Key Aspects:
- Island Princess will stay safely docked in Brooklyn, New York, until Hurricane Erin passes through – which disrupts her 10-night sailing to the Caribbean and Bermuda.
- At the same time, Enchanted Princess has had to delay her return to New York from August 23 to August 25 because of the dangerous weather conditions.
- Enchanted Princess’s delay will carry over to the subsequent 7-night cruise to New England and Canada, which will now have to be shortened.
Because of Hurricane Erin, Island Princess is stuck in New York and Enchanted Princess is stuck at sea as she tries to return to New York. Either way, cruisers won’t be happy.
Starting with Island Princess, the 2,210-guest ship was supposed to depart from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in New York today, August 19, to operate a 10-night sailing to the Caribbean and Bermuda.
But with Hurricane Erin bringing potentially life-threatening rip currents, strong winds, and waves of up to 20-feet tall to the US East Coast over the next few days, Princess Cruises had to make the decision to keep the ship safely docked in Brooklyn.
“We have learned that our originally planned passage to the Caribbean would be impacted by the predicted path of the storm, and as the safety of our guests and crew is always our highest priority, we have made necessary adjustments to our scheduled itinerary,” Princess Cruises wrote in a letter, which a current guest emailed to Cruise Hive.
“In order to avoid the worst of the weather, we will now remain in Brooklyn Cruise Terminal for three nights and will commence our journey on Friday, August 22, once conditions have improved.”
The Coral-class vessel will stay put through Friday, August 22, before heading straight to King’s Wharf, Bermuda, which was supposed to be an overnight call from August 26-27.
Guests will now get to spend an extra day exploring Bermuda with an early arrival on August 25, but the destinations that were supposed to be visited along the way will be skipped.
These included Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“Due to this delay, regretfully we no longer have the required time to make our passage to the Caribbean. As a result, we will no longer call to Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; or San Juan, Puerto Rico,” the letter continued.
“Instead, after our departure from New York, we will proceed to Bermuda, and we are happy to share that we have arranged an additional day and night for you to enjoy the island.”
While in New York, guests are able to go ashore to explore, with Princess Cruises providing free shuttle services to and from Manhattan.
However, those who would rather throw in the towel are allowed to disembark early and receive a full refund.
Enchanted Princess Delays Return to New York
While Island Princess rides out the storm from Brooklyn, Enchanted Princess is too far away to make it safely back to New York as planned on August 23, 2025.
The Royal-class vessel is now expected to sail back into New York on August 25, 2025.
She is currently in the middle of a one-way Caribbean voyage from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to New York that embarked on August 9.
The 3,660-guest ship has already had to skip planned calls to Dominica on August 17 and St. Maarten on August 18 to avoid the Category 2 Hurricane, and is now stuck on the other side of the weather as Erin looms closer to the US East Coast.
Cruise tracking data currently shows the vessel sailing northwest away from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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The 145,281-gross ton vessel will not make it back to New York until August 25, but she will return to Fort Lauderdale on August 22 where guests may disembark early if they wish.
“We are on Enchanted now. We are stopping in FLL on the 22nd, and you have the option to get off early. Or, you can stay until the 25th and go to NYC. The next cruise will be shortened,” a current guest reported.
As they pointed out, this means that the subsequent sailing that would have embarked on August 23 will now be shortened.
The next voyage was supposed to be a 7-night sailing to New England and Canada, although it’s unclear how the new itinerary will shake out at this point.
In both cases, compensation will almost certainly be provided, but what that looks like is not publicly known – although Princess Cruises is surely communicating with impacted guests.
