Hurricane Florence diverts Norwegian, Royal Caribbean cruise ships to Port Canaveral
Cruise lines, Port Canaveral and Space Coast tourism attractions all are in the midst of a game of musical ships, as the cruise industry copes with rough Atlantic seas due to Hurricane Florence.
"It's all about safety, really," Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray said.
Locally, Port Canaveral is hosting two ships that have been diverted because of the hurricane — the Norwegian Escape and the Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas.
Combined, the two ships are bringing more than 7,500 unexpected guests to the Space Coast this week, not counting the ships' crews, according to Murray.
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The Norwegian Escape, which is home-ported in New York, made a port-of-call stop Tuesday at Port Canaveral, instead of traveling to Bermuda.
FLORIDA TODAY caught up with some of the cruise passengers when the ship disembarked Tuesday at the port.
Chad Hanson and his family from Idaho, like many others from the Escape, were dressed in T-shirts and shorts.
"We were going to be going to the Bahamas and Nassau," he said, adding the family was "a little bummed about Bermuda, but what can you do? (It's) the hurricane. We're just happy we're not in Canada."
The Hansons made the most of their situation.
"We're going to go down to Cocoa Beach and hang out there, check out the surf shops, maybe do some surfing ... just have a good time on the beach," Chad Hanson said.
Fellow cruise passenger Peggy Ohnmacht, however, was not happy about new cruise destination.
"We got a notice two days before we left that said the hurricane was coming," she recalled. Ohnmacht hoped she could switch the cruise.
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"There's another cruise from Norwegian that's going north, which I would have much preferred," Ohnmacht said. "We're not beach people. We weren't going to Bermuda for the beaches, so we are very upset, but what are you going to do? You have no choice in the matter."
Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas, which is home-ported in Baltimore, is scheduled to arrive at Port Canaveral at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12. The Grandeur of the Seas, and its passengers and crew, will stay overnight, and is expected to leave sometime between noon and 4 p.m. Thursday.
Bonnie King, interim executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism, said, with the added cruise passengers on the Space Coast, it provides additional opportunities to promote Space Coast tourism.
"We're opening up new eyes" to the area, King said. "They get to see our beaches. They get to see our attractions. They have an opportunity to visit the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and to visit our restaurants."
"Hopefully, they'll be visitors to the Space Coast in the future," King said.
Murray said Norwegian and Royal Caribbean both regularly make port-of-call stops at Port Canaveral with other ships. So that facilitated the process of arranging for local excursions for their passengers who unexpectedly find themselves on the Space Coast this week.
Murray said it’s not unusual for cruise ships to divert from one port of call to another because of a hurricane or tropical storm.
A year ago, for example, Hurricane Irma significantly affected Port Canaveral and other Florida ports. Port Canaveral was forced to temporarily close, impacting all seven ships based here at the time in one way or another, Murray said.
This week, there also were ship itinerary changes affecting other cruise lines and other ports because of Hurricane Florence.
Murray noted that at least one Boston-based ship is sailing to Canada, instead of Bermuda, its planned destination.
Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Berman at 321-242-3649
or dberman@floridatoday.com.
Twitter: @bydaveberman
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