Wonder, San Juan, January, Second Thoughts?

[RedM94]

I am currently booked on a southern Caribbean on the Wonder from San Juan January 2018. The lives of those impacted by the hurricane/s and regaining some normalcy out weighs possibly having to cancel a cruise. I just want to be smart about what I do or do not decide to do.

Final payment is due in a couple of weeks and I am trying to decide if I should hold the course, cancel before then, or wait for DCL to change ports if necessary.

I also have two pre nights booked at the Hyatt House San Juan and just noticed today that they are closed and not accepting reservations for arrivals prior to November 1.

Anyone else booked on a Southern Caribbean in January have any thoughts.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Each month should be a bit better. The governor's goal is to have 95% of the power restored by December.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/m...ovember-december.3638393/page-2#post-58282582

 

[DisneyCruiser73]

Yep, I canceled and changed to a different cruise a few weeks. We had planned to spend a couple of days prior to the cruise in San Juan. The uncertainty of everything and the risk for disease was too much for me for a relaxing vacation.

I will definitely plan to go back to PR for the Southern in a couple years though.

 

[RedM94]

Yep, I canceled and changed to a different cruise a few weeks. We had planned to spend a couple of days prior to the cruise in San Juan. The uncertainty of everything and the risk for disease was too much for me for a relaxing vacation.

I will definitely plan to go back to PR for the Southern in a couple years though.

Can I ask what cruise you switched to?

 

[DisneyCruiser73]

January 15-19 Disney Dream. My kids were set on doing Disney Cruise. Will do a bit of WDW too.

 

[Debbru]

We also cancelled our cruise - had the last January southern and the repo to PC. Changed to the Fantasy southern end of June.

 

[jenny_nichole]

Yes, we are in the same situation. We've visited San Juan 3x and love it there, but we are really on the fence about whether we should cancel our 1/2018 Southern cruise on the Wonder. Our final payment is fast approaching, and we are considering cancelling while we can.

We're still 3 months away from our cruise, so I assume that things will be much better and PR depends on tourists. But given their current situation, even that is hard to imagine. I don't think that DCL will change the ports, since Royal Caribbean is already cruising out of San Juan.

 

[dcassetta]

Changed ours to Spring Break. The uncertainty was just too much for me. We will go back to San Juan again in the future.

 

[vakamalua]

We are keeping our reservations for our January RT San Juan Southern cruise. We are optimistic that there will be enough normalcy for us to add to their local economy. The four ports on the itinerary are all unaffected. Two great sites to check on the status of PR recovery:

http://puertoriconow.seepuertorico.com/home/

http://status.pr/?lng=en

 

[gotomu212]

Have you looked at the price difference between what you paid when you booked and what the are selling for now? If it wasn’t too significant you could cancel now and watch the situation and rebook closer to the cruise if things improve. The increase you pay may be worth it for peace of mind and for mitigating the risk if things don’t improve.

 

[Luvmypetz]

I paid in full for 1/14/18 sailing last week. I was waffling as well but once I saw RC go for it, I figured in 90 days, barring ANOTHER hurricane, things would be better. The Carnival ship being taken by FEMA only makes me hope it'll free up the hotels. I did quickly book a different hotel over an apartment rental located in the hard hit Ocean Park area and that one is listed as "open" starting Oct 23.

My window opened this AM. Reserved an excursion and a character breakfast!

 

[tlprice]

I also paid in full for my 1/14 sailing last week and booked all of my stuff this morning. Several things were already sold out and I'm silver, so I'm assuming quite a few people must still be going. I also debated about cancelling, but I'm trying to think positively (especially for Puerto Rico's sake). If something happens, the only thing I'd be out is my flights and I got a super cheap deal on them so I'm not too worried. I got an update on my hotel yesterday that it is operating and has breakfast and dinner. The air conditioning and elevators are not working at this point they said, but I can live with that if necessary.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

I have the same worries about our February cruise out SJ. We're supposed to spend 3 days at resort on the eastern side of the island and then go to St. Thomas. Our resort has some amount of damage and isn't open until the end of the year. And of course St. Thomas is still struggling as well. Our final payment is due in about 5 weeks.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

We are still going!

 

[CarolynU]

I'm on the last cruise in Jan and the repo back to PC back to back, and I'm still going. The airport is operating, and I'm sure that by then the port will be too, and my hotel is set to be operational on January 8th. I want to give them my money if I can. If Disney makes the decision to sail then so will I. If they have to change itineraries I'll go with whatever they come up with. I'll probably lose my MCO flight to San Juan and have to pay again for another flight as my insurance probably won't cover this cancellation but hey ho. It is what it is.

 

[mhconley]

We’re also on the B2B southern and eastern going from San Juan to Port Canaveral. We’re staying 3 nights before the cruise at La Concha Resort. We paid in full several months ago and have no plans to change. The airport is back to normal operations, the port is open, and the resort is also. They NEED our tourist dollars. We are looking forward to our first B2B cruises.

Martin

 

[bumbershoot]

The FB page for seepuertorico is a good one to check out.

As long as the Disney area at the dock they use for cruises from/to PR is functional I would bet they'll go from/to it. I keep forgetting (and forgetting to check back when I wonder this) Disney uses panamerica for it. I don't think the osj pier is open but at least royals section of panamerica is.

 

[taggie4]

My final payment is coming up at the end of the month for the 1/28 San Juan Southern Caribbean. I am planning to make final payment and go. I am encouraged that Disney confirmed their December schedule for San Juan today! I am so excited about the Southern Caribbean islands for something different so I really don't want to miss it.

 

[jrabbit]

We have been debating whether or not to go in January since the hurricanes hit ...

and last weekend we cancelled - so sad (since it was an onboard booking - we just moved it to the future while waiting for Jan 2019 schedule to come out).

If I wasn't going to help the good people of Puerto Rico, I was going to stay out of the way.

I did receive an e-mail today from Flavors of San Juan Food and Culture Tours (took one of their tours several years ago --- AWESOME). and they said that they will be back up and running full tours by November (Great News) in St. Thomas, Old San Juan and St. Martin!!

So best wishes to those of you go. I love Puerto Rico, and hope to travel there again in the future!

 

[RedM94]

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and input. I will make a final decision between now and Oct 30.