While many people are already thinking about Thanksgiving, turning leaves, and cooler weather, Mother Nature has different plans.
Tropical Storm Melissa looks to slowly meander around the Caribbean, impacting Jamaica for days to come.
While hurricane season is normally thought of as a summer phenomenon, it actually runs through November 30. Now, there’s a late season storm that’s brewing, and it has the potential to disrupt cruises depending on its track and timing.
Tropical Storm Melissa currently has sustained winds of 50 miles per hour and is sitting near the middle of the Caribbean Sea, about 275 miles south of Haiti.
The good news is that right now it’s still at sea and not directly impacting any land. However, in the next several days the storm is expected to strengthen and slowly move to the northwest.
However, there’s a lot about this storm’s strength and track that are uncertain.
Current projections on strength are widely varied. Some models have Melissa becoming a strong Category 4 hurricane while others have it only staying as a tropical storm:
The so-called “spaghetti models” that show potential tracks also vary from heading nearly due west to a more northern track that would move toward the eastern end of Cuba.
The official cone of its track has the storm moving northwest toward Jamaica, but doing so very slowly. Even by Monday morning of next week, Melissa could be still meandering south of Jamaica.
Melissa Set to Impact the Caribbean for Days to Come
Given the forecasts, the only thing that’s clear is that the storm will be in the region for days to come and moving toward some popular cruise ports, especially in Jamaica.
As of yet we’ve seen no official word of any changes to itineraries. Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald posted on Facebook that “It is too early to tell you of any changes to your itinerary.”
However, he did make it clear that the cruise line is watching the situation and will let passengers know of any changes.
To be clear, if you’re on a cruise that’s in the area, your cruise line will be in touch with any changes. Given the storm’s location and possible track, it is possible that ports could be skipped or swapped out if needed for safety.
There is reason to believe, however, that the storm may actually have minimal impacts on cruises despite being in one of the most popular places on the planet to cruise.
Possibly Few Changes Due to Favorable Timing?
Right now the biggest impacts from Tropical Storm Melissa look to be in ports in Jamaica. And given the slow-moving system, the impacts could last for days, beginning on Friday (October 24) and lasting possibly until Monday or Tuesday (October 27/28), if not longer.
Through a quirk in scheduling, however, no ships are scheduled for that area during those days.
- Montego Bay has a ship in port on October 22, but no ships scheduled again until October 29.
- Falmouth has a ship scheduled for Thursday, October 23, but not another one until November 5.
- Ocho Rios also has a ship scheduled for October 23, but not another one until October 29 when Carnival Dream is scheduled to arrive.
This looks to be great news for potential impact on cruises.
Now the forecasted intensity and track of Melissa are anything but concrete, so the situation still bears watching. For now, thankfully it seems like any possible impact will be minimal due to the schedule of ships in the area.The post A Hurricane is Brewing in the Caribbean. Could Cruises Be Impacted? first appeared on Cruzely.com.
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