Hurricane Sandy, the 18th storm of the 2012 Hurricane Season, is wreaking havoc over places such as Jamaica, Cuba and soon, the Bahamas. Now at a Category 2 Hurricane, Sandy has forced several cruise ships to change their itinerary in order to avoid danger.
As of Thursday morning, Hurricane Sandy was churning over eastern Cuba as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. It is moving north at 18 mph and is heading for the Bahamas. It may lose strength as it makes its way over Cuba, but it will remain as a hurricane as it passes the Bahamas, according to CNN.
By Friday morning, Hurricane Sandy may impact the southeastern Florida coast, the Upper Keys and Florida Bay as it continues its path up north.
As a tropical storm, several cruise ships had to change their itineraries and now even more ships have been affected.
The most recent ships to change their plans are Disney Cruise Line ships that are based out of Port Canaveral, Fla.
The Disney Dream was set to stop as Disney's private island, Castaway Cay in the Bahamas, but it will spend the day at sea on Friday instead. The ship is also scheduled to stop in Nassau on Saturday, but this may also change depending on the weather conditions. The Disney Fantasy is also skipping its stop as Castaway Cay on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, the storm is expected to produce tropical storm and hurricane force winds near Nassau and ... Castaway Cay for most of the day on Friday and early on Saturday," Disney Cruises said on their website.
The following is a list of changes that were reported previously.
Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, was set to made a stop at Falmouth, Jamaica on Wednesday, but it spent a day at sea instead.
Several Carnival cruise ships were also affected. Carnival Valor was supposed to stop at Montego Bay, Jamaica and Grand Cayman, but it bypassed these ports and headed to Costa Maya, Mexico on Wednesday and Cozumel, Mexico on Thursday.
The Carnival Pride, which left from Baltimore on Sunday, will skip stops at Half Moon Cay and Freeport in the Bahamas, and will instead head to Port Canaveral, Florida after spending a day at sea.
The Carnival Glory, which left Norfolk on Monday, will skip the port of Freeport and will make a short stop in Nassau, Bahamas on Thursday and then a stop at Port Canaveral on Friday.
Norwegian Cruise Line also changed several itineraries. The Norwegian Pearl was supposed to stop at Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Grand Cayman on Wednesday and Thursday. Instead, the ship visited Cozumel and Costa Maya.
The Norwegian Jewel was going to stop at Norwegian's private island, Great Stirrup Cay on Wednesday, but it docked in Freeport in the Bahamas instead. It will also head to Charleston, SC instead of its original stop of Nassau in the Bahamas on Friday.
The Norwegian sky also canceled its stop to the private island Great Stirrup Cay. The ship will remain at sea on Friday.
Hurricane Sandy has already caused problems in Haiti and Jamaica. The storm left heavy rains, flooding and strong winds, which led to the death of two people. A woman is western Haiti died when tried to cross a flooding river, according to CNN. A man in Jamaica died when he was hit by a boulder than fell down a hill due to the rains. More than 70 percent of Jamaican residents lost power and 1,000 relocated to shelters.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
