Here Comes Willa

Many cruise watchers forgot about the hurricane potential on the West Coast, and the eastern Pacific has been active this year. Willa is currently a category 4 hurricane and predicted to make landfall south of Mazatlan late Tuesday afternoon.

So far two lines have said they are moving two ships from their Mexican Riviera itineraries this week.

The complete story appeared in the October 22 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Michael Now Messes with the East Coast

Things are getting back to normal in the western Caribbean, but Hurricane Michael is now sweeping across the US Southeast. It has now caused a tropical storm warning to go up at Charleston where Carnival Ecstasy is scheduled to turn around on Thursday.

The complete story appeared in the October 10 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Michael Diverts More Ships

The main story today is again the ships that are being diverted due to Hurricane Michael. Since the storm popped up so suddenly and was moving so quickly, it didn't look like it was going cause much of a headache for the cruise industry, but it didn't move north quite as quickly as expected, and apparently, ships that were expecting to slide behind it had to hang back a little more and that's caused some more itinerary changes.

The complete story appeared in the October 9 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Here Comes Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael is forecast to move quickly through the western Caribbean this week. It is currently between Cozumel and Cuba and will make landfall in the Florida panhandle on Wednesday.

So far only Carnival and Norwegian have had to move ships to keep them safely away from the storm. The storm has moved so fast, that in most cases, it's just a matter of canceling a call or reordering a couple of ports, rather than rearranging an entire itinerary.

Details appeared in the October 8 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Delayed Turnaround

Hurricane Florence will delay the turnaround of Grandeur of the Seas at on Saturday. To avoid the storm, Royal Caribbean will hold the ship at Port Canaveral until Saturday.

It will then set out for Baltimore, now scheduled to arrive on Sunday (September 16). They will delay the sailing of Saturday's cruise until Monday (September 17) and make it into a five-night cruise. It will sail to Halifax spending the day on September 19, and returning to Baltimore on Saturday, September 22, so it will be in position for the next cruise.

Other details appeared in the September 14 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - September 13, 2018

CND subscribers also read about:

• NCL change the itinerary of Norwegian Escape again thanks to a change by Hurricane Florence. 
• It's not often you get something free in Alaska.
• Meyer Werft put the two parts of Spectrum of the Seas together. You can see it happen in the video below. 

Details appeared in the September 13 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Three Storms Reroute Three Ships

Even though we have lots of storms on the map, their paths are fairly well-defined and stable, so we don't have lots of updates and changes of things we've already told you, just additions to the short list of ships cruise lines are keeping well away from the storms.

The complete story appeared in the September 11 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Lines Moving Ships in Response to Storms

The weather in the Caribbean has been relatively quiet until the end of last week, and there are lots of things now brewing that have already caused some changes.

Both Tropical Storm Isaac and Hurricane Florence are causing changes.

Here It Comes Again

The Atlantic Hurricane Season starts on Friday (June 1) already, and the folks at InsureMyTrip.com wanted to remind everyone that now is the time to get your trip insurance coverage in order, if you haven't already.

“Once a storm starts forming,” the company reminds us, “it is considered a foreseeable event and insurance coverage will no longer be available to cover losses related to that storm.”

What are the chances of a storm? We also give you the latest NOAA prediction.

The complete story appeared in the May 31 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - January 4, 2018

CND subscribers also read about:

• Winter storm Grayson changing cruise itineraries
• A footnote to history running for parliament

Details appeared in the January 4 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - November 30, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:

• Carnival's return to San Juan today
• The end of the hurricane season

Details appeared in the November 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Nate Takes His Turn

Hurricane Nate turned out to be the least disruptive to turnarounds of the recent hurricanes. Still, it is relatively unusual for hurricanes to keep ships at sea for extra days, but 2017 seems to be the year for it.

The complete story appeared in the October 10 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - October 5, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:

• The new FCCA campaign to let consumers the Caribbean is still open for business
• NCLH is one in 500
• Mein Schiff 1 just floated out last Friday, and today Meyer laid the keel for Mein Schiff 2.
• Here comes Nate

Details appeared in the October 5 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Meyer Turku lays the first steel block of Mein Schiff 2

Photo courtesy of TUI Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Open for Business

If the average person in America has been watching the news he or she knows there were hurricanes in the Caribbean, and they have seen the evening news anchor standing in the midst of what used to be someone's home saying there is complete devastation. So where should they go on vacation? There's no point in even thinking about the Caribbean, they reason. Who would want to cruise to a port like that?

Well, Carnival is on a mission, according to their earnings call last week. They want to let everyone know that “the Caribbean is open for business and is going strong,” according to Carnival President and CEO Arnold Donald.

The complete story appeared in the October 2 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Maria Still Changing Cruise Plans

Royal Caribbean and MSC both made changes today based on Hurricane Maria's effect on the eastern Caribbean.

Details appeared in the September 26 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Changes in San Juan & Havana Operations

From news reports, it appears the entire island of Puerto Rico has sustained substantial damage, with serious damage in San Juan, including to the infrastructure. Of particular concern is the island's lack of electricity, which some estimates say will be months before it's fully restored.

San Juan was removed from ships' itineraries this week since Maria was bearing down on the islands during the first part of the week, but now that it's past, cruise lines have begun to decide what to do about the ships that are based there and due to turn around this weekend.

Details appeared in the September 21 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

After Irma

All four of Florida's major cruise ports reopened today and the cruise ships lined up to come home, returning just when the cruise lines said they would. Also in that priority line were fuel tankers to resupply gas stations and give all the cruise passengers the possibility of filling their tanks for the drive home. (They will have to line up with local people who are also running on “E.”)

Carnival Conquest had the honor of being the first cruise ship into either South Florida port today.

The complete story appeared in the September 12 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Tweaking the Schedule

There were very few changes announced today, probably because everything has already been changed. The only ones we are seeing today are sailings that are affected by their turnaround ports just not being ready early next week, or ones where they storm just is just in the way. 

The complete story, along with the list of today's changes, appeared in the September 8 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Irma Is the Star of the Show

The North American cruise industry has more or less ground to a halt, which everyone watching Hurricane Irma and dealing with changes the storm is causing. Complicating matters is that the people needed to plan and implement the changes are themselves next in the path of the storm.

Most cruise lines' headquarters shut down this afternoon or this evening, with some of the employees staying behind to work in hurricane-proof portions of the cruise lines' headquarters buildings, some evacuated to work remotely, and other functions (such as reservations) to be handled exclusively from offices in farther west in the United States. Those offices themselves were born out of past hurricane scares when South Florida was in the path of storms.

It now appears Irma will arrive in South Florida Sunday morning and at Port Canaveral on Monday. Most cruise lines seem to be anticipating the South Florida ports to be reopening on Tuesday.

Details and a complete list of changes appeared in the September 7 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Adjusting the Plan

As Hurricane Irma thrashes on westward in the Caribbean, cruise lines have spent their night and today trying to decide when the storm will make its northward turn and then decide what to do with the ships.

Throughout the night and today, each update of the computer models and each update of the National Hurricane Center's prediction has moved Irma's track a little farther east after its northward turn, so that the eye now appears to be going up the east coast of Florida until it gets to Florida's northeast corner.

Details appeared in the September 6 edition of Cruise News Daily.