Cruise Ships Diverted from Hurricane Willa’s Path

Hurricane Willa, a powerful Category 4 hurricane affecting the southwestern coast of Mexico, is expected to move over Las Islas Marias later this morning, and make landfall along the west-central coast of mainland Mexico late this afternoon or this evening, according to the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane warnings were issued Monday to resort towns from San Blas to Mazatlan, including Las Islas Marias.

Norwegian Bliss, which is the newest Breakaway-plus class ship for Norwegian Cruise Line, has been forced to change its itinerary, a NCL spokesperson confirmed. The seven-night voyage that left from Los Angeles on Oct. 20 will now call on San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada on Thursday, instead of Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. The ship spent Sunday at sea and will do the same on Tuesday and Friday, returning to Los Angeles on Saturday as originally scheduled.

Holland America said on its Twitter feed that the Eurodam’s sailing to the Mexican Riviera that began Monday will instead “now sail northward along the coast of California with calls in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. The cruise line also said that, given the itinerary changes, “all guests will receive a future cruise credit and shipboard credit.” 

Several airlines in the U.S. have also started waiving change fees for customers scheduled to fly to the impacted areas along Mexico’s Pacific coast, including American, Southwest and United.

Southwest warned passengers that flights to and from Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos airport (SJD) and Puerto Vallarta (PVR) airport may be disrupted, diverted or canceled through Friday. The airline has already canceled flights between Houston Hobby, Oakland and Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta for Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the airline and flight tracking service FlightAware.