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What's open, what's not, what's pending: A post-hurricane update on Bahamas, Caribbean ports

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CocoCay - 'needs a little tidying up' but will be ready for Royal Caribbean passengers on the weekend
Updated with information on Princess Cays. In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, all US mainland cruise line homeports had reopened by Monday, and most destinations in the Bahamas and Caribbean impacted by the storm were open or cleaning up ahead of ship calls. Assessments of a few places are pending.

In the Bahamas, Nassau is open and receiving ships, however Freeport is not yet ready, according to a Carnival Cruise Line spokeswoman, who said further information is awaited. And Seatrade Cruise News was unable to get an update on Freeport's Grand Bahama Shipyard, the region's most important cruise ship drydock facility.

Carnival Corp.'s Grand Turk Cruise Center is open for business.

Disney Cruise Line has informed that Castaway Cay is fine, and Disney Dream's cruise that embarked Monday is going to visit both Castaway Cay and Nassau.

Half Moon Cay received only minimal hurricane damage, a Holland America Line spokesman said. Staff recently inspected the island and clean-up efforts are under way. Half Moon Cay will be ready to receive passengers on the next scheduled cruise call, Carnival Valor on Oct. 15. Holland America Line ships return on Oct. 20 with a visit by Zuiderdam.

Prior to the storm Norwegian Cruise Line's Great Stirrup Cay had been closed for upgrades and scheduled to reopen Oct. 22. A team was assessing the destination and a company spokeswoman said Norwegian would have more details to share later this week when that assessment is complete.

Royal Caribbean's Labadee in Haiti is fine, a company spokesman said, while Bahamian private island CocoCay 'needs a little tidying up' and will be ready for passengers this weekend.

Princess Cruises said its Princess Cays sustained very little damage thanks to the efforts to prepare and secure the structures and equipment on the island. Royal Princess is scheduled to call Oct. 28.

As for Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, the major new private island MSC Cruises is creating in the Bahamas, scheduled to be inaugurated in October 2018, 'It's in the early stages [of development]. We're OK there,' said Rick Sasso, chairman, MSC Cruises North America.