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!"
Moreover, Carnival Breeze, a Dream Class ship sailing from Galveston, Texas, could not dock in Cozumel on September 25. Instead, Cruise Mapper shows the ship spending an extra day at sea in the Gulf of Mexico.
Not only that but Carnival Horizon has been diverted to the Dominican Republic, as shared by Tynika Brown in the comments of a Facebook post.
"They are diverting us to DR so we are out of the path," she said, "But we shall see on the way back to Miami. I won’t complain better to be safe."
Cruise Mapper shows Horizon sailing past the eastern tip of Cuba en route to the Dominican Republic, having departed from Jamaica earlier on Tuesday, Sept. 24. This means they'll miss their scheduled stop in Mexico and Grand Cayman.
And while not officially confirmed, online rumors speculate that Carnival Paradise will be delayed returning to Tampa on Thursday. "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.
cadff added, "They may change the itinerary, they may delay the cruise, or they may cancel it outright. It all depends on how fast the storm moves by. The Port of Tampa will close and will not open until an inspection is down and that can take several hours and then a bottleneck occurs with ships waiting for pilots to re-enter and exit."
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, Mariner of the Seas, Disney Fantasy, Valiant Lady, and Grandeur of the Seas. The latter was slated to visit Costa Maya on Wednesday, September 25. However, Cruise Mapper shows the 28-year-old ship headed to Nassau.
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 is cruising into the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Helene is projected to turn into a major hurricane
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) shared Helene had developed into a hurricane at 10:00am CDT on Wednesday, September 25, indicating the maximum sustained winds have reached 80mph.
The storm is expected to continue to strengthen as it passes near the northeastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula today.
Models reveal the possibility of the storm making landfall as a major hurricane in the Big Bend area Thursday night. The NHC also warned that because of the massive size of Helene, life-threatening storm surge is possible along the entire west coast of the Florida Peninsula and the Big Bend region.
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.
