Hurricanes Earl and Kay disrupt cruises to Bermuda, Mexican Riviera

A growing Hurricane Earl is causing some significant changes to cruises to Bermuda this week as it barrels toward the island; meanwhile, another hurricane in the Pacific threatens to disrupt sailings along the Mexican Riviera.

Cruise giant Carnival’s 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic was forced to depart Bermuda late Wednesday — a day ahead of schedule — to get out of the way of the storm. The storm is expected to pass close to Bermuda late Thursday or early Friday.

The ship is on a six-day cruise to Bermuda out of New York. It was supposed to include two days at the destination, but it’s now steaming eastward toward calmer waters and will spend the day at sea. The early departure meant that passengers only got about half the time in Bermuda that they were expecting.

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Also leaving Bermuda ahead of schedule on Wednesday was Royal Caribbean’s 3,344-passenger Mariner of the Seas. The vessel cut a three-day stay at the island destination short by a day and now is heading to Nassau in the Bahamas.

Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line has canceled the entire two-day call of its 3,963-passenger Norwegian Getaway in Bermuda this week. The call had been scheduled to begin Friday. A spokesperson for Norwegian has yet to respond to a question from TPG as to where the ship will go instead.

At the same, Hurricane Kay — which the National Hurricane Center is calling a “large and dangerous” hurricane — is hitting the Pacific. The storm is affecting cruise ships sailing along the Mexican Riviera as it heads northward past destinations such as Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan.

Carnival has already made major changes this week to the itinerary of its Long Beach, California-based Carnival Panorama. The 4,008-passenger vessel visited Cabo San Luas and Mazatlan ahead of schedule after departing Long Beach on Saturday, but it’s skipping a visit to Puerto Vallarta entirely. Instead, it is now returning northward to stay out of the storm’s way and will make an unscheduled call at Ensenada on Friday.

Other ships scheduled to be sailing in the path of the storm in the coming days include Royal Caribbean’s 3,807-passenger Navigator of the Seas. The ship left Los Angeles on Wednesday on a five-night cruise to the Mexican Riviera, and it was scheduled to visit Cabo San Lucas on Friday. As of now, it appears to be headed for Ensenada instead, according to ship tracking sites.

Royal Caribbean did not respond to a question from TPG about whether Navigator of the Seas’ itinerary will be disrupted.

Wherever Navigator of the Seas goes, it is likely to encounter rough water.

“Kay is a very large tropical cyclone. It is producing an extensive area of high seas, with swells affecting portions of southwestern Mexico, the Gulf of California, and the Baja California peninsula,” the National Hurricane Center said Thursday in its latest update on the storm.

As of 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, Kay was about 115 miles northwest of Cabo San Lucas and moving north-northwest at about 15 miles per hour. The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour.

The NHC expects Kay to travel up the coast of the Mexican Riviera over the next two days.

“Although Kay is likely to weaken before it makes landfall or moves very close to the west-central coast of the Baja peninsula, it is forecast to remain a large and dangerous hurricane through that time,” the agency said Thursday.

As of 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, Earl was about 230 miles south of Bermuda and moving north-northeast at about 13 miles per hour. The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour.

The storm is expected to strengthen over the next 36 hours and pass southeast of Bermuda by early Friday. While the storm’s center is likely to pass about 75 to 100 miles away from Bermuda, the NHC says the island could experience hurricane-force winds if its track shifts west.

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Featured photo by Warren Faidley/Getty Images.