Hurricane Rafael keeps getting stronger, and that has caused havoc for Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean, which have had to change multiple itineraries.
“#Rafael is now a major (Category 3) #hurricane with max winds of 115 mph – the 5th major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. 7 other seasons in the satellite era (1966-onwards) have had 5+ major hurricanes by 6 Nov: 1995, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2017, 2020,” shared Philip Klotzbach on X, the former Twitter, in a post that was reTweeted by Royal Caribbean Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer.
Weather is not the only story of the day as MSC has made a major change to its loyalty program. Doug Parker covers all of that and more on the Nov. 7 editiion of Cruise News Today.
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Hurricane Rafael causes cruise problems
Transcript
This is Cruise News Today with Doug Parker. On the Gulf side, Hurricane Rafael is impacting cruise itineraries throughout the region. For instance, in the Gulf of Mexico, Jewel of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas, and Carnival Breeze are all returning to Texas a little ahead of schedule to get out of these storms’ way, while other ships have dropped ports in the western Caribbean.
On the Atlantic side, strong winds have plagued the Bahamas region, forcing many ships to drop private islands like Half Moon Cay and Perfect Day into ports like Nassau and Bimini this week. There have been a total of 50 global itinerary changes this week because of weather.
Crazy out there. And MSC Cruises has revamped its loyalty program, adding a new Blue Diamond tier. Yeah, MSC Cruises is updating its Voyagers Club, introducing that new tier status.
The tier includes exclusive perks like flexible check-in via the Yacht Club desk, a free Wi-Fi package, and My Choice Dining, which allows guests to dine wherever they want to, when they want to. Blue Diamond members also receive priority embarkation, luggage services, and access to free shuttle buses at select ports in Europe. In addition to these new Blue Diamond benefits, all loyalty tiers now can enjoy their extended membership valid from three years all the way to five years.
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And Oasis of the Seas is back in Florida following a two-week repositioning cruise from Europe. Now, while in Europe, Oasis spent some time at Navantia Shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, undergoing some general refurbishments to public areas and inspections before returning back to the Sunshine State. She’ll spend the winter sailing from Port Everglades to the Bahamas and Caribbean.
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