Hurricane Debby has officially made landfall, but the effects of the storm are going to be felt for days to come. Already there are reports of significant damage and flooding. And while the storm is set to weaken, flooding rains will continue in the southeast United States. Forecasts for the coming days are for between 10-20″ of rain running from Florida to North Carolina.
Hurricanes are part of cruising the Caribbean, and their potential to disrupt a trip are well known. If there is good news with this storm, it’s that Hurricane Debby has avoided the busiest cruise ports in Florida. With a landfall on Florida’s west coast, the major ports like Miami and Port Canaveral have been spared major disruption.
However, that’s little consolation to the thousands of passengers seeing their vacations upended by the storm.
Due to the storm, multiple cruises have been impacted. This includes four separate sailings aboard Carnival departing the ports of Tampa and Jacksonville. The cruise line has had to rearrange itineraries to avoid the impact of Debby.
Jacksonville: Prior to the storm’s arrival, Carnival Elation‘s schedule was adjusted to bring the ship back home a day early. This is a highly unusual move, but the ship returned Sunday, August 4 instead of the originally scheduled August 5. The next cruise departed a day early to allow it time to leave the area before the heaviest impacts of the storm were felt.
Tampa: Due to Hurricane Debby, the Port of Tampa is closed to traffic. Originally Carnival Paradise was set to return to port on Monday, August 5. While the ship shows as just offshore the Tampa area, with the port closed, Carnival Paradise is now expected to dock tomorrow. The following cruise (originally scheduled for six days) will be run as a five-day sailing.
Margaritaville at Sea Islander was set to return to Tampa yesterday. Instead, it now says that it hopes to return to port the morning of August 6.
With the late arrival, it’s not clear what will happen with the next cruise, which was originally scheduled to run August 4-9. The cruise line simply says that “additional updates and rescheduling options will be provided to the email address on file for your reservation as soon as plans are finalized.”
Charleston: There have been no changes to Carnival Sunshine sailing from Charleston as of now. The ship is set to return to port the morning of August 8, however, the current track of Hurricane Debby shows it sitting near the city at that time. According to Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald, “There are no changes at the moment but our Fleet Operations Center are of course doing what they do to make sure everything is taken care of and the ships stay safe.”
Flexibility is Key During Hurricane Season
There’s little doubt that tropical weather can have a major impact on cruises. Unfortunately, the change to schedules are not easy to predict more than a couple of days in advance. If you’re sailing during hurricane season, it’s important to be flexible. It’s highly unlikely a cruise will be canceled, but shortening or lengthening a cruise to keep out of the path of a storm is relatively common.
That’s why it’s important to do things like fly into port the day before the cruise and also having trip insurance in case there is a disruption.
Most importantly, if you have a cruise that may be impacted by a storm, know that your cruise line will be in touch with the latest on any changes to your schedule.
