Hurricane Ida causes cruise ships to change schedules in Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico

November 8, 10:02 AMWorldwide Travel ExaminerMark Resnicoff

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  Hurricane Ida satellite image on Sunday morning – Photo: NOAA

Hurricane Ida, approaching the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Sunday morning with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour, has caused several cruise ships to change their itineraries and sail toward safer destinations.

Instead of sailing to its original destination of Cozumel, the Carnival Liberty, which left its dock in Miami on Saturday, has been rerouted to Jamaica. Passengers will still be able to visit Grand Cayman and Cozumel, but their arrival has been delayed until Tuesday and Wednesday.

Attempting to avoid the storm, the Carnival Inspiration, which departed Tampa on Saturday, has cancelled its scheduled stop at Grand Cayman and is making an unplanned stop in Key West today. The ship is still expected to stop at Cozumel on Tuesday.

Just like the Carnival Liberty, Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess has also reversed its itinerary. The ship will stop at Princess Cay today before continuing toward Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel later in the week.

On Saturday, tour operators and fisherman based in Cancun and all along Mexico’s Caribbean coast have pulled their boats out of the water in anticipation of Hurricane Ida’s rain and high winds.

Ida, which is currently listed as a Category 1 hurricane, could briefly strengthen into a Category 2 storm later Sunday. A hurricane warning has been issued for the Yucatan Peninsula, with expected rainfall of three to five inches. Some isolated areas may receive up to 10 inches of rain.

On Sunday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miama issued a hurricane watch for portions of the U.S. gulf coast between Grand Isle, Louisiana and the Mississippi/Alabama border.  Hurricane Ida is expected to weaken prior to making landfall along the eastern U.S. gulf coast as an extra-tropical storm on Tuesday afternoon.