Topic: Hurricane Causes Cruise Havoc...

Hurrican Earl is causing havoc as it sweeps towards the US east coast - at least seven cruises and several flights have been diverted.

Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean and NCL have already re-routed ships to avoid the storm, which is due to reach the Turks and Caicos islands this afternoon.

According to forecasts, the hurricane may hit the east coast of America later this week and it is expected to reach North Carolina by Thursday or Friday.

Tropical Weather Update from Royal Caribbean
August 30, 2010

Due to the forecasted path of Hurricane Earl, Royal Caribbean International is altering the current itineraries for Enchantment of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas.

Enchantment of the Seas called on San Juan, Puerto Rico Sunday, as scheduled, but will cancel its call at St. Thomas on Monday in order to avoid inclement weather from the storm. Instead, the ship will call at Samana, Dominican Republic on Monday, August 30 and Labadee, Haiti, on Tuesday, August 31. The ship will spend Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at sea as it returns to Baltimore on Saturday, as scheduled. Enchantment of the Seas is currently sailing a nine-night Caribbean itinerary, which departed Baltimore on August 26.

Oasis of the Seas will be unable to make its scheduled port calls to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas on Tuesday, August 31 and Phillipsburg, St. Maarten on Wednesday, September 1. The most recent forecast simply places the storm too close to these ports of call during the time Oasis of the Seas would be sailing there. The ship will now call at Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico, on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Oasis of the Seas is sailing a seven-night Caribbean itinerary, which departed Ft. Lauderdale on August 28.

Freedom of the Seas will be unable to make its scheduled port calls to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas on Wednesday, September 1 and Phillipsburg, St. Maarten on Thursday, September 2. The most recent forecast simply places the storm too close to these ports of call during the time Freedom of the Seas would be sailing there. The ship will call CocoCay, Bahamas on Monday, as scheduled, spend Tuesday at sea, and call into George Town, Grand Cayman on Wednesday. On Thursday, the ship will visit Cozumel, Mexico. The ship will spend Friday and Saturday at sea as it returns to Port Canaveral, Florida on Sunday, as scheduled. Freedom of the Seas is currently sailing a seven-night Caribbean itinerary, which departed Port Canaveral on August 29.

Celebrity Cruises & Azamara Club Cruises

Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises are closely monitoring the path and progress of Hurricane Earl to ensure our guests enjoy safe and comfortable cruises, and to make certain our ships steer clear of the storm. The safety of our guests and crew members is always our foremost concern. At this time, no Celebrity Cruises or Azamara Club Cruises ship is being affected by tropical weather. We will continue to closely monitor weather conditions and will update this information if there are any changes.

Queen Mary 2

Queen Mary 2 will arrive in New York as scheduled tomorrow and will now remain in New York until 5am on Saturday 4 September. The call at Newport Ri has been cancelled and she will now proceed directly to Boston where she will arrive as scheduled.

Passengers on the longer cruise have been informed by the Commodore of the change and passengers joining tomorrow will be informed by a pillow letter followed up by an announcement.

Caribbean Princess

Crown Princess is cancelling her call at Halifax today and is sailing directly to New York where she will operate her scheduled turnaround on Saturday as scheduled.