Complete List of Cruise Ship Changes Due to Hurricane Erin

Key Aspects:

• A total of 21 cruise ships across nine cruise lines have now changed their itineraries to avoid Hurricane Erin.
• Impacts range from complete itinerary changes to port reversals and alternative port visits.
• This list will be updated as additional changes from different cruise lines are confirmed.

Even though Hurricane Erin is not making any landfall, the impact it’s having on cruise itineraries continues to increase due to ocean swells and sea conditions. Here are all the latest cruise ship impacts due to the category 2 storm.

While additional changes are possible over the next few days, so far, ships from Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Holland America Line, Celebrity Cruises, Virgin Voyages, and Norwegian Cruise Line have confirmed changes.

Vision of the Seas

Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas was the first ship to change her route, cancelling a stop in Bermuda and instead heading for the Bahamas to avoid the hurricane’s projected track.

Even early in the storm’s formation, the shift toward Bermuda was a high probability, and Royal Caribbean made this change for the 9-night sailing several days before Erin became an official hurricane.

Instead, Vision of the Seas added Port Canaveral to her schedule and extended her time in Nassau. The visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay is unaffected, and the ship will return to Baltimore on August 23.

Liberty of the Seas

Liberty of the Seas’ sailing from Bayonne, New Jersey, opted to completely skip Bermuda and head in the opposite direction. The ship is instead enjoying an overnight visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

This is a 5-night sailing with just a single port visit, and so will likely be very disappointing to guests who had hoped to visit Bermuda. Liberty of the Seas will return to Bayonne on Thursday, August 21.

Royal Caribbean is providing up to $400 of onboard credit as compensation for the very dramatic itinerary change. The total onboard credit depends on stateroom category.

Freedom of the Seas

Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas has also been impacted by Hurricane Erin, with the ship unable to make its call to Nassau, Bahamas, on August 17 and headed straight back to Miami with an earlier arrival.

For the ship’s August 18 departure out of Miami, a day at sea was replaced with a call at Nassau, instead of making that port visit a day later on August 20. At the moment, there are no other adjustments, and the 4-night Bahamas sailing is still scheduled to return home as normal on August 22.

Harmony of the Seas

During the ship’s 8-night Caribbean voyage that departed Galveston, Texas, on August 16, the ship was forced to cancel its call to Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas on August 19.

Symphony of the Seas

The vessel’s 7-night August 17 sailing out of New York has been affected by Hurricane Erin. The ship has cancelled its scheduled call to Nassau, Bahamas, on August 20 and is instead spending a day at sea.

Utopia of the Seas

The newest Oasis-class cruise ship had to cancel its scheduled visit to Nassau in the Bahamas on August 19. The ship spent a day at sea instead during the 4-night Bahamas cruise that departed Port Canaveral on August 18.

Celebrity Beyond

At the moment, the Celebrity Beyond is the only cruise ship from Celebrity Cruises that has been impacted by the hurricane. On the ship’s 7-night sailing that departed Miami on August 17, the call to Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas was cancelled on August 19.

Enchanted Princess

Princess Cruises is another cruise line that has been forced to make adjustments for its Enchanted Princess. The ship’s 14-night Caribbean sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has cancelled its call to Dominica on August 17 and St. Maarten on August 18.

The vessel instead made a call to Martinique and St. Kitts. In a more recent update, the Enchanted Princess’s return to New York has been delayed from August 23 to August 25. This also means that the originally scheduled August 23 departure has been revised.

Island Princess

Island Princess is also impacted as Hurricane Erin impacts New York operations. The cruise line has communicated to guests on the August 19 10-night Caribbean and Bermuda sailing that the ship will remain docked in Brooklyn, New York, through August 22.

To make up for the delayed departure, the vessel will spend an extra day docked in Bermuda. However, the calls to Grand Turk, Amber Cove, and San Juan are cancelled.

Disney Treasure

The brand new Disney Treasure completely shifted her planned 7-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary to avoid Hurricane Erin. Instead, the ship is sailing a Western Caribbean route this week.

This includes visits to Cozumel, Mexico; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Falmouth, Jamaica. The Wish-class ship will still visit Castaway Cay, one of Disney Cruise Line’s private islands in the Bahamas, on Friday, August 22, well after Hurricane Erin has passed.

The ship is homeported from Port Canaveral and will return on schedule on Saturday, August 23.

Carnival Sunshine

Sailing from Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday, August 17, Carnival Sunshine has cancelled her Bermuda visit and is instead visiting the Bahamas for her 6-night cruise.

Rather than the planned overnight in Bermuda, the ship will now enjoy visits to both Celebration Key, Carnival Cruise Line’s new private destination on Grand Bahama Island, as well as Nassau.

