Would that money I spent have gotten to the people who were suffering outside the city? At St Thomas, I took one of the limited tourist boats that went to St Johns, used one of the limited slips available on both islands, went to a beach that had been cleared, learned that 70% of the electricity had been restored and provisions had been made so everyone who lived there had access, listened to guides (on trip over and in shuttle) tell us about the recovery effort, we saw it, but weren't getting in the way, had a beautiful day at a beach open to residents, came back to St John's port, got an ice cream from entrepreneurial islanders who opened a store to provide snacks, returned and got more history and knowledge about the recovery. It felt very real, not a Disneyworld for cruisers to ignore people who weren't fortunate enough to sell trinkets in a tourist trap.
Some of it would have ended up outside of Old San Juan at least most of the staff of the restaurant, bar, and shop do not live in the old city it is just too pricey. The rum is made on the other side of the bay. The government unfortunately would have gotten their cut too thanks to IVU over 11%. The money cycles in PR just as it does in STT and STJ. Most of the horrific media coverage is very exaggerated and most of PR is open for business.