Coming to the Aid of Our Family Following Hurricanes Irma and Maria By MICHELE PAIGE, President, Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA)
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n the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, there was not much that could be said. I wish words could bring back the lost lives, rebuild the catastrophic damage and support people physically and emotionally during that time of need, but there were no words. However, the FCCA and the entire cruise industry took every possible action to help throughout this tragedy. After all, these are not just our partners, but more like our family. The Caribbean birthed the modern cruise industry, and the destinations and cruise lines have become family in their 50 years together. So it should be no surprise that we were all ready and willing to help bring the family back together. Even before the storms, FCCA Member Lines were assisting, such as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) providing bottled water, gas and an evacuation option for its employees prior to Irma’s impact. And they—along with Carnival Corporation and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings brands, MSC Cruises and Disney 60 FIRST QUARTER 2018 | TRAVEL & CRUISE
Cruise Line—were readying plans and ships to provide relief efforts. After disaster struck, these plans went immediately into action. The FCCA was fortunately able to communicate and work directly with most affected destination partners to ascertain their needs, coming in the form of both evacuation and supplies. Through this coordination and assistance of destination partners, FCCA Member Lines used their vessels to evacuate or provide temporary on board housing for 10,000 stranded visitors and displaced residents. FCCA Member Lines also used these ships to provide life-saving and -sustaining relief supplies, with more than 40 cruise ships delivering provisions and support, and many removed from revenue cruises to focus on immediate relief. By the numbers, this represented 30,637 gallons of water, 13,050 pounds of animal supplies, 9,355 gallons of milk, 8,000 pounds of ice, 110,500 garbage bags, 30,504 batteries, 4,200 rolls of toilet paper, 450 power generators and more than 25 pallets of medical supplies—from RCCL alone.
These plans also led to Norwegian Cruise Line delivering 35 pallets of supplies to St. Thomas almost instantly after Irma and Carnival Cruise Line using 11 ships to bring supplies, Disney Cruise Line donating meals and bedding and providing storage for supplies, and MSC Cruises protecting guests in the region during the storms and providing special assistance to those in need, like helping a caregiver in Florida contact her mother in Puerto Rico—all on top the more than $30 million that the cruise industry donated to relief efforts. Of course, cruise ships could not even reach some impacted destinations, which is why the FCCA worked with its partners to determine needs that could not be fulfilled by the vessels, and then coordinated with its Member Lines for assistance. To that end, MSC Group answered the call to procure complimentary shipping of multiple containers of needed goods, free up several large ferries to deliver tons of needed goods and serve as temporary housing, and purchase and provide shipping of a semi-per-
