USA TODAY International Edition
First post-Irma cruise ship docks in Key West
Empress of the Seas finally arrives, boosting business and morale as region still recovers
Two weeks after Hurricane KEY WEST Irma devastated the Florida Keys, the first cruise ship docked Sunday in this southernmost city, providing the first boost of tourist dollars to the storm-ravaged area.
Doni Battochi, the first to disembark into the unusually quiet streets of Key West, said she kept a close eye on Irma in recent weeks from her home in New York. Her cruise itinerary included stops in Key West and Havana, two cities battered by Irma’s historic winds.
Royal Caribbean offered Battochi the chance to reschedule to another sailing later in the year, but she and her boyfriend decided to go along.
“I figured we’d be doing a Habitat for Humanity trip,” said Battochi, 30. “It’s crazy.”
The arrival of the Empress of the Seas with its 880 passengers comes at a difficult time for the Keys. Several sections of the island chain remained in full disaster response mode Sunday. Cudjoe Key — where Irma made landfall as a Category 4 storm Sept. 10 with winds up to 130 mph — still faces curfews and advisories to boil water while it’s swarming with emergency crews.
Key West Mayor Craig Cates said he agonized over the appropriate time to welcome tourists against to his city, which was spared from the worst of Irma’s wrath. But he said the entire region will benefit by tourists coming back.
“We understand and we are compassionate about their situation,” Cates said about the islands farther north that are worse off. “But a lot of them work here. We’re in this together.”
That sentiment was echoed in the heart of Key West, as several tourist hot spots reopened for the first time Sunday to welcome the cruise passengers.
Rich Fox, operations manager for Old Town Trolley Tours, said his employees up and down the Keys have been clamoring to get back to work. All their trolleys survived the storm, and they restarted 15 of them that were immediately filled with cruise passengers.
“This is absolutely massive for us,” Fox said. “It lets the rest of the world know Key West is up and running.”
A couple blocks away at El Meson de Pepe, a Cuban restaurant housed in an old tobacco factory, workers opened for lunch for the first time since Irma.
Sonny Napoles, the restaurant’s operations manager who rode out the storm inside the restaurant, said workers emptied the freezers and spent four days serving free meals in the days after Irma passed. They reopened for only dinner the last few nights, but traffic was incredibly slow. On Sunday, they were ready for the full rush.
“It’s important to have people see us get back to normal,” Napoles said.
The arrival of the Empress of the Seas also capped a chaotic two weeks for the ship’s crew.
They had to cut short a voyage to Cuba as Irma approached the island two weeks ago. After dropping off its passengers in Galveston, Texas, the ship was loaded with water, ice and emergency supplies and sent to Key West.
But Capt. Carl Graucob said the ship couldn’t enter the port because of all the damaged and sunken boats that littered the main channel. He said they floated off Key West for three days before being called off, returning to Galveston.
“Now all of those items are being sent to Dominica,” Graucob said about the eastern Caribbean island battered by both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
After finally docking Sunday, the ship unloaded its passengers who gingerly walked through old Key West, where some storefronts remained covered with plywood. Tour guides joked how they were getting the rare treat of having the island all to themselves. Other guides seemed apologetic, saying they’d never seen Duval Street so empty.
Lien-Anh Van Wagener and her husband, Steve, were part of a group celebrating a friend’s 60th birthday.
She suggested taking a taxi to the islands hit hardest, but they decided not to add to the crush of people there and strolled into Sloppy Joe’s bar instead.
“No better way to help them than to give them my money,” her husband added.
“We understand and we are compassionate about their situation . ... We’re in this together.”
Key West Mayor Craig Cates on the fate of neighboring islands