The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has recently announced that Hurricane Ernesto, recently upgraded from a Tropical Storm after reaching maximum winds of 100mph, is now projected on a path to bring rough conditions to parts of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. These storms include flash flooding and the risk of mudslides.
While the risk to the mainland US remains minimal, the elevated rihave has now prompted multiple cruise lines to adjust routes dramatically. These lines include Carnival Pride, whose two-day visit to Bermuda arrived one day earlier than expected on August 13th. Carnival Magic, whose Caribbean Cruise from Miami canceled a San Juan, Puerto Rico visit. In compensation, Nassau, Bahamas was added to the itinerary.
Two other cruise lines, Carnival Freedom and Mardi Gras, are prepared to make changes, but as of now have made no significant changes and are monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise had to make a big decision because of the hurricane.
Yesterday, the cruise line was forced to disembark one day early to avoid facing the hurricane making landfall. This meant there was a risk of passengers to miss the departure.
On August 15th, the hurricane was upgraded to a Category 2 Storm following its making landfall in Puerto Rico, as power went out for more than 700,000 people and brought about dangerous conditions for residents.
Within the next few days, there are possibilities of it upgrading even further if maximum winds continue the upward trend and hit 115mph. The path is expected to ultimately travel south of Nova Scotia before approaching southeastern Newfoundland
