Key Aspects:
- Disney Fantasy is the latest ship to change its itinerary ahead of Hurricane Erin, cancelling a call in Spain and substituting a visit to Belgium instead.
- While Hurricane Erin has weakened significantly, her huge size could still have impacts on cruise ships for several more days in the northern Atlantic.
- A total of 22 ships have now had itinerary changes for this first official hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season.
Yet another cruise ship has now altered its itinerary to avoid Hurricane Erin. This time, however, the change is not in the Eastern Caribbean, the Bahamas, or Bermuda. Instead, it’s in Spain.
As Hurricane Erin has moved through the eastern Atlantic, she has forced itinerary changes for more than 20 cruise ships. Disney Fantasy is the latest to be impacted, as the ship’s August 25 voyage will not be able to set sail as planned.
The 130,000-gross-ton ship is currently homeported from Southampton, UK. Her August 25 departure was to have been a 4-night sailing to Spain with a visit to Bilbao on Wednesday, August 27.
The storm’s current track, however, will undoubtedly bring very rough water, strong winds, and high swells to the Bay of Biscay between northern Spain and southwestern France.
Disney Cruise Line has reached out to booked guests to notify them of the necessary change. Instead of visiting Spain, Disney Fantasy will now head for Belgium with a port stop in Zeebrugge.
The ship’s departure from Southampton, her days at sea, and her return to the UK are unchanged. Only her direction of travel and the port visit have been changed.
While this may certainly be disappointing to booked guests who were eagerly anticipating la magia instead of magie (magic in Spanish and Dutch in case you’re wondering), safety is always the foremost concern.
The Bay of Biscay may be especially vulnerable to very strong effects from Hurricane Erin. There is no land mass to protect the bay from incoming poor weather.
Furthermore, Hurricane Erin will be closest to Disney Fantasy‘s route on Monday and Tuesday, just when the ship would be sailing by and most impacted by strong wind and waves.
Guests who have pre-paid for Disney Port Adventures in Bilbao will have those tours automatically cancelled and refunded. Tours for Zeebrugge will be available to book onboard either by visiting the Port Adventures Desk or through the Navigator app.
Hurricane Erin – Still a Possible Threat to Cruises
Hurricane Erin has significantly weakened from her height as a Category 5 storm. As of the Friday morning update from the National Hurricane Center, the maximum sustained winds are now 90 miles per hour, making her a Category 1 storm.
Erin’s size, however, remains impressive with hurricane-strength winds extending 140 miles from the center. Tropical-storm-strength winds extend out for 435 miles.
Read Also: Cruising During Hurricane Season – What You Must Know!
This means the storm’s full diameter is now more than 850 miles, and strong winds are possible even outside those official distances.
In comparison, Bilbao and Southampton are only 525 miles apart as the wind blows. Even if Erin is several hundred miles away from the cruise ship’s route, the waters are still likely to be less-than-magical.
Disney Fantasy is now the second Disney ship and twenty-second ship overall to be impacted by this first official hurricane of the 2025 season.
Disney Treasure also shifted her itinerary from an Eastern Caribbean route to a Western Caribbean route for her August 16 departure.
Disney Fantasy’s change is more than a week later and over 4,000 miles away. With the size and strength of Hurricane Erin, this may not be the last itinerary change to report either.
Additional cruises sailing near Greenland, Iceland, the UK, and the west coasts of France and Spain may still see impact from the storm in the coming days.
Any travelers with cruises in those regions over the next week should stay alert to possible changes to their itineraries.
