This is from the Royal Caribbean website:

October 16, 2017 at Noon EDT (next update Friday, 10/20 at 5 PM EDT)

Royal Caribbean leadership recently returned from visits to St. Thomas and San Juan and will be visiting St. Maarten on Wednesday. We continue to be impressed with the progress the islands are making to rebuild, and are excited to announce our return to St. Thomas with the Adventure of the Seas on November 10. In the next few weeks, working in conjunction with the local governments, we will announce the specific dates in November for our return to San Juan and St. Maarten.

We anticipate no further changes to our scheduled calls in St. Thomas, San Juan and St. Maarten for sailings December 1, 2017 forward.

And then this email arrived:

Last week, we were pleased to share an update after our encouraging meetings
with officials from San Juan and St. Thomas, and in anticipation of a St. Maarten
visit that took place earlier this week. Today, Royal Caribbean® is excited to
announce that these beloved ports are nearly ready to welcome us home.

On November 10, 2017, Adventure of the Seas® will set sail for St. Thomas for
the first time since September, when the islands were first impacted by hurricanes.
We're also committing to return to both San Juan, Puerto Rico and Philipsburg,
St. Maarten by the end of November.

The progress on these islands has been truly inspiring, and in partnership with
the U.S. Virgin Islands government, Royal Caribbean has committed to completely
restore one of St. Thomas' most popular tourist attractions — Magens Bay — in time
for the Adventure of the Seas sailing.

With power and water fully restored to St. Thomas, and most downtown shops,
restaurants, bars and operations fully functional, guests will be able to experience
the diverse and extensive array of dining, shopping and activities they've always
enjoyed on the island. Including boat and catamaran excursions, and some of the
Caribbean's best beaches, like Secret Sands Beach, Secret Harbor Beach Club,
Lindquist Beach, Abi Beach and Honeymoon Beach on Water Island.

By December 1, 2017, Royal Caribbean plans to resume calling at all three ports
with all of our Caribbean ships, including Oasis of the Seas®, Allure of the Seas®
and Harmony of the Seas® — and we can't wait to take you there.

Wow. That's amazing, and great news for the island! Even though land-based tourism will lag for quite some time, having cruise visitors will pump some much-needed cash into the economy.

I WILL BE ARRIVING ON 11/19 ON ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS ROYAL CARIBBEAN

I'm a little apprehensive, but also, I expect to be saddened, we have been going to St Martin since 1983, our first time was at the original Dawn Beach Resort, it was amazing. A couple of years later it was gone, but the rest of the island was pristine..I don't expect this to be the case, not this time ..

Saw this posted elsewhere. Petition to P & O to come back to SXM

This morning I saw an article from USA Today that states Carnival Cruises will NOT stop in St. Maarten until early 2018. Here's the link:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cr...uary/789816001/

this is for Irina, good morning, i understand you have been to Martinique , since we are not going to sxm on our cruise 11/19, Martinique is the alternate stop, would you please refer us to a nice beach ? not too crowded ... thank you
lina