As Hurricane Dorian continues to impact travel as it moves toward the United States, cruise passengers have been stranded at sea until ships are once again cleared to return to port.
According to Cruise Critic, Dorian’s projected path along the Atlantic coast of Florida is forcing top cruise lines serving the region such as Disney, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean to extend their itineraries on voyages that originated from impacted ports.
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Royal Caribbean announced on its official website that vessels which boarded in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Orlando will now return to port later than initially planned to avoid the effects of the hurricane.
Passengers on the Harmony of the Seas reported they would stay on the ship four extra days before they are permitted to return to Orlando Thursday. As a result, travelers are missing work and children are not able to return to school.
“Please know, our guests and crew safety is our top priority and being onboard a ship is one of the safest places to be during a storm,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement to passengers.
Officials from Disney Cruise Line revealed the current Disney Dream voyage would not return to Orlando until Thursday, which is one day later than expected. As for Norwegian, passengers on the Norwegian Breakaway will have two days added to their itinerary and return to New Orleans instead of Miami.
In total, Carnival has been forced to alter itineraries for over 15 scheduled sailings, Royal Caribbean has made modifications to the scheduled stops for seven ships and Disney has rerouted three vessels.
Other companies dealing with impacted sailings include Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises and Norwegian.