports.  It's probably more than half.  I have parked at the Galveston cruise terminal twice.  It seems those parking lots are not much above sea level.  I suspect there will be many a flooded car waiting for passengers return this week.

It's a life and death situation for many of the residents of SE TX.  It will cost RCCL and Carnival millions, but that really not much given the size of these companies.  I think it will really pay for RCCL & Carnival to keep the passengers safe and happy.  I hope the passengers are doing their part.

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8 minutes ago, RCVoyager said:

Initially I applauded Carnival for its response to the situation.  Now I question it.  This almost stationary storm is predicted to begin to slowly moving back out over water and then the center to skirt Galveston Wednesday or Thursday.  As suspected, assets that are normally used at the port have been redistributed to rescue which will slow the reopening of the port. There is no reason to be anywhere near that area while there are people being rescued.  It would be better to do as RCCL has done.  Cancel this week's trips and keep those on board the ships safe and as happy as possible.  Find a port to safely travel to.  Help those who can find flights home from that city do so.  Take the rest back to Galveston after the storm.  

From what I've read, Carnival is essentially doing the same as Royal. They encouraged passengers to not disembark in New Orleans primarily because getting back to Texas after the storms would be nearly impossible. Those who need to or want to disembark can do so, but their plan is to take everyone back to Galveston when it is safe to do so.

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1 minute ago, DocLC said:

From what I've read, Carnival is essentially doing the same as Royal. They encouraged passengers to not disembark in New Orleans primarily because getting back to Texas after the storms would be nearly impossible. Those who need to or want to disembark can do so, but their plan is to take everyone back to Galveston when it is safe to do so.

We'll know for sure when the ships show up on marinetraffic.com again, but the Miami Herald reported this morning that Carnival plans to position their ships to get into Galveston ASAP.  I hope what you read is more accurate than the Miami Herald story.

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1 minute ago, RCVoyager said:

We'll know for sure when the ships show up on marinetraffic.com again, but the Miami Herald reported this morning that Carnival plans to position their ships to get into Galveston ASAP.  I hope what you read is more accurate than the Miami Herald story.

Isn't this what Royal did before diverting to Miami?

Either way, I think both cruise lines are doing a good job considering the circumstances and I'm really impressed with Royal for offering assistance to passengers, providing free internet and calls, free transportation to the airport, and significant discounts onboard for those who are not disembarking in Miami.

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Guest toodle68
4 hours ago, Kansas Cruiser said:

Since we do not have a car waiting for us in Galveston we plan to disembark in Miami and fly home to Kansas.  I was very frustrated yesterday trying to book that flight since we had no firm ETA yet

Rather than try to get a flight out of Miami as soon the ship docks, I would plan for the next day and stay on the ship another night.. but then again, I would stay on the ship until it was just about to leave Miami rather than return to work :)

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Kansas Cruiser, great updates on what must be a very harrowing situation for you (probably needing to get back to work!) and all your fellow passengers who may live in Houston. Praying for all, looks like it will get worse (if that's possible) before it gets better. Be well and stay safe.  

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Tuesday AM Update from Liberty

Over the past 24 hours the moods on board have improved significantly!  Passengers have sorted themselves out for the most part in to one of two groups.   Fortunately, the majority have had time to process the situation, make decisions the best they can and have moved on.  However, there are still some frustrated souls who don't know what to do and want the Captain "to make this all end", as if he has any personal control over Harvey.  

When we went to bed last night the best ETA they had was 2 pm Miami time and were recommending passengers not book any flights out of Miami or Ft Lauderdale before 7 pm. WE rolled the dice and booked a 6:45 flight out of FLL in hopes of getting home yet tonight.  We will self carry  our bags off and if the RCL-provided airport transfer bus looks like it will sit awhile before full, we will catch our own cab / uber.  I am happy to give a thumbs up to Southwest Airlines who rebooked us on our cancelled HOU - MCI flight to a FLL - MCI flight at no charge.  I do know that the last minute fares on flights as well as Houston area airports being closed are pushing a lot of people into the next group:

Passengers who are staying with the ship until it's return to Galveston will be able to leave the ship and visit the Miami area before disembarking late that night around midnight.  They have even offered a shore excursion to take a bus tour of the area. That is all subject to how things are looking in Galveston area, but their preliminary ETA there is Friday morning. 

Everyone is going through customs in Miami so that once they do return to Galveston they will simply need to disembark.  I have not heard  what percentage are leaving the ship but our personal conversations indicate maybe about a third of the group will not be on board the ship tomorrow. 

The crew onboard continues to be fantastic.  Captain and staff held a Q&A and stayed until the last question was answered - even the absolute ridiculous ones!

Someone at the Q & A had talked to a personal source on land and stated that as of Monday morning the parking lots at Galveston port had not flooded, but there was no route open to get them off the island.  Captain states they will not leave passengers stranded with no place to go, and they will definitely be able to stay on the ship at least through Sunday morning. 

