Disney cruise stuck at sea while Hurricane Helene ripped through the Cayman Islands

Two Disney cruises have made last-minute plans to their itineraries after storm activity from Hurricane Helene and civil unrest forced the ocean liners to remain at sea.

Disney’s Fantasy cruise ship spent extra time out at sea after being forced to skip a stop at Grand Cayman while Helene, at that stage a tropical storm, dumped 4–8 inches of rain, with isolated totals of 12 inches, on the region.

The Port Authority of the Cayman Islands announced on Tuesday that they would be closed due to “the inclement weather caused by Potential Tropical Cyclone 92”, the same day that Fantasy was supposed to dock there.

Helene became a tropical storm in the western Caribbean Sea on 24 September, causing major flooding in the Cayman Islands as heavy rain and huge waves ripped through.

Fantasy left the Mexican port of Cozumel on Monday, but instead of sailing towards Grand Cayman as it was scheduled to do, the cruise spent an extra day at sea, giving the Caymans a wide birth as the storm activity intensified, ship tracker CruiseMapper shows.

The 4,000-passenger ship instead went straight to its next destination, arriving in Falmouth in Jamaica on Wednesday, before sailing off to its penultimate port at Disney Castaway Cay, the company’s private Bahamas island, before it is due to arrive at its final destination at Port Canaveral in Florida on Saturday.

However, the Sunshine State is currently bracing for the same storm activity, which threatens to become the strongest storm to hit the US in over a year as it is expected to strengthen to a dangerously strong Category 4 storm before it is due to make landfall on 26 September.

Now a Category 1 hurricane, Helene is currently moving towards Florida with 90mph winds as of this morning, with sustained winds potentially building up to 135mph.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, and several areas remain under hurricane warnings, with the state’s Big Bend due to see the worst of the storm surge, with up to 20 feet possible this week.

Fantasy was not the only Disney cruise ship that had a change of plan to their cruise itinerary, as the 2,700-passenger Disney Wonder will also be stuck out at sea for an extra day, but instead of stormy weather, it is unrest that caused the last-minute rearrangement.

The ship is due to embark on a journey around the Pacific Ocean, departing from Honolulu, Hawaii, on 3 October, stopping at Samoa and Fiji before arriving in Sydney, Australia, on 19 October.

Yet, a short stop at Noumea, in the French territory islands of New Caledonia, on 15 October will be replaced with a day at sea, according to The Street.

The archipelago of around 300,000 citizens has experienced four months of unrest, with US government has warned visitors to “reconsider travel” to New Caledonia at this time, with the UK government advising against all but essential travel to the islands.

The Independent has contacted Disney Cruise Line for comment.

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