A strike in San Juan today impacted cruise passengers on the Celebrity Summit and Jewel of the Seas. Departing passengers have been unable to retrieve their luggage and take taxis to the airport and arriving passengers have been delayed or unable to travel to the port due to the strikes.
Social media (Twitter and Facebook) has been abuzz with postings from cruise guests and their family members of travelers contacting the cruise line and air lines. As one travel agent commented, this apparently was not the first time that port operations were disrupted by a strike.
Several cruise passengers contacted us this afternoon seeking information about the strike.
The current strike involves an organized protest against governmental cuts of employee benefits in Puerto Rico. Strikes in the U.S. nowadays are relatively rare. Most strikes which affect cruise passengers occur in Europe (read Carnival Breeze to Cross Picket Line in Venice). Strikes by cruise line employees are not permitted by the cruise lines (read Carnival Fires 150 Crew Members from India for Protesting Low Cruise Ship Wages).
@SouthwestAir is there something that you can do for us, since we are stuck in San Juan on a @RoyalCaribbean cruise due to a strike outside the port and the port is closed. We had to pay $225 to change our flight for 1750 tonight
— Robert Rice (@rjrice142) December 8, 2018
Great. There's a strike in San Juan, PR, so we CAN'T get off of our ship. Street is blocked.
They were striking the LAST time we sailed from here 2yrs ago. Get it together, PR businesses and workers won't strike!
Is it us? ☹
— Trotman's Travels! 🔥 (@TrotmansTravels) December 8, 2018
A number of people on Twitter were concerned about their parents’ ability to deal with the lack of services, whereas at least one cruiser expressed her understandable frustrations about getting home to man’s best friend.
Complicating matters as several thousand guests tried to handle their own baggage was that it began to rain earlier this morning.
And now it’s raining @PuertoRicoPUR @CelebritySummit pic.twitter.com/hXBIy496MC
— Miss Keat (@ArizonaHorseGrl) December 8, 2018
In addition to the Celebrity Summit and the Jewel of the Seas, AIS programs show the Star Pride in port in San Juan. However, we have not received any comments from passengers on the Star Pride yet.
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Photo and video credit: Twitter; photo top – Emily Burns @ArizonaHorseGal.