We may be seeing the tail end of hurricane season, but developing weather disturbances remind us that it’s not over yet.
Cruise ships in affected areas have been announcing necessary itinerary changes ahead of inclement weather in the interest of safety.
Royal Caribbean has already shared updates regarding five vessels: Brilliance of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas, Vision of the Seas, and Allure of the Seas.
- Brilliance of the Seas’s cruise on November 2 will still visit Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico but will replace the Grand Cayman port of call with Belize.
- Freedom of the Seas’ November 3rd itinerary was originally scheduled to stop by Grand Cayman, Falmouth, and Labadee in that order. Because of inclement weather, it will now be going to these places in reverse. Labadee will be its first port of call, Falmouth second, and Grand Cayman third.
- Radiance of the Seas is changing all its stops on its November 2 sailing. Bimini will be replaced by Cozumel, Coco Cay with Roatan, Freeport with Belize, and Nassau with Costa Maya.
- Vision of the Seas’ October 31 voyage will remain in Bermuda longer and add Port Canaveral to its stops, replacing visits to Nassau and CocoCay.
- Allure of the Seas’s November 1 cruise will no longer head to Coco Cay. Though it will still go to Nassau, it will spend an extra day at sea in lieu of a day at the private resort.
Read More: NOAA Predicts Very Active 2024 Hurricane Season
In Royal Caribbean’s letter to guests, the cruise line mentioned that it is keeping a close eye on the weather with in-house Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer. “…we’ve been monitoring inclement weather along our intended path due to a developing storm system forecasted to bring increasingly strong winds across the area, impacting our planned ports and potentially making them unsafe to visit,” the email reads.
Bad Weather is Anticipated in the Caribbean
Cruise lines are being extra cautious as inclement weather develops in two key areas: heavy tropical downpours northeast of the Caribbean and a possible tropical depression (or Potential Tropical Cyclone Eighteen) in its southwest region.
The latter carries maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, moving northwards at 6 mph. Setzer predicts the tropical depression will be “absorbed by the developing disturbance in the Caribbean.”
He added that it will impact Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands in the next few days with “exceptionally windy and stormy periods.”
Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center warns that Jamaica and some parts of Cuba will experience the most rainfall.
Other cruise lines will likely announce updated itineraries given developing weather conditions. Hurricane Milton recently forced ports to close and cruise ships to change itineraries.
