Cruise lines always want to make sure their passengers have the best possible weather conditions in their cruise ports of call. Even if a port that a cruise ship is scheduled to visit doesn’t close due to bad weather, the cruise line will occasionally revise a cruise itinerary to provide passengers with a better in-port experience.
Sometimes, cruise lines will swap one port for another that’s experiencing better weather. Occasionally, they will even reorder the port stops in an itinerary so passengers can still visit all or most of their planned ports, just in a different, and hopefully sunnier, order.
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Like other cruise lines, Disney Cruise Line has been closely monitoring Hurricane Milton and forecasted wind and sea conditions in the Caribbean. With ships sailing in both the Western and Eastern Caribbean, the cruise line had to keep eyes on multiple ports and routes.
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Disney has a relativity small fleet but it’s concentrated in Florida.
Image source: Disney Cruises.
Disney Cruise Line revises itineraries, ships miss ports
In an effort to provide passengers with the best possible weather in their ports of call, Disney Cruise Line adjusted the itinerary for the Disney Magic as it left Fort Lauderdale on Monday, Oct. 7. Passengers were notified that they would visit the planned ports in their Bahamas itinerary in a different order.
The five-night Bahamas itinerary includes stops in both of Disney’s private island destinations in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay and Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, as well as Nassau.
The Disney Magic was set to visit Castaway Cay on Tuesday before sailing a revised itinerary for the rest of the cruise. Unfortunately, passengers woke up to high winds Tuesday that would prevent the ship from making its planned visit to the island. The ship is instead spending the day in calmer seas.
Related: Everything Carnival passengers must know about Hurricane Milton
In the Western Caribbean, the Disney Fantasy also missed its port of call on Tuesday.
Due to high winds from Hurricane Milton, tendering was not possible in Grand Cayman forcing the ship to spend the day at sea. The ship made its call in Cozumel on Monday, but all shore excursions were canceled due to the weather.
Related: Carnival, Virgin Voyages ships outrun Hurricane Milton
The Disney Wish will likely get stuck at sea, next sailing canceled
Disney Cruise Line is sailing another ship in the Bahamas, the Disney Wish, which left Port Canaveral, Florida on Monday. The ship’s four-night Bahamas itinerary includes visits to Nassau and Castaway Cay.
While passengers on the Disney Wish did not see their itinerary changed due to the weather conditions, the cruise line notified them upon their departure that their return to Port Canaveral could be delayed due to Hurricane Milton.
On Tuesday, passengers on the next sailing of the Disney Wish, which was scheduled to leave Port Canaveral on Friday, received notice that Disney Cruise Line made the difficult decision to cancel their sailing due to the impact the storm may have on port operations. The cruise line is providing passengers with a full refund as well as a 20% future cruise discount.
Port Canaveral may be closed for days
As of the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 8, Port Canaveral was preparing for the closure of waterside and vessel shoreside port operations. The U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) set Port Condition “YANKEE” meaning sustained gale force winds are predicted at the port within 24 hours.
If the port is unable to safely reopen by Friday, Oct. 11, passengers on the Disney Wish, along with Carnival Glory and Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas, will all be stuck at sea. The Disney Fantasy could also see its return delayed. The Fantasy is scheduled to return to Port Canaveral on Saturday, Oct. 12.
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Passengers on the next sailings of all of these ships could have their cruise itineraries adjusted due to the port closure. Port officials recommend that travelers with any questions about a specific sailing should contact their cruise line directly as all changes to itineraries will be communicated by the cruise lines.
As of midday Tuesday, Oct. 8, Hurricane Milton is an intense Category 4 hurricane churning in the Gulf of Mexico just north of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. Milton is expected to make landfall late Wednesday night on the west coast of Florida. The hurricane will bring severe impacts to areas still recovering from Hurricane Helene.
