Cruise Ships Return To Hurricane Hit Islands

After the devastation of Hurricane Irma, it seems that after a lot of hard work some of the hardest hit islands – Puerto Rico, St Maarten and St Thomas already have cruise ships visiting again. Puerto Rico  has had Royal Caribbean ships calling there since the first week of October. St Maarten has ships due to call there from the 10th of November and St Thomas’s first schedule call will be the 25th of November.

According to St. Maarten’s minister of tourism, economic affairs, traffic and telecommunication, the island is “open for business.” While the island reported widespread damage following Hurricane Irma, port officials said that 62% of water based tours and 80% of land based tours are currently operational.

 The executive director of Puerto Rico Tourism Jose Izquierdo said. “Recent advancements on major tourism infrastructure, like our main airport fully operational with back to normal schedules and operational cruise ports and hotels, show a steady pace towards our rebuilding path,”

Irma knocked out the electricity for the islands of St. John and St. Thomas, but two weeks later, just as the the three islands that make up the US territory were recovering, Maria came back with a vengeance and devastated the power grid.

I am all for helping the economy of these islands as their main source of income is tourism, however is it too premature for guests to be descending on places that have been so badly damaged? What my customers are telling me is that they completely feel for those affected, but seeing the devastation is not what they planned when they booked their dream Caribbean cruise.

Many of the islanders have not only lost their businesses, but are also now homeless and living in squalid make-shift camps, which is heartbreaking and does make me want to support them, but would I want to visit right now? Not sure.

What do you think. Would you be happy to visit or want to avoid the islands until they have recovered more?