Major Hurricane GONZALO
Several cruise lines altered itineraries due to the hurricane. In some cases, the port order was changed, in others an extra day at sea replaced a port of call, and in a few cases, Eastern Caribbean cruises became Western itineraries. That is the beauty of cruising during hurricane season - the ship will move to avoid the storm instead of ruining your vacation with bad weather.
Weekend calls to Bermuda were cancelled and ships set sail on alternate itineraries. Hurricane Gonzalo made landfall Friday (10/17) evening as a Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph winds along the south-central coast of Bermuda.
It was the second time in less than a week that a tropical cyclone had a direct hit on the island. Bermuda was still cleaning up after Tropical Storm Fey hit on October 12th. With debris laying around the island following Fey, there is an added level of hazard with Gonzalo hitting the island.
NHC issuing advisories on Hurricane GONZALO
Full coverage of this, and all tropical storms, can be found on our Hurricane Zone page. There are RSS feeds from the National Hurricane Center posted there giving you up to the minute information. For storms that impact cruises, we will bring you information on those details as well. Please bookmark that page for further reference during the Hurricane Season which runs now through November 30th.
CATEGORY 4
Hurricane GONZALO
|
800 AM AST SAT OCT 18 2014 ...WEATHER IMPROVING IN BERMUDA AS GONZALO QUICKLY MOVES AWAY... ...FORECAST TO PASS NEAR THE COAST OF NEWFOUNDLAND TONIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY... |
| WIND: | NEAR 100 MPH...160 KM/H...WITH HIGHER GUSTS |
| WATCHES/ WARNINGS: | SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT... THE BERMUDA WEATHER SERVICE HAS DISCONTINUED THE TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR BERMUDA. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS EFFECT FOR... * ARNOLDS COVE TO CHAPELS COVE NEWFOUNDLAND |
| SHIP IMPACT: | Carnival Liberty at sea 10/14 (St. Thomas skipped)
Carnival Breeze at sea 10/14 (La Romana, DR skipped)
Carnival Conquest changed to Western Caribbean itinerary:
Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay (Honduras) and Costa Maya (Mexico)
Disney Magic rearranged port order Norwegian Getaway ports changed to Falmouth & Cozumel Caribbean Princess changed ports to Ocho Rios,Grand Cayman,Cozumel Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas left San Juan early
Jewel of the Seas at sea 10/13 (skipped St. Maarten ) Allure of the Seas modified to visit Falmouth & Cozumel
Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Oceania have ships scheduled
to call at Bermuda this weekend and next week.
Explorer OTS (10/18) - Calling on Halifax & St. John. NB instead
Norwegian Dawn - Calling on Nassau, Bahamas & Great Stirrup Cay
Oceania Insignia - Departs 10/18 for Caribbean; Adds St. Maarten
We will monitor for any additional changes
|
Storm Archive Graphics Archive
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA...IN THIS CASE WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...IN THIS CASE WITHIN 24 TO 36 HOURS.
Royal Caribbean said Jewel of the Seas did not call at St. Maarten on Oct. 13. The ship spent Monday at sea before returning to the scheduled itinerary, calling at Antigua on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Explorer of the Seas departed San Juan at 9 p.m. on Oct. 13, instead of staying overnight.
Allure of the Seas is sailing a modified western Caribbean itinerary. The ship will now visit Falmouth, Jamaica on Oct. 15 and Cozumel on Oct. 17.
HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
WIND...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE TROPICAL STORM WATCH AREA IN NEWFOUNDLAND BY LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY. STORM SURGE...WATER LEVELS ON BERMUDA WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE TODAY. SURF...LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY GONZALO ARE STILL AFFECTING PORTIONS OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS...THE NORTHERN COASTS OF PUERTO RICO AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC...PORTIONS OF THE BAHAMAS...PORTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES EAST COAST...AND BERMUDA. SWELLS WILL SPREAD NORTHWARD INTO PORTIONS OF ATLANTIC CANADA TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY. THESE SWELLS WILL LIKELY CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING SURF AND RIP CURRENT CONDITIONS. FOR MORE INFORMATION...PLEASE CONSULT PRODUCTS FROM YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.Historical Notes:
130 PM AST SUN OCT 12 2014 ...TROPICAL STORM GONZALO FORMS EAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS... ...TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS AND WATCHES ISSUED...
TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS FOR GUADELOUPE...DESIRADE...LES SAINTES...MARIE GALANTE...ST. MARTIN... AND ST. BARTHELEMY...ST.MAARTIN...SABA...AND ST. EUSTATIUS...
BARBUDA...ANTIGUA...ANGUILLA...ST. KITTS...NEVIS...AND MONTSERRAT
TROPICAL STORM WATCHES FOR
THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS...PUERTO RICO...VIEQUES... CULEBRA...AND THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
500 PM AST SUN OCT 12 2014 ...GONZALO STRENGTHENING EAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS... ...HURRICANE WATCH AND TROPICAL STORM WARNING ISSUED...
HURRICANE WATCH AND A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR PUERTO RICO...VIEQUES...CULEBRA...THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS...
AND BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
500 PM AST MON OCT 13 2014 ...GONZALO BECOMES A HURRICANE WHILE MOVING THROUGH THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS... ...ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING LIKELY...
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT... A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR... * BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS * ST. MAARTIN * ST. MARTIN * ANGUILLA A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR... * PUERTO RICO * VIEQUES AND CULEBRA * U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR... * ST. BARTHELEMY * SABA AND ST. EUSTATIUS * BARBUDA * ANTIGUA * ST. KITTS AND NEVIS * MONTSERRAT * PUERTO RICO * VIEQUES AND CULEBRA * U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
1100 PM AST MON OCT 13 2014 ...GONZALO CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN... ...EXPECTED TO PASS NORTHEAST OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OVERNIGHT...
200 AM AST TUE OCT 14 2014 ...HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT FINDS GONZALO STRONGER... ...EYE PASSING JUST NORTHEAST OF THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS...
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT... A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR... * BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS * ANGUILLA A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR... * ST. MAARTEN * ST. MARTIN * ST. BARTHELEMY * PUERTO RICO * VIEQUES AND CULEBRA * U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
1100 AM AST TUE OCT 14 2014 ...GONZALO MOVING NORTHWESTWARD OVER THE OPEN ATLANTIC OCEAN.... ...STRENGTHENING EXPECTED TO RESUME LATER TODAY...
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT... NONE
500 PM AST TUE OCT 14 2014 ...GONZALO BECOMES A MAJOR HURRICANE OVER THE OPEN ATLANTIC... ...ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING EXPECTED...
800 PM AST FRI OCT 17 2014 ...BERMUDA IN THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE LARGE EYE OF DANGEROUS HURRICANE GONZALO... ...DAMAGING WINDS AND A LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE EXPECTED AGAIN AFTER THE EYE PASSES...
900 PM AST FRI OCT 17 2014 ...900 PM POSITION UPDATE... ...LARGE EYE OF DANGEROUS HURRICANE GONZALO OVER BERMUDA...
AT APPROXIMATELY 830 PM AST...0030 UTC...THE CENTER OF THE LARGE EYE OF HURRICANE GONZALO MADE LANDFALL ALONG THE SOUTH-CENTRAL COAST OF BERMUDA...BASED ON DATA FROM THE BERMUDA RADAR...ISLAND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS...AND REPORTS FROM AN AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR LOCATED IN DEVONSHIRE PARISH BERMUDA.
800 AM AST THU OCT 16 2014 ...GONZALO MOVING NORTHWARD AS A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE...
