Hurricane Irma scatters cruise ships in the Caribbean

A growing Hurricane Irma is forcing some drastic changes to cruise ship itineraries as it barrels towards the Caribbean and the Florida coast.

In an unusual move, Norwegian Cruise Line on Tuesday said it would bring its two Miami-based ships back home ahead of schedule to avoid the storm. Both the 2,004-passenger Norwegian Sky and 4,248-passenger Norwegian Escape will return to Miami from Caribbean trips on Thursday instead of Friday and Saturday, respectively.  

Norwegian on Tuesday also canceled upcoming sailings of the two vessels that were scheduled to begin on Friday and Saturday, respectively. 

Several other lines including cruise giants Carnival and Royal Caribbean have re-routed ships that are supposed to be sailing in the Eastern Caribbean this week into the Western Caribbean. 

Royal Caribbean on Tuesday also canceled two sailings to The Bahamas scheduled to begin on Friday aboard the 2,350-passenger Majesty of the Seas and the 2,446-passenger Enchantment of the Seas. The vessels are based in Port Canaveral, Fla., and Miami, respectively.  

The ships that have moved to the west include Royal Caribbean's 5,400-passenger Allure of the Seas, one of the world's three biggest cruise ships. Based in Fort Lauderdale, it had been scheduled to visit the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas. Instead, it is stopping in Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti.  

Carnival has switched three vessels — the 2,974-passenger Carnival Glory, 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic and 3,004-passenger Carnival Splendor — from an Eastern Caribbean to a Western Caribbean itinerary for the week. The ships left their home bases of Miami, Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale, respectively, over the weekend. 

A fourth Carnival ship, the 2,124-passenger, Baltimore-based Carnival Pride, will visit Charleston, S.C.; and Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas this week instead of Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay.

Hurricane Irma strengths to Category 5 storm, with 175 mph winds

Irma also is affecting ships operated by MSC Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Disney Cruise Line. MSC's 3,502-passenger MSC Divina has diverted to the Western Caribbean from the Eastern Caribbean. Celebrity's 2,850-passenger Celebrity Equinox is skipping calls in St. Thomas and Tortola, to be replaced by a stop in Curacao. Disney's 2,500-passenger Disney Fantasy and 2,500-passenger Disney Dream are visiting ports in an altered order. 

In all, the changes are affecting the cruises of more than 40,000 vacationers.  

The moves come as the South Florida coast — home to two of the world's biggest cruise hubs — appears increasingly threatened by the powerful Category 5 storm, which ballooned on Tuesday into the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. 

Norwegian cited the storm's potential impact to South Florida in announcing its plan to bring its ships home early and cancel the upcoming sailings.

Norwegian said passengers on the canceled sailings will receive a full refund as well as a 50% credit toward a future cruise. Passengers on the shortened voyages also will be compensated. 

Royal Caribbean said passengers on its canceled sailings would receive a full refund and a 25% credit toward a future cruise. 

Irma is expected to affect more cruises scheduled to begin over the next few days. Royal Caribbean on Tuesday said it was evaluating the storm's potential impact on five more sailings scheduled to begin over the coming weekend. The sailings include voyages of the world's three largest cruise ships: Harmony of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.   

As of 8:00 PM ET Tuesday, Irma was about 85 miles east of Antigua and moving to the west at 15 miles per hour. The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour, up significantly from Monday.

Calling Irma a 'potentially catastrophic' storm, the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday said the hurricane is expected to affect the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as a dangerous major hurricane beginning Wednesday, with life-threatening wind, storm surge, and rainfall. The Center said Irma could directly affect Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Cuba as an extremely dangerous major hurricane later this week. 

The fleet and home ports of Carnival Cruise Line, by the numbers