A number of port chaplains from across Canada from the Apostleship of the Sea gathered this week in Montreal for their annual conference, organised by their National Office. Bishop Thomas Dowd, their bishop promoter in Canada, challenged them to 'Be fishers of people, those on the sea'.

Chaplains from Montreal, Trois Rivière, Oshawa, Toronto and Vancouver, together with overseas delegates, gathered to review the ministry and plan for future growth. It was also an occasion to celebrate the work of Deacon Derek Skelton, a former ships engineer, who for more than 15 years, had served as port chaplain in Oshawa.

Bishop Dowd noted that 'Part of our challenge within the Apostleship of the Sea is to have this ministry better known', the conference was also an opportunity to put this call into practice with the launch of their new website: www.apostleshipofthesea.ca

The conference heard a number of moving accounts from chaplains. Fr Andrew Thavam, port chaplain in Montreal, told of a moving remark of a seafarer he'd had a long conversation with, 'if I hadn't met you today, I would have ended it'.

Deacon Dileep Athaide, the AoS Vancouver port chaplain recounted his ship visits on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday when seafarers had had the rare chance to reconnect with their faith.

Despite the challenges of the ministry Deacon Alban Soares who begun ministry in the port of Oshawa after only a year said this was a 'most fulfilling ministry'

The conference also heard from John Green, from AoS Great Britain and their experience of renewal to extend the ministry to more seafarers and their twinning programme to share this experience and their capacity with other countries including AoS Canada.

Regional coordinator, Karen Parsons, underlined the vital role of praying for each other to support what is often an isolated ministry.

Bishop Dowd summed up the priorities of the future work of the AoS in Canada, 'Give our brothers and sisters the opportunity to be involved in something that is so important'. The key to this outreach he noted was 'One thing I've noticed is your enthusiasm, you folks care; you care about the ministry, you care about seafarers, you care about the future of the ministry'.

Notwithstanding the challenges he urged the delegates to go ahead with this 'labour of love, a labour to communicate God's love to others'.

The conference concluded considering a number of recommendations; to improve their identity, to extend the ministry into new ports, to attract more volunteers to visit more ships and to raise much needed funds. 

On Cruise Critic, our editorial team has been working around the clock to keep up with the latest developments and will continue to do so. In the meantime, I'm pulling out a few facts that are particularly important - and after nearly 20 years of covering hurricanes and their impacts on travel, adding a few of my own:

1. Fifteen ports were affected; eight of those were nearly destroyed. It will take months, if not longer, for some islands to rebuild. Norwegian Cruise Line has already announced it will not be sending ships to the Eastern Caribbean until November at the earliest ;ships will instead head to the Western Caribbean. It won't be the last to make this change. We predict more announcements to come.
2. Miami, which looked to be facing the same wrath of Irma as the Caribbean, is the global center of the cruise industry. As cruise line employees have been boarding up their own houses, making evacuation plans, and worrying whether they'll have a home and office to come back to, they've also been feverishly working to serve passengers and crew. With three of North America's busiest cruise ports - Miami, Ft. Lauderdale's Port Everglades and Orlando-centric Port Canaveral - projected to lie directly in Irma's path, some 50 sailings were impacted across seven cruise lines - with more coming. It's rare to outright cancel a cruise, but Irma caused at least 20 outright cancellations (and more might come), with another 16 itineraries revised, and 16 cruises shortened. Imagine the number of cruise employees it takes to make all those changes.
3. This we've never really seen to such extent: Cruise lines, after cancelling voyages, are using ships to support rescue efforts and deliver emergency supplies and serve evacuation needs. As we've reported on Cruise Critic, these include Norwegian Cruise Line, which, in cooperation with U.S. Virgin Island authorities, has deployed Norwegian Sky to St. Thomas to pick-up 2,000 stranded travelers. Royal Caribbean has used its Enchantment of the Seas to give a home to employees who had to evacuate. RCI also plans to send Adventure of the Seas to St. Maarten to contribute clothing and water, and will pick up stranded travelers there. Majesty of the Seas is headed to St. Thomas and St. John, to drop off supplies and help with rescue efforts. Carnival is using ships to send supplies to St. Kitts and Grand Turk. We're told that some cruise lines are already planning to bring regular deliveries of most-needed supplies to the region on an ongoing basis; the industry has already reached out, in part through an organization called the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, to ask the affected islands how it can concretely support rebuilding efforts.
4. Taking a tip from the Harvey playbook, in which both Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean offered passengers on existing cruises a chance to get off in a safe port or stay onboard for a longer-than-scheduled cruise, lines like Carnival, NCL and MSC also offered a port-from-the-storm to passengers who feared getting stranded in Florida.

Both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey have generated much conversation on our forums about what happens to ships during hurricanes, as well as debate over passenger rights and should-you-or-shouldn't-you-buy-travel-insurance. Here are a few messages we'd like to reiterate:

1. The Caribbean is a big place. Spanning a pretty sprawling 1.063 million square miles, the Caribbean has three regions: Eastern, Western, and Southern. You may be in Cozumel - as has been the case for most of the ships that fled Miami, actually - and feel no impact from a storm that's affecting the Leewards (such as St. Maarten, St. Barths, Tortola and St. Thomas).
2. Ships can move while land-based resorts cannot. This is why, during even a huge hurricane in the Caribbean, cruise lines can alter itineraries to keep ships' out of the way of dangerous conditions. Staying safe is the number one concern.
3. Travel insurance is a must. We're huge proponents of buying travel insurance in any instance, but if you're planning to cruise in hurricane-affected regions, from Mexico's Riviera to Canada/New England (and of course on any voyage in the Caribbean), buy a policy that will protect you. Hurricane season lasts, technically, from June 1 to November 30 (although we've seen storms start in May and December). Peak season is roughly mid-August through mid-October.

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