Hurricane and Tropical Storm Updates
Expect a busy week ahead in the Caribbean between the Grand Turk Cruise Center being closed for dock repairs and Tropical Storm Ian, soon to be Hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
Carnival Freedom, Sunshine, and Mardi Gras will all be skipping Grand Turk while dock repairs are underway after damage from Hurricane Fiona.
In the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Ian was named late Friday evening with forecasts currently aiming for Florida.
At the time of broadcast, there have been no operational changes for the storm but with the current forecast, expect diversions and reroutes with itineraries sailing the Florida Straits and to/from Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Tampa, and possibly others.
If you are sailing over the next week, monitor your emails and cruise line websites. As a reminder, it’s too late to buy travel insurance for hurricane coverage once the storm is already named.
Holland America Fully Back in Guest Service
A Holland America Line ship has marked a full return to service.
After being chartered to house displaced Ukrainians over the past few months in Rotterdam, Volendam resumed passenger service from Trieste, Italy. The ship will sail Holy Land and Eastern Mediterranean sailings before heading to Port Everglades for the winter season.
One of the line’s smallest ships, the 1999-built vessel carries 1,440 guests.
Zenith Arrives at the Scrapyard
Celebrity Cruises’ former ship Zenith has arrived to the coast of India to be recycled this week. In 1992, the ship was one of the first new builds for Celebrity Cruises, following Horizon‘s launch in 1990.
Zenith would become the first large cruise ship to homeport in Jacksonville, opening northeastern Florida to ocean cruising. It sailed down the St. Johns River from 2003 to 2005.
Celebrity transferred Zenith over to sister company Pullmantur Cruises in 2007, where she would remain for 12 more years. In July 2019, it was announced that Peace Boat would take over the ship… which never happened.
It’s currently in anchorage off the coast and workers are preparing it to be beached and dismantled.
STORY: Former Celebrity Zenith Takes Final Voyage to Scrapyard
