Key Aspects:
- Celebrity Beyond will be sailing a Western Caribbean itinerary for her October 26 departure instead of her planned Eastern Caribbean route to avoid Hurricane Melissa.
- Several other ships have completely swapped itinerary plans to steer clear of the storm, while some vessels are adjusting individual ports.
- Hurricane Melissa is currently a Category 2 storm and expected to continue strengthening over the next couple of days until making landfall in Jamaica.
Hurricane Melissa is rapidly intensifying as she slowly creeps toward Jamaica and more cruise ships are adjusting itineraries to steer clear of her projected path. Celebrity Beyond is the latest ship to confirm a complete itinerary change and will now enjoy a Western Caribbean rather than an Eastern Caribbean route.
The impacted cruise is the ship’s Sunday, October 26, 2025 departure from Miami, Florida. Originally, Celebrity Beyond was to have visited the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, and St. Kitts on the 7-night sailing.
Now, however, guests have been notified that a new itinerary has been confirmed.
“To safely avoid the impacts from the storm, we have decided to switch our itinerary to the Western Caribbean instead of the Eastern Caribbean for this sailing,” the email notification read. “We sincerely apologize for this last-minute change caused by the weather – your safety is our trop priority.”
Now, Celebrity Beyond will be enjoying the following itinerary:
- Sunday, October 26 – Depart Miami
- Monday, October 27 – Day at sea
- Tuesday, October 28 – Costa Maya, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (formerly Puerto Plata)
- Wednesday, October 29 – Belize, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (formerly St. Thomas)
- Thursday, October 30 – Roatan, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (formerly St. Kitts)
- Friday, October 31 – Day at sea
- Saturday, November 1 – Day at sea
- Sunday, November 2 – Arrive Miami
All pre-paid shore excursions booked through Celebrity Cruises for the now-cancelled visits to Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, and St. Kitts are being automatically cancelled. Guests will receive a refundable onboard credit for those charges, and any remaining amounts will be returned to the card on file after the end of the cruise.
While guests may be understandably disappointed to have the entire itinerary shifted in the opposite direction they had hoped for, Celebrity Beyond is not the first ship to completely swap her planned sailing due to Hurricane Melissa.
The massive Icon of the Seas notified guests that the ship’s October 25 departure would have the same shift, with the planned Eastern Caribbean cruise becoming a Western Caribbean itinerary that will visit Cozumel and Roatan, though the call to Perfect Day at CocoCay later in the week is still planned.
Disney Treasure has also swapped an Eastern Caribbean itinerary for a Western route, with an extra visit to Castaway Cay on her 7-night sailing departing Port Canaveral on Saturday, October 25.
Various other ships, including Disney Wish and Margaritaville at Sea Islander, have also adjusted their itineraries as needed to stay well away from Melissa’s strengthening wrath.
Hurricane Melissa NHC Update (Image Credit: National Hurricane Center)
Hurricane Melissa Update
As expected, Hurricane Melissa rapidly intensified on Saturday, October 25. In the morning she was still a tropical storm, but by the 8 p.m. EST update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), she was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour.
Positioned 130 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, Melissa is moving west at only three miles per hour. This slow movement in a very warm region of the Caribbean is helping the storm continue to strengthen.
Hurricane Melissa is expected to make a turn north early next week and to have a direct landfall on the island of Jamaica, likely as a Category 4 or possibly even a Category 5 hurricane.
“Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin in Jamaica by tonight, with hurricane conditions expected by Sunday or Monday,” the Saturday night public NHC advisory reads.
Parts of Jamaica may receive up to 40 inches of rain, with flooding and landslides likely.
On Friday, October 24, Jamaica’s prime minister, Dr. Andrew Holness, declared the entire nation a “threatened area” in order to mobilize emergency resources and prepare for the storm.
Additional cruises are likely to adjust their itineraries for next week as Melissa will move northeast and into the Greater Antilles, with impacts likely in the Turks & Caicos and possibly the Bahamas over the next several days.
Appeared first on: Cruisehive.com
