After a whirlwind of a hurricane season, with Hurricanes Irma and Maria rattling across the Caribbean, many ports of call are starting to reopen for cruising again.
The two high-category hurricanes forced many cruise lines to change or cancel their itineraries. The Eastern Caribbean region was affected the most, and some of the islands are still in the early stages of the rebuilding process. Still, you can expect to see many of these damaged ports to appear on cruise schedules again.
The following islands sustained no damage and are open:
- Aruba
- Barbados
- Bonaire
- Cayman Islands
- Curacao
- Grenada
- Haiti (Labadee)
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula (Cancun, Cozumel, Costa Maya)
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
The following islands were in the hurricane paths but are now open to cruise ships:
- Antigua
- Bahamas
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Guadeloupe
- Key West
- St. Kitts & Nevis
The following islands were damaged the most and are preparing to reopen on the following dates:
- Anguilla – late November
- Dominica – mid-November
- San Juan, Puerto Rico – open
- St. Barts – Oct. 30
- St. Croix – Nov. 11
- St. Maarten – Nov. 15
- St. Thomas – Nov. 3
- Tortola – mid-November
- Turks and Caicos – Nov. 1
Keep in mind that some of these dates are tentative and are subject to change based on the recovery progress. Even though the above mentioned ports are reopening to cruise ships, not all shops, restaurants or excursions might be available to tourists because some businesses have not returned to their regular operations.
Do you have an upcoming trip sailing to one of the Caribbean ports? Was your cruise affected by the hurricanes?