While cruise lines can't prevent the weather, they can stay ahead of it. Sometimes that can be easier than others, but all the cruise lines use weather services to help them make informed decisions about where to send ships and when to make changes.
That was evident during the recent Hurricane Helene when multiple cruise lines including Margaritaville at Sea and Carnival had to keep ships sailing out of Tampa out at sea longer. No cruise line ever wants to do that.
Related: Royal Caribbean issues a warning to passengers, travel agents
Passengers have planes booked, and child and pet care issues, while some simply want to get back to work. But, in every case, the cruise line will make the safest choice possible even if it's forced to cancel ports, delay departures or returns, and even cancel some cruises altogether.
Cruise lines, however, are not magicians. They employ meteorologists in some cases and subscribe to the best possible information services available. but weather changes and that means that any plans a few days out are liable to change.
That can be frustrating for passengers, but safety for everyone onboard will always be the top priority.
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Keeping an eye on changing weather
Royal Caribbean's weather efforts are led by its full-time meteorologist Craig Stetzer. In leading his team, one of the cruise line's chief meteorologist's key responsibilities is staying ahead of things.
On Oct. 5, he started sharing what he was seeing in a newly-developing storm.
"Saturday morning finds the disturbance in the southwest Gulf of Mexico becoming far better organized overnight and computer models locking into a more consolidated solution. Unfortunately, that solution looks to have potentially significant impacts for Florida. The models are in good agreement the disturbance strengthens and moves east reaching Florida by midweek. The models also indicate the possibility of a strong hurricane by the time it reaches Florida," he posted on X, the former Twitter.
That news has also been reported by South Florida's WPTV.
"An area of low pressure is expected to form in the western Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center is giving it a 90% chance of development in the future. If it becomes a tropical storm, the next name is Milton," the news channel shared a 4:19 p.m. on Oct. 4.
Here's how Royal Caribbean plans
Stetzer does not just monitor the weather, he follows a careful model to plan for what might happen and how the cruise line will need to respond.
"We always plan for the possibility of a hurricane on a timeline. We plan step by step knowing at any point, we can pause our preps if things change and the storm is no longer headed our way," he shared.
The biggest problem would be waiting and hoping for the best.
"One thing we don't ever want to do is play catch up by waiting until the last moment to prepare. Because storm impacts will likely be on Wednesday, our timeline will be to complete all outdoor activities by sunset Tuesday," he said.
That advice applies to people living in Florida, not just for the Royal Caribbean's needs.
"Right now, the certainty is that Florida is threatened but we don't know exactly where, so we must prepare over a larger part of the peninsula. On the west/southwest coast of Florida & Keys, and the east/southeast coast areas with boats or near the water, I would advance my timeline slightly and take advantage of home and boat preps on Sunday," he added.
The current storm is developing and Stetzer openly shares information that will be helpful for anyone who needs to (or at least hopes to) get to a Florida port the week of Oct. 6.
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"The first advisory on TD 14 is out, arrival of tropical storm conditions is what you time your preps around," he noted on his page on X, formerly Twitter. "All of the Florida peninsula could see impacts, with the most consequential on the west coast. Plan to have all outdoor preps completed by Tuesday sunset, including shutters if needed on the West Coast," he shared. "Remember to stay nimble in your thinking, hurricane forecasts can and often do change. Don't become anchored to this first advisory, stay up to date and be ready to modify your plan if needed."
Latest update (10/06 9:32 a.m.)
Related: Carnival and Royal Caribbean share Hurricane Milton updates
Royal Caribbean (and all cruise lines) will use email and social media to inform passengers of any changes to their sailings.
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