Cruise Ships Reroute to Avoid Hurricane Idalia
by Dori Saltzman /At least eight cruise ships have been forced to reroute in order to avoid Hurricane Idalia, which is currently making its way towards the west coast of Florida.
So far, ships in the Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Disney, and Virgin Voyages fleets have been impacted.
Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Conquest, which departed Miami on Monday for a four-day sailing, will now visit Bimini in The Bahamas today (Tuesday, Sept. 29) instead of Key West. The ship will spend Wednesday at sea instead of visiting Cozumel, and will visit Nassau in The Bahamas on Thursday, instead of its scheduled sea day.
Carnival Valor, which departed from New Orleans on Saturday, saw its scheduled stop in Costa Maya canceled on Monday. The ship will visit Cozumel today, as scheduled.
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Equinox, which departed Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, has replaced its call on Grand Cayman, scheduled for today, with a visit to Falmouth in Jamaica.
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Fantasy, which departed Port Canaveral on Saturday, Aug. 26, will be visiting Tortola (British Virgin Islands) today and St. Thomas on Wednesday, instead of its scheduled stops in Cozumel, George Town (Cayman Islands), and Falmouth (Jamaica). The ship’s stop at Castaway Cay will remain on Friday, as scheduled.
MSC Cruises
MSC Meraviglia, which departed from New York City on Aug. 21, has switched the order of its scheduled port calls. Instead of visiting Miami on Wednesday, the ship will call in Nassau. Originally scheduled to visit Nassau on Friday (Sept. 1), the ship will now stop in Miami that day. The ship’s visit to Ocean Cay, scheduled for Thursday (Aug. 31), remains unchanged.
MSC Seaside, which is nearing the end of a one-week cruise, arrived in Nassau as scheduled yesterday but stayed overnight at the port and will remain in port until 5 p.m. today. It’s originally scheudled port of call for today, Ocean Cay, has been cancelled. The ship is due to return to Port Canaveral on Thursday.
Royal Caribbean
Grandeur of the Seas, which is about midway through a seven-day cruise, has rescheduled its Cozumel port call from yesterday to Thursday, and has cancelled its call on Costa Maya, originally scheduled for Thursday.
Virgin Voyages
Scarlet Lady, which was due to call in Costa Maya today, is instead visiting Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos. The arrival and departure time for the port call remains the same, giving cruisers the same amount of time to explore off the ship.