Multiple Cruise Lines Cancel Calls in Puerto Rico

Multiple cruise lines are continuing to cancel port calls in San Juan, Puerto Rico due to street protests. Local residents are protesting with the goal of forcing the island’s governor to resign over leaked messages where he and his advisors mocked victims of Hurricane Maria, and used profanity to describe other government officials. Two of the governor’s top former officials were also arrested by the FBI earlier this month on corruption charges.

Below are the ships that have had canceled calls as a result of the unrest. We will keep update this list with any future cancellations we become aware of.

Royal Caribbean

Empress of the Seas was scheduled to call in San Juan on July 16, but instead called in Tortola a day early.

Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Equinox, on a charter cruise, was scheduled to call on Monday, July 22, but instead skipped over Puerto Rico to her next scheduled port of call, St. Thomas.

MSC Cruises

MSC Cruises canceled MSC Seaside’s call on Monday, extending its stay in St. Maarten instead.

Disney Cruise Line

Disney Cruise Line has canceled Disney Fantasy's planned August 4 call to San Juan during an 11-night cruise. The ship will instead stop in St. Thomas. 

Carnival Fascination and Freedom of the Seas both were slated to end their voyages in Puerto Rico, and went ahead as scheduled. About 7,000 passengers altogether disembarked the two ships on Sunday, July 20 in San Juan, and approximately the same number boarded for the next cruise.

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company, a government agency, said that they gave cruise lines the option to use alternative ways to stop in Puerto Rico, like the Pan-American Wharf or docking in Ponce. However, those options aren’t possible for all ships due to depth and/or scheduling constraints and so far, cruise lines are making the decision to just skip over the island completely. To date, the economy in Puerto Rico has an estimated $2.5 million loss in anticipated spending revenue from the canceled cruise calls.

Information: USA Today, Seatrade Cruise News, and Travel Weekly

Updated July 26, 2019 to add the Disney Cruise Line cancellation.