Potential Cruise Impacts by Tropical Storm Isaac
August 22, 2012 
6 Comments
Click for MOST RECENT Isaac UPDATE 8/26/12 7pm ET: Click Here.
Latest computer models on Tropical Storm Isaac as usual have a pretty big spread of potential paths and intensity. They almost all have the Tropical Storm hitting Haiti, Domincan Republic, Cuba and Florida. This image from our trusted weather source, Brad Panovich of the WCNC weather team shows soon to be named Tropical Storm Joyce.
Within 24 hours tropical storm Isaac will make landfall with 3 0 – 40 mph winds in Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia. This intensity will have mild impact on the islands.
Potential Cruise Impacts
Due to the uncertainty of the path of the storms, the cruise lines wait as long as they before making changes. You will want to work closely with your travel agent if you think there is a chance your cruise departure time may have changes due to a storm. When I report cruise impacts due to the storms, I focus mainly on cruises that have a change to departure time. My goal is to help those booked get safely to the cruise ship at the correct time.
Carnival Victory – Looks like it will be fine. Most models have the storm well beyond Puerto Rico by the scheduled Sunday departure.
The cruises with a possible chance of having their departure time affected by tropical storm Isaac [still too far away to be stressing - just keep an eye out for announcements]:
Monday morning, 8/27 departures of Majesty of the Seas, Carnival Imagination, and the Norwegian Sky will want to watch this closely. Several models put the storm close too Miami early Monday morning which can cause issue with flights or departure time from the Miami cruise terminal. There have been no changes to this point to any of these itineraries because it is too far out to accurately predict the storm’s paths.
With the current path predictions, other cruise departures look ok or are to far out for me to even take into consideration. Click to SUBSCRIBE to CruiseSource for future updates.
The beauty of cruising is that the ship will navigate away from the storms for the safety of the crew and passengers. Many times, this change in itinerary gets you far enough away from the storms that you still get to enjoy some sun and fun on a tropical island not on the original itinerary. If you are cruising during hurricane season, you’ll want to go into it with a flexible mindset and purchase travel insurance in case you are unable to get to the cruise ship due to a weather.
Author Note: Rich Tucker has been covering cruise impacts online from tropical weather since 2008 here on CruiseSource. He recommends being in contact with your travel agent if you have a cruise departing for the Caribbean or Bahamas between now and 8/27.
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I have been on 2 cruises during hurricane season with Royal Caribbean. They handled it very well. First time we had to give up an island but we were compensated for it. The ship was really rocking, but I never felt like I was in danger. The captain kept us updated at all times.
We are in for it…even if we dont get a direct hit, we are still going to feel this sucker!
How do you think this weather is going to effect Bermuda over the next week?
Jennifer,
Thank you for commenting. Tropical Storm Isaac will most likely not be an issue for Bermuda – especially if it continues the westward path. Tropical Storm Joyce, appears that it may hit Bermuda as a much weaker tropical depression around Tuesday of next. This will cause rain and winds up to 39 mph.
Here is a link to the project path for Tropical Depression Joyce:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at5+shtml/085018.shtml?5-daynl#contents
Thank you – Rich Tucker
Fingers crossed! I hope you guys have a great sail and I want to hear all about it afterwards.