As Hurricane Beryl moves into the Caribbean, Royal Caribbean was one of the first cruise lines to change itineraries.
Experts predict the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season will be very active.
As expected, the first major hurricane of the season is already a historic storm, making landfall earlier in the season than similar hurricanes.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Beryl is expected to become a “very dangerous” Category 4 tropical storm.
Royal Caribbean currently has three ships in the Southeast Caribbean, where the hurricane's path is forecast.
Icon of the Seas, Wonder of the Seas, and Harmony of the Seas have all had their schedules rescheduled due to the approaching hurricane.
Rhapsody of the Seas is currently on a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise. As of July 1, Cruise Mapper shows her location in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and her itinerary remains unchanged.
Icon of the Seas was scheduled to sail the Eastern Caribbean but will instead visit Mexico.
Royal Caribbean's newest and largest ship departed Miami, Florida on June 29, 2024.
The 248,655-ton ship was scheduled to visit St. Maarten on July 2 and St. Thomas on July 3.
Instead, Icon of the Seas will now visit Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico.
The ship will then return to Miami on July 6th as planned, after a perfect day in CocoCay.
Royal Caribbean informed passengers via email that the itinerary change was to avoid strong winds and high seas.
Wonder of the Seas skips two ports and stops in Nassau, Bahamas.
Wonder of the Seas departed Port Canaveral, Florida on June 30.
According to a message posted on the board, Royal Caribbean has canceled dockings for its ships in Roatan, Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico.
The Oasis-class ships are now scheduled to visit CocoCay for the ‘Perfect Day’ on July 1st and Cozumel, Mexico on July 3rd.
After these scheduled stops, Wonder of the Seas will return to Port Canaveral via Nassau, Bahamas.
Harmony of the Seas has canceled its visit to Roatan, Honduras and brought forward its visit to Mexico.
Another Oasis-class ship, Harmony of the Seas, is also changing course to avoid a tropical storm.
She departed Galveston, Texas, and sailed the western Caribbean for seven nights.
Passengers on board received a letter informing them that their visit to Roatan, Honduras, on July 3 would be canceled and that the ship's arrival in Mexico would be brought forward.
Harmony of the Seas is now scheduled to arrive in Cozumel on July 2 and visit Costa Maya on July 3.
Royal Caribbean also added Ocean Day on July 4th.
“We sincerely apologize for the last-minute change due to weather. Your safety is our top priority,” the letter said.
“Please know that being on board is one of the safest places to be, because we are faster and can clear the way even in bad weather.”
Read more: “Unexpected weather events” are the biggest concern for cruise ships, according to Royal Caribbean’s meteorologists.
Hurricane Beryl was forecast to be “very dangerous.”
Image courtesy of the National Hurricane Center Website. Information is subject to change.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Beryl will become a “very dangerous” Category 4 tropical storm.
This hurricane has already set historic records for arriving so early in the season.
“It’s unusual for a storm to develop this far east in late June. In fact, only a few times in history have we had a storm form this early in the year in the central or eastern tropical Atlantic,” NHC forecaster Cangialosi explained.
A storm is expected to intensify and slam into the Caribbean on Monday morning, threatening Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.
According to CNN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada are most at risk of being hit by the storm's core.
Hurricane Beryl is currently classified as a severe hurricane, with sustained winds of up to 130 mph and moving west-northwest.