UPDATE (AUG 26)
Carnival Conquest which is operated by Carnival Cruise Line has been forced to adjust its itinerary due to Tropical Storm Erika. The ship departed Port Everglades, Florida on August 23 and will not call at St Kitts and St Maarten. The ship will spend an overnight in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Grand Turk is still included in the itinerary but Nassau, Bahamas has been added to make up for skipping St Kitts and St Maarten.
PREVIOUSLY
Tropical Storm Erika is heading for the eastern Caribbean where many popular cruise ports are located.
Just last week we had Hurricane Danny that hit the Eastern Caribbean and now we have Tropical Storm Erika which is following a similar track. Some of the same popular cruise ports hit by Danny will also be hit again by Erika. The National Hurricane Center based in Miami, Florida has posted that Erika currently has maximum sustained winds of 45 MPH and is moving west towards the Caribbean at 20 MPH.
At the moment the storm is only expected to strengthen slightly but new information recorded by NOAA could change that in the coming days. There are several Tropical Storm watches in effect including Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, and the well-known cruise port of St Maarten. There are also many more destinations in the region that could be affected by Tropical Storm Erika. The storm will bring heavy rain and high winds.
Erika could cause cruise lines to adjust some cruise ship itineraries and Cruise Hive will post any new updates.