Cruise Lines Make Itinerary Changes Due To Hurricane Matthew

Carnival Sensation. Photo: jonworth

As Hurricane Matthew bears down on the Caribbean, a number of cruise lines have made changes to itineraries this week.  

Carnival Cruise Line’s Oct. 1 departure of Sensation will skip calls at Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk and will instead stop at Costa Maya on Oct. 3 and Cozumel on Oct. 4. 

Ecstasy’s Oct. 2 sailing from Charleston, SC, will no longer stop at Half Moon Cay, Nassau or Freeport, instead replacing the stops with a call at Cozumel and additional days at sea. Passengers on this sailing will receive 25% future cruise discount and $50 onboard credit.  

Carnival reversed the order of ports on Splendor’s Oct. 2 sailing; the ship will now start with a day at sea on Monday and then call at Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios.  

Pride, which was supposed to visit the Caribbean, will instead now sail north from Baltimore to New York and Saint John, New Brunswick. The cruise line is giving passengers a 25% future cruise discount and $100 in onboard sailing. Carnival is also offering full refunds to those wishing to cancel.  

Elation’s Oct. 3 sailing from Jacksonville will now visit Key West instead of Half Moon Cay on Oct. 5 and will skip its Nassau call on Oct. 6. Its day of sea on Oct. 7 has also been changed to a call at Freeport.  

Royal Caribbean, too, has been forced to make changes.

Royal has cancelled Enchantment of the Seas’ Bahamas calls on its Oct. 3 cruise and will now visit Cozumel instead while Freedom of the Seas will now visit San Juan on Tuesday instead of CocoCay.  

Allure of the Seas’ itinerary remains the same, though the ship will visit ports of call in a different order than originally scheduled—the ship left from Port Everglades on Sunday and will spend a day at sea on Monday before calling at Cozumel on Oct. 4, Falmouth on Oct. 6, Labadee on Oct. 7 and arriving back to port on Oct. 9.  

Majesty of the Seas’ Oct. 3 sailing will now stop at Key West on Wednesday instead of Nassau.  

Also making changes to itineraries this week was Norwegian Cruise Line—Sky will now visit Key West on Oct. 4 instead of Freeport and Cozumel on Oct. 5 instead of Nassau—and Disney Cruise Lines—Dream will spend a day at sea instead of calling at Nassau on Oct. 4 and will skip Castaway Cay on Oct. 5, instead calling at Cozumel.  

According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Matthew is currently a Category 4 hurricane and is bringing 130 mph winds to the Caribbean. Hurricane warnings are in effect for Haiti, Jamaica and parts of Cuba.  

The center of the storm is expected to hit southwestern Haiti and Jamaica on Monday.