Hurricane Milton Travel Update: Flight Cancellations, Airport Closures, & Cruise Changes

Hurricane Milton is moving off of the Florida East Coast this morning, after slamming the state overnight on Wednesday as a powerful Category 3 storm.

Milton made landfall about 70 miles south of Tampa, which remained in a state of emergency with storm surge and flood warnings around the area, and millions without power.

The storm caused some major damage to Tampa and the surrounding area, including tearing the roof off Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, destroying more than 100 homes, and causing multiple fatalities, according to local news WPBF.  

The National Hurricane Center (NHC), which tracked Milton’s path through the state, said the storm should move away from Florida and to the north of the Bahamas today. Even after losing strength over Florida, Milton was still producing winds of up to 75 mph and gusts even higher.

Hurricane Warnings remain in effect for the Florida east coast from St. Lucie north to Ponte Vedra Beach and Tropical Storm Warnings for the area south from St. Lucie to Broward County. There are also Strom Surge warnings still in effect for the West Coast from Bonita Beach north to Longboat Key.

Flight changes

While cruise lines continue to manage schedules, the air industry is dealing with a major fallout from Milton that is likely to take days to get back on track.

More than 700 of those cancellations are at two airports—Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Tampa International Airport (TPA). Both of those closed ahead of Milton’s arrival and as of 7 a.m. on Thursday remain closed and say they will reopen after a damage assessment and only when it is safe to do so.

Tampa issued a statement on Thursday morning saying “We hope to announce a reopening plan later today.”

Some smaller Florida airports also remain closed—Southwest Florida International (RSW), Palm Beach International (PBI), Orlando Sanford (SFB), and Sarasota/Bradenton International (SRQ).

The largest Florida airport, Miami International (MIA), is open and is monitoring Hurricane Milton. Anyone traveling through Miami should confirm their flight status with their airline and also take precautions if driving to the airport, it said. Close to 10% of all departures from Miami have been cancelled as of early Thursday morning.

Around that same percentage of flights are also canceled out of Ft. Lauderdale International (FLL), which remains open, too.

Cruise changes

The Port of Tampa Bay, JAXPORT, and Port Canaveral all remain at Port Status ZULU and closed to all maritime traffic. Both Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) and Miami remain at Port Status YANKEE. Though they are technically open, they are running with strict restrictions.

Since yesterday, several more cruise ship returns and departures have been delayed.

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival is one of three lines to cancel an upcoming cruises, with the Oct. 10 sailing of Carnival Paradise out of Tampa Bay canceled as the cruise line waits to see when the ship will be allowed back.

Carnival Glory will not be able to return to Port Canaveral on Oct. 11. The line estimates the ship will be able to return on Oct. 12. The next sailing has not been canceled.

Carnival Sunrise will not be able to return to Miami today. The line estimates the ship should be able to return on Oct. 11. The next sailing has not been canceled.

Carnival Elation will not be able to return to JAXPORT today. The line is waiting for the Coast Guard to make an assessment before making any decisions about the next sailing.

Royal Caribbean

Adventure of the Seas’ return to Port Canaveral, originally scheduled for Oct. 11, has been pushed back one day to Oct. 12. The revised Oct. 12 sailing will skip its planned visit to Curacao.

Utopia of the Seas’ return to Port Canaveral, which was also originally scheduled for Oct. 11, has been pushed to Oct. 12 as well. The ship is also replacing its originally scheduled stop at Nassau in the Bahamas today with a visit to Labadee instead.

Serenade of the Seas, which was scheduled to return to Tampa on Oct. 11 will now return on Oct. 13. The next sailing, which will be shortened by two nights will now be a seven-night Western Caribbean cruise.

Grandeur of the Seas, which was scheduled to return to Tampa on Oct. 12 will now return on Oct. 13. It’s visit to Nassau in the Bahamas has also been pushed from today to Oct. 11. The next sailing will be reduced to a four-night Western Caribbean cruise.

Enchantment of the Seas, which was scheduled to return to Tampa on Oct. 12 will now return on Oct. 14. The next sailing will be an abridged five-night Western Caribbean cruise.

Independence of the Seas, which was scheduled to return to Miami today (Oct. 10), will now return on Oct. 11. Its revised Oct. 11 sailing will swap Labadee for a sea day on Oct. 12 and will visit Perfect Day at CocoCay on Oct. 13 instead.

In order to steer clear of the storm as it heads into the Atlantic, Symphony of the Seas, which is due to return to Cape Liberty in New Jersey on Oct. 12 will skip its visit to Labadee scheduled for today and stay at sea.

Mariner of the Seas will have a delayed arrival back into Galveston today.

Wonder of the Seas’ current sailing will skip its visit to Roatan, scheduled for today as well as its stop at Costa Maya scheduled for Oct. 11 and got to Cozumel instead (originally scheduled for Oct. 9).

MSC Cruises

MSC Seashore will be unable to return to Port Canaveral today. The line had planned to run the next sailing as an abridged two-night cruise departing on Oct. 11 but has since canceled that cruise. The line is awaiting a survey of the port by the Coast Guard to determine when the current cruise will be able to return.

Viking

Viking Neptune’s arrival into Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) scheduled for today has been pushed to Oct. 11.