Above all else cruise lines will work to protect the safety of their passengers and crew. During a storm that can mean canceling ports of call, closing off parts of the ship, or even leaving late, coming home early, or staying at sea an extra day.
Cruise lines won't put their ships into dangerous situations, but they may not be able to fully avoid storms. On Royal Caribbean's Utopia of the Seas, for example, the outside decks were closed on the evening of August 1 due to rough seas.
Related: What to expect on a cruise ship during a hurricane
Margaritaville at Sea Islander had to extend its sailing, which was supposed to end on August 4 until August 5. No cruise line wants to do that because it forces passengers to miss flights, and forces the company to shorten the next cruise by one day. In this case, Islander passengers lose their stop in Key West.
It's better, however, to miss your flight, not be able to smoke a cigar on the pool deck, or lose a day of your cruise than it is to be put in harm's way. Every cruise line understands this, and both Carnival and Royal Caribbean — the two biggest cruise lines in the world, have had their meteorologists tracking what's expected to be at least a Tropical Storm.
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Image source: NOAA via Getty Images
Carnival and Royal Caribbean have broad weather teams
Royal Caribbean Meteorologist Craig Setzer has been tracking the current storm on his X (formerly Twitter) page. His most recent update suggests that what's now a tropical depression should grow into a tropical storm.
"For the moment, the storm has two main areas of convection north & south of the center, as shown both on radar and satellite. However, a new burst of convection has development near the center and if it persists, may signal the start of intensification. Some marine observations in the Florida Straits south of the Lower Keys indicate tropical storm winds with much higher gusts in squalls. I would imagine we will have Tropical Storm Debby," he posted.
Storms do not get names until they become at least a tropical storm.
"A tropical depression forms when a low-pressure area is accompanied by thunderstorms that produce a circular wind flow with maximum sustained winds below 39 mph. An upgrade to a tropical storm occurs when cyclonic circulation becomes more organized and maximum sustained winds gust between 39 mph and 73 mph," according to NASA.
Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival alert customers directly via email for changes to an upcoming cruise. On an existing cruise, the captain will make an announcement, and if there's a major change, a letter will usually be left in your cabin.
If a port is missed, cruise lines will refund port fees and taxes as well as any excursions booked through them. Any other compensation is at the discretion of the cruise line.
Carnival shares a weather update
Carnival Meteorologist Amy Sweezey shared her thoughts on the storm in a Facebook post that was shared by Brand Ambassador John Heald, who has over 500,000 followers.
"As you would expect, the Fleet Operations Center in Miami is keeping a very close eye on what's happening in the tropics. As we continue through hurricane season we've had several developing systems and, of course, all eyes are now on the state of Florida," she shared.
Sweezey made it clear that she expected there to be implications across all of Florida's ports over the next few days. She urged anyone with an upcoming sailing to watch for communication from Carnival.
"There will likely be impacts of some sort in much of the state of Florida no matter what happens with this system," she said. "
She urged passengers to also sign up for the cruise line's text alerts.
"The team at Carnival is working very hard behind the scenes to make sure that you are safe, and of course, can have fun," she added.
Sweezey describes herself as "a weather contributor for CCL.
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"I don’t do daily forecasting but I help the team with important weather messaging when warranted," she shared on Facebook.
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