He was tactful in a statement to remind all that we are not in a great situation but we are doing relatively well compared to all those who have been displaced from their homes on land. 

Time to start packing. This 10 day cruise will never be forgotten!

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Very smart to put everyone through customs in MIA.  Doubtful that they could get the manpower in GAL for that.

I'm glad to see that people are starting to adjust.  I know it's a very bad situation but as the Capt. said, those who are homeless at the moment are in way worse shape.  Of course, some of those onboard may be homeless too but just not know it yet.  I hope I'm wrong about that.

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Those fighting this thing on the Liberty of the Seas will be better off than those on one of the three Carnival ships.  They will all be in New Orleans by this afternoon where they will face the now expanded storm with heavy rain and wind today.

Kansas Cruiser, I'm glad you are ok, and that it looks like you have a solution that works for you.  Your 6:45 flight shouldn't be a problem as it looks like your ship is on 50 or 60 miles from Miami now.

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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I'm glad to see that people are starting to adjust.  I know it's a very bad situation but as the Capt. said, those who are homeless at the moment are in way worse shape.  Of course, some of those onboard may be homeless too but just not know it yet.  I hope I'm wrong about that.

 

Echo those comments.  This was/is really a "once in a lifetime event".  Here are current storm totals...

 

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/nfdscc1.html

... and short term forecasts...

Additional rainfall accumulations of 7 to 13 inches are expected 
across the upper Texas coast into southwestern Louisiana, with 
isolated storm totals as high as 50 inches....
The flood threat has spread farther east into Louisiana.
Additional rainfall amounts of 5 to 15 inches are expected in
south-central Louisiana.  Rainfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches are
expected in southeast Louisiana and coastal Mississippi and
Alabama. 

 

For passengers on Liberty or the Carnival ships, I don't see that there were any better options than what was done.  In fact, as said above, Liberty in Miami might be better off overall than Carnival in NoLa.  However, RCI did treat incoming cruise passengers very poorly in my opinion.  To read about individuals who traveled to Houston and became stranded based on RCI's fantasy that some "window" of opportunity would occur on Sunday is inexcusable.  Carnival handled the situation much better and gave options to upcoming cruisers based on their own situations.

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Thank you for the updates Kansas Cruiser, it seems like you've certainly made the best of a stressful situation.  IMO RCI appears to have handled this as well as can be expected.  I hope things work out/worked out for you departing the ship but I have a feeling the 2000 fellow passengers will take a "me first" attitude.  We were delayed nearly 5 hours getting to Canaveral once due to a medical emergency and I thought RCI handled it well then too.   Ship to shore charges were cancelled and internet was free, allowing people to re-book travel arrangements as necessary.   The next day was a different matter, lots of people jostling to be the first off the ship, frustrations running high, verbal altercations, as if they were the only ones of the 4000 who were inconvenienced.  Actually very sad to watch people act like that but sadly I wasn't surprised.   I hope things aren't/weren't like that for you. 

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Got to imagine FEMA or other agencies are close to asking  CARN and RC to cancel for a few weeks and keep away from Galveston until people can come in and leave safely from that port. I think both lines are probably going to have to accept more losses and tell those gulf area passengers they might have be prepared for another week on board. This is the next story the media will look to, how did these huge corporations help or hinder the disaster.

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I cant see keeping guests on the ship for another week...be cheaper to fly them home probably.....(for those that don't live/didn't drive to the port).

 

But I can see some delays coming for cruises out of Texas and also a reduced demand for cruising while they try to clean up and get back to some sense of normalcy!

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57 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

I cant see keeping guests on the ship for another week...be cheaper to fly them home probably.....(for those that don't live/didn't drive to the port).

 

But I can see some delays coming for cruises out of Texas and also a reduced demand for cruising while they try to clean up and get back to some sense of normalcy!

I've cruised from there twice.  Those parking lots are massive.  I think there is a higher percentage of drive in cruisers in Galveston than the Florida ports.  Just my opinion.

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Agreed..thats why put in brackets what I did...

 

Which would also make me think that the demand is going to be down even more than normal is they have a great percentage of passengers that drive and live in state...

 

that being said..they are still selling the Sept 3rd cruise for not a deal imho so I guess they are sticking to their guns about no last MIN discounts....:4_joy:

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2 hours ago, RCVoyager said:

Given how bad the flooding is, and how damaged the infrastructure is, I think there is a real chance next week's  Galveston cruises are in jeopardy too.

You might be right.  Really depends how the roads are Friday and Saturday.

Frankly, I'm not sure how to handle getting to Galveston even if the cruise is on with the infrastructure issues between Houston and Galveston.

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And now, the storm is heading towards New Orleans ..... at least with Liberty, she's in Miami versus the Carnival ships ....

What has me curious is, what happens next, if you look at the expected path, it looks like it could affect the Central Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic, probably Saturday into Sunday.  Looks like the September 2nd Sailing to Bermuda on Grandeur will make it out of Baltimore just in front of the storm...... Keeping my fingers crossed for all involved/impacted.

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Just now, coneyraven said:

And now, the storm is heading towards New Orleans ..... at least with Liberty, she's in Miami versus the Carnival ships ....

What has me curious is, what happens next, if you look at the expected path, it looks like it could affect the Central Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic, probably Saturday into Sunday.  Looks like the September 2nd Sailing to Bermuda on Grandeur will make it out of Baltimore just in front of the storm...... Keeping my fingers crossed for all involved/impacted.

This is exactly why we prefer to cruise during the January-April time frame. Sept-November is the hurricane/tropical storm season.:52_fearful:

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Any news about the upcoming sailing on the Liberty, Sunday, Sept. 3rd? We're booked on it but not even sure if we will be able to drive down to Galveston. The parking lots didn't look flooded, but who knows?  Wondering when RCCL will confirm it's sailing out?  They said yes but if the roads aren't passable, then what?

 

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On our last flight leg home. Made it off of the ship by 3:30 Miami time. Customs did a great job speeding things along.  We were one of the earlier ones off but speculating all who had a 7 pm flight or later booked made it just fine. As promised, RC had buses waiting to wisk us to the airports and even supplied a care package for all to have water and snack on the bus ride.

Communication was great onboard the ship all day long. I didn't catch his name but I gathered he was a top RC executive - he addressed the entire ship once we arrived Miami. That was a nice touch!  

We saw local news crews near some of the buses as we pulled away from the port but didn't see any broadcasts on the airport tvs.

Hope to hear the remainder of our fellow passengers make it safely back to Galveston sometime soon!!

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15 hours ago, coneyraven said:

And now, the storm is heading towards New Orleans ..... at least with Liberty, she's in Miami versus the Carnival ships ....

What has me curious is, what happens next, if you look at the expected path, it looks like it could affect the Central Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic, probably Saturday into Sunday.  Looks like the September 2nd Sailing to Bermuda on Grandeur will make it out of Baltimore just in front of the storm...... Keeping my fingers crossed for all involved/impacted.

I hope you get out Coneyraven, they are also talking about another system next week, Bermuda/Caribbean/Carolina's guess it's too soon to tell, we will be in the Outer Banks Sept 9-16 so hoping it stays away, now I"m rethinking my booking for next Sept from Baltimore, but it's hit or miss.  Sending positive thoughts your way and hope all is well with your upcoming trip!

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12 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We're on that one so I hope you're right and we get out ahead of it !

 

Your bigger concern is the former tropical storm that was over Cape Hatteras and has since become extra-tropical.  As such, the NHC does not continue updates on their website, but the storm was predicted to continue up the coast offshore and grow to hurricane strength (max winds 80mph).  This site shows predicted wave heights for all oceans and seas...

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

 

and if you click on the appropriate box for the coastal Atlantic, you can clearly see the storm and current wave conditions:

image.png.9c8bdcc16bd016af4521009995dddbe3.png

 

From this, looks like your trip out to Bermuda may be a bit bumpy (15 - 20ft swells now).  Good news is that the storm is moving quickly to the Northeast, so fingers crossed that conditions may improve significantly by the weekend.

 

 

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Both the Carnival Breeze and RCCL Liberty of the Seas appear to be headed for Galveston.  Carnival has cancelled Thursday's cruise on the Valor, but signs are pointing to this weekend's trips happening as scheduled.  There appears to be some movement at the Port of Galveston this morning.  I can't imagine there not being problems getting to and from Galveston in three days.  

In all the loss and devastation, I hope at least that folks scheduled for a vacation, many of them from the Houston area, will get to go as planned.  Most of us on this board have been on several cruises and other vacations.  I hate to think how a person who's had very few, if any trips like this, booked a September trip because it's so inexpensive, and then not get to go.

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4 hours ago, DDemuth said:

 

Your bigger concern is the former tropical storm that was over Cape Hatteras and has since become extra-tropical.  As such, the NHC does not continue updates on their website, but the storm was predicted to continue up the coast offshore and grow to hurricane strength (max winds 80mph).  This site shows predicted wave heights for all oceans and seas...

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

 

and if you click on the appropriate box for the coastal Atlantic, you can clearly see the storm and current wave conditions:

image.png.9c8bdcc16bd016af4521009995dddbe3.png

 

From this, looks like your trip out to Bermuda may be a bit bumpy (15 - 20ft swells now).  Good news is that the storm is moving quickly to the Northeast, so fingers crossed that conditions may improve significantly by the weekend.

UGH !

 

 

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