Cruise lines make weather-related changes all the time. They might skip a port, bring a ship back early or keep it out to sea.
It's not unheard of for sailings set for the Caribbean leaving from New York to switch to a New England/Canada itinerary. Sometimes a port gets skipped because conditions are not ideal for safe docking.
Related: Carnival and Royal Caribbean share a weather warning
In other cases, a cruise line will make the choice to keep its ship out of danger. Margaritaville at Sea, for example, had to delay the return of Islander from August 4 to August 5 due to the current storm.
Update: MAS Islander will remain safely at seat until at least 5 p.m. on Aug, 5.
That gave passengers on the first cruise an extra day at sea while people sailing on the next cruise will lose a day (and their Key West stop). Getting home a day late leads to missed flights, pet and childcare issues, and people missing a day of work. Losing a day on your cruise means passengers who are flying in needing an extra night in a hotel and added food expenses.
Cruises coming back a day late or pushing back their departure happens fairly often. Those are moves made for safety, with the cruise lines all being sensitive to the challenges they may be causing for their customers.
Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) , however, made a decision due to Tropical Storm Debby that almost never happens — it's bringing Carnival Elation back from its current cruise a day early and leaving on the next one the day before it was scheduled to depart.
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Image source: Dan Kline/Come Cruise With Me
Carnival Cruise Line explains its decision
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald shared the news on his Facebook page.
"Important News for Carnival Elation Guests Carnival Elation guests: please look for an email or your text alert. Monday’s embarkation has moved to Sunday to avoid the storm," he wrote.
That's fairly shocking news as cruise lines will regularly delay a sailing or end one early, but they almost never move one ahead. That's because many passengers fly in for their cruises. Some, maybe most, fly in a night early, but that may not be early enough to get on the ship before it has to close its doors.
Carnival has made this decision because it's not safe to leave the ship docked as a storm hits. Instead, it's going to sail the ship, its crews, and whatever passengers can make it, away from dangers.
That's an unfortunate situation for the passengers who won't be able to make it, but the cruise line is making the safest choice for all involved.
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Carnival Cruise Line puts safety first
In a second post, Heald was a little more edgy than his usual tone. He chided "P" for pulling "random speculation out of your buttocks and writing” 'Carnival should be ashamed at doing this and not giving everyone free cruises.'”
Carnival will be making things right with impacted passengers.
"I am not going to post here what we are doing in detail but if people can’t get to the ship a day early they will receive a 100% refund. If they can, they will get an extra days’ worth of cruising without an extra charge. And for the people who have a days less cruise because we need to keep them out of danger they too will be given a day’s refund," he wrote.
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Heald noted that most people were understanding, but called out the ones who were not.
"So, to the few people who posted stuff and nonsense yesterday and none of whom were actually on the cruise, well, I hope you wake up, put a dollop of Folgers in your cup and be happy FFS," he shared. "And seriously, to everyone who is actually on board now or will be joining the ship today, thank you for everything and I know you will have had, will have, FUN and do so while we keep you safe."
FFS, in Heald's language means "for fun's sake."
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