A cruise ship that departed San Juan, Puerto Rico seven days ago for a tour of the Caribbean Sea is being now denied entry upon its return.
The Celebrity Summit had spent most of the morning floating outside the port.
Passenger Lewis Shuman, a retired media executive, tells WWL: "We're about five miles off San Juan waiting for government clearance to get in."
Shuman says the cruise line is advising passengers if they have flights scheduled before 5pm, they are urged to change their flights.
"We were scheduled to fly out this afternoon to New Orleans," Shuman says.
"We sailed from San Juan a week ago," Shuman describes the trip. "We were due to dock this morning. They said we were cleared by the Coast Guard, they said we were cleared by the CDC, there was one hold up, that was the local government."
Shuman initially spoke with WWL as he was sitting down to lunch in the ship's dining room. He says the line is doing its best to keep people informed. "Honestly, the passengers have been very good. I haven't seen anybody cranky or bent out of shape. We're kind of in limbo, but we're not in dyer straights, lets put it that way."
Shuman planned the trip five months ago. "The thing that's interesting is while we were at sea the Government announced the cruise lines were cancelling future cruises from San Juan."
So for now, its a delay while the local San Juan city government clears the ship to return to dock.
"There's plenty of food, plenty of alcohol so we're all in pretty good spirits."
As of 1:30pm:
Now, according to Shuman, the ship was denied entry by San Juan city officials and told leave the area.
"We're sailing for Port Everglades, Florida, we've been told we'll dock Monday morning," Shuman says.
Shuman told WWL Celebrity Cruises made a generous consolation to the passengers for the inconvenience: "Any expenses incurred by us for hotel or airfare will be reimbursed by the Celebrity. They're giving up 50% back on our fare and 50% off our next cruise. So they're doing their best to satisfy their customers."
When asked how the passengers aboard the Celebrity Summit were taking the news, Shuman quiped: "Let's put it this way, I'm sitting at the pool side bar and its packed!"