Carnival Sunshine will be at Celebration Key on Tuesday, August 19 and in Nassau on Wednesday, August 20 before returning to Virginia on Saturday, August 23 as planned.

Mardi Gras

Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras set sail from Port Canaveral on Saturday, August 16 for a 7-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary. While the ship will still be sailing that region, the cruise line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, confirmed the port order has changed.

“She has an itinerary reversal,” he noted. “They are just swapping a couple of the ports, same ports, and putting them in reverse order to avoid any particularly bad weather.”

The ports on Mardi Gras’ original itinerary include Grand Turk, Amber Cove, Nassau, and Celebration Key. Guests onboard will be notified if there is any further change to their schedule.

Carnival Vista

Carnival Vista is another Carnival Cruise Line ship that has been forced to adjust its itinerary due to Hurricane Erin. The vessel was unable to make its scheduled call to the cruise line’s private island of Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas due to ocean swells.

The ship has instead made a call to Nassau, Bahamas. The rest of the August 17 sailing has remained as normal. The vessel is still set to complete its 6-night Caribbean cruise back in Port Canaveral on August 23.

Carnival Elation

On her 5-night Bahamas cruise that departed from Jacksonville, Florida on Monday, August 18, Carnival Elation will be unable to visit Half Moon Cay on Wednesday, August 20.

Instead, the Fantasy-class ship will visit Freeport, where dock facilities make it safer for guests to debark the ship. It is not possible to use tender boats at Half Moon Cay due to swells from Hurricane Erin.

Carnival Elation will return to Jacksonville as planned on Saturday, August 23.

Carnival Venezia

The Italian-style Carnival Venezia departed New York on a 9-night Eastern Caribbean cruise on Monday, August 19. While the ship will still be able to sail in the region, the visits to St. Thomas (August 23) and San Juan (August 24) have been cancelled.

Carnival Venezia will instead visit Celebration Key on Saturday, August 23. The visit to Grand Turk on August 25 will go ahead as planned.

The ship will return to the Big Apple on schedule on Thursday, August 28.

MSC World America

The new MSC World America, which just debuted from Miami in April, has shifted from her planned Eastern Caribbean itinerary to a Western Caribbean route instead.

Rather than visiting Puerto Plata and San Juan, the ship will instead be found at Costa Maya and Cozumel. Her visit to MSC Ocean Cay Marine Reserve remains as planned for Friday, August 22.

MSC World America will return to Miami on Sunday, August 23, without any disruption.

Read Also: Cruising During Hurricane Season – What You Must Know!

Norwegian Gem

Norwegian Gem’s August 22 sailing out of Boston has been pushed back due to the impact of Hurricane Erin. What is a themed “On the Blue Forever Autumn” sailing, embarkation for the voyage will now commence on August 24 instead. The call in Sydney, Nova Scotia, has also been cancelled on August 25.

Norwegian Aqua

On her first sailing from New York following the end of her deployment from Port Canaveral, Norwegian Aqua cannot go to Bermuda as planned.

The 4-night sailing is departing Monday, August 18, and will head to Saint John, New Brunswick, rather than the Royal Naval Dockyard on Wednesday, August 20. The time in port will be from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., rather than the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. originally scheduled in Bermuda.

Norwegian Aqua will return to the Big Apple on Friday, August 22. The Prima-plus-class ship is offering a short deployment of just eight sailings from New York, all to Bermuda if there is no further weather interference.

Norwegian Jewel

Unlike most ships skipping Bermuda early this week, Norwegian Jewel was able to visit as planned beginning on Sunday, August 17.

Instead of remaining at King’s Wharf into Tuesday, August 19, however, the ship departed in the late afternoon Monday in order to head back to Boston, Massachusetts and away from Hurricane Erin’s impact.

No substitute port is planned but Norwegian Jewel will return to her homeport on schedule on Friday, August 22.

Zuiderdam

Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam is finishing a transatlantic sailing from Rotterdam to Boston, having departed on August 5. Unfortunately, the ship will be unable to make her last port of call, St. Johns in Newfoundland due to Hurricane Erin.

Instead, the ship will make an overnight visit to Halifax, in order to be more protected from the rough weather the storm is generating.

Zuiderdam should still make her planned debarkation in Boston on Saturday, August 23, without difficulty.

Valiant Lady

This is the only Virgin Voyages cruise ship currently impacted by Hurricane Erin. The vessel’s 5-night August 15 cruise out of Miami has swapped its call at Puerto Plata with Cozumel.

Cruise Hive will continue to update this list of cruise ships impacted by Hurricane Erin as such changes are confirmed. Booked guests should stay in close contact with their cruise line for updates to their sailings.