Hurricane Helene continues wreaking havoc on the cruise industry, with one cruise ship stuck at sea and two more skipping their scheduled visits to Cozumel.
Guests onboard MSC Seashore confirmed they were alerted they'll be unable to return to Port Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday, September 26.
"On a 4 night Bahamas cruise on MSC Seashore. We got the announcement that Port Canaveral will not be allowing us to return on Thursday due to winds expected to reach 50mph. We are headed to Nassau now as scheduled, and will spend Wednesday there, but now have a bonus sea day added on Thursday," farewelltokings2 shared on the Reddit thread r/Cruise.
Nottodaymann added, "Funny because my friends and I are waiting for this cruise ship to return. Our cruise sailing was supposed to start this Thursday and now we [have lost] a day and will leave Friday. We’re getting a partial refund though. We’re also not going to [Nassau] anymore just Ocean Cay. It sucks but better safe than sorry. Hope you guys are ok out there!"
Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas is also stuck at sea. A user on Cruise Critic shared that the Captain announced the cruise will be extended two days, with the ship now scheduled to arrive in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday, Sept. 29.
Similarly, Carnival Paradise and Carnival Elation are unable to return to Tampa and Jacksonville on Thursday, Sept. 26. Earlier this week, a few Reddit users started speculating whether they'd set sail as scheduled on their 4-night Western Caribbean cruise after hearing that Carnival Paradise might not return to Tampa on time.
"I’m on the Paradise right now. They let us know we’d be arriving late, but they haven’t given us any other information other than that," shared lowfatmuffintop to Reddit.
Forward_Syrup_6667 responded, "My mom is on paradise right now. She was supposed to be in on thursday morning. They then changed it and said 1:30am friday. But they just announced they may not be able to port until Saturday."
According to Carnival's website, Carnival Paradise is sailing a safe distance from the storm. Once the storm passes and the port reopens, officials must conduct an assessment before giving the ship clearance to return. They are tentatively anticipating arriving either Friday, September 27, or Saturday, September 28. As of 2:30pm EST on Sept. 27, the Port of Tampa is still closed.
Because Jacksonville's port is also closed, guests onboard Carnival Elation were gifted with another day onboard. Around 12:00pm EST on Sept. 27, Carnival announced that Elation was cleared to return to Jacksonville on Friday afternoon. Those set to embark will now sail on a revised 3-night cruise to Freeport.
Guests who choose to sail will receive a 25% refund for the cruise fare and pre-paid gratuities, as well as beverage and Wi-Fi purchases and a $100 onboard credit per stateroom. Those who cannot still will receive a 100% future cruise credit for their fare and a full refund for all pre-purchased add-ons.
Cruise ships started adjusting plans early this week
MSC Seascape was one of the first cruise ships to reroute to avoid the storm. On Saturday, September 22, one day after departing from Miami, Florida, on a 7-night cruise to The Bahamas and Caribbean, passengers were informed they'd no longer be sailing west.
Instead, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Mexico were swapped for Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, and Nassau. Thankfully, there haven't been any changes to the scheduled visit to the cruise line's private island, Ocean Cay, on Friday.
Shortly after, guests onboard Wonder of the Seas' September 22 sailing from Port Canaveral, Florida, were alerted they'd no longer be cruising to Mexico and Honduras. The new itinerary takes them east to St. Thomas and St. Maarten.
Other impacted ships include Carnival Valor, Serenade of the Seas, Independence of the Seas, Carnival Horizon, Mariner of the Seas, Disney Fantasy, Valiant Lady, Grandeur of the Seas, Carnival Glory, Carnival Breeze, and Utopia of the Seas.
The latter will have its upcoming boarding process delayed as a result of Port Canaveral's closure. Passengers on the September 27 sailing were alerted of their new boarding times, with the earliest starting at 2:30pm.
Margaritaville at Sea Islander was also supposed to call at Key West on September 25. Like Grandeur of the Seas, Cruise Mapper shows the ship has adjusted its course. Instead of heading to The Bahamas, however, the vessel cruised around the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Helene is a major hurricane
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) shared that Helene had developed into a hurricane at 10:00am CDT on Wednesday, September 25, indicating that the maximum sustained winds had reached 80mph.
The storm strengthened as it passed near the northeastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. As of 8:00pm EST on Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene had maximum sustained winds of 130, making it a powerful Category 4 storm.
Helene is a monster, with its wind field spanning hundreds of miles and impending catastrophic flooding in parts of the Southeast—not to mention the potential for dangerous storm surges along the coast of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Models reveal the storm will make landfall as a major hurricane in the Big Bend area Thursday night. Evacuation orders have been issued for parts of Florida. Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis expects the storm to make landfall around 11:00pm EST.
Read more: Here's What Happens If There's A Hurricane During Your Cruise
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Growing up, she had the privilege of traveling frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas her freshman year of high school. She wanted to pursue a career that highlighted her passion for travel and strengths as a writer.
