Empress of the Seas which is operated by Royal Caribbean has canceled a call at San Juan, Puerto Rico due to violent protests.
Update: A second Royal Caribbean cruise ship has now canceled a call at San Juan, here are the details.
Empress of the Seas Cancels San Juan
Royal Caribbean has confirmed that the scheduled call at San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 16 has been canceled. The city is suffering from riots and in the interest of guest and crew safety, the ship decided to stay away.
Protests and riots have hit the historic city for calls for Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello to step down. The governers administration has been hit with corruption and leaked chats between the Governor and officials. The content of those chats has caused anger among locals but Rosello has refused to step down.
Empress of the Seas is based out of Miami, Florida and departed on her current 8-day Eastern Caribbean cruise. The ship is now sailing towards the next scheduled call at Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and will arrive on July 17.
Any shore excursions which were booked through the cruise line are being refunded back to guest accounts. In a statement, Royal Caribbean also mentioned it is continuing to monitor the situation in Puerto Rico and will update guest accordingly.
Also Read: 40 Things to Do in San Juan, Puerto Rico for Cruisers
The ship will also be making a visit to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands on July 18 before return to her homeport on July 21 after two days at sea. Empress of the Seas is 48,500 gross tons and has a guest capacity of over 1,500 at double occupancy.
The vessel also suffered from canceling calls to Havana, Cuba recently due to the U.S. Cuba travel ban. However, alternative itineraries have already been announced.
Cruise Hive will keep readers updated as continuing protests could cause further cruise ships to cancels calls to the popular Eastern Caribbean cruise ports.